Synopsys Korea, in collaboration with Taesung S&E, concluded the 'Simulation Challenge 2026,' a simulation competition for undergraduate and graduate students. This competition, marking its second year, was held on the largest scale ever, with both pre-registration and participation in the preliminary rounds increasing by more than 50% compared to the previous year.

Synopsys Korea held the finals and awards ceremony for the 'Simulation Challenge 2026' at POSCO Tower Yeoksam in Seoul on the 30th.

The number of pre-registered teams was 149, an increase of about 52% compared to 98 teams last year, and the number of teams participating in the preliminary round was 80, an increase of about 57% compared to 51 teams last year.

18 domestic universities, including KAIST, Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, participated.

This year, for the first time, the undergraduate and graduate student divisions were separated.

A total of 14 teams advanced to the finals, including 6 teams from the undergraduate category and 8 teams from the graduate student category.

Participants performed tasks to solve technical problems using one or more of Synopsys' simulation software and presented for 15 minutes per team.

The Grand Prize was awarded to the 'Let's Save the World with Hybrid Bonding' team from the University of Seoul in the undergraduate category and the 'Mo-Green' team from Chung-Ang University in the graduate student category.

The University of Seoul team presented on the topic of 'Design of a Radial Collet Bonding Tool for Void Reduction in Hybrid Bonding Processes,' while the Chung-Ang University team presented on 'Development of High-Efficiency Motors and Multiphysics Characteristic Analysis for Carbon Neutrality.'

The Best Innovation Award was given to the Incheon University IAC_ML team (undergraduate division) and the Kookmin University H2 team (graduate division), while the Excellent Interpretation Award was given to the Yonsei University MPMC team (graduate division).
The grand prize winning team will receive a scholarship and the opportunity to present at 'Simulation World Korea 2026,' which will be held this coming September.r />
Moon Sung-soo, Head of S&A Business at Synopsys Korea, said, “We confirmed the potential of Korean engineering through the participants’ passion and ideas,” adding, “We will continue to support future engineers so that they can develop their capabilities through simulation technology.”

The final event also featured an introduction to technology trends by Pro Kim Tae-hyung of Synopsys Korea and a lecture by Director Kim Ji-won of Taesung S&E titled 'The AI Era: A Next-Generation Engineer's Career Through Multiphysics Simulation.'