Vicomtech wins the Quantum Optimization and Machine Learning challenge at Qiskit Fall Fest 2026

From 4 to 6 November, the Basque Country hosted the Qiskit Fall Fest 2026, a leading quantum computing hackathon supported by the Basque Quantum initiative. Held simultaneously in Bilbao, Donostia and Vitoria-Gasteiz, the event set participants three demanding technological challenges directly linked to the research lines of IBM Quantum.

In this highly competitive setting, Vicomtech demonstrated its capabilities and technological leadership. The team from the Connected and Cooperative Automated Systems department, competing at the Bilbao venue, took the local victory in Track 2 – Quantum Optimization and Machine Learning, becoming the winners in their city.

The challenge consisted of solving a highly complex real-world problem: stock portfolio selection. To do so, participants had to tackle the challenges of using current NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) computers, implementing advanced error suppression and mitigation techniques.

Although the challenge proposed using one of the available methodologies, the team designed a far more ambitious approach. They implemented solutions based on cutting-edge quantum algorithms, using both optimization techniques such as QAOA (Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm) and Quantum Machine Learning (QML), and finally presented an exhaustive comparison of both approaches to secure first place.

Talent and academic collaboration

The winning team representing Vicomtech was made up of researcher Pedro Brandimarte, Sergio Hernández, a PhD student at the University of Deusto supervised by Brandimarte himself, and Arseniy Fedoseev, a master's student in quantum computing at the UPV/EHU. This joint success reflects the excellent collaboration between the technology centre and academia, a synergy that will continue to bear fruit.

A key player in the Quantum Revolution and Artificial Intelligence

Beyond the recognition of winning this challenge, the victory at Qiskit Fall Fest 2026 is of great strategic relevance for Vicomtech. This achievement highlights and reaffirms the centre's research activity in the convergence between Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing.

At a time when the Basque and international quantum ecosystem is booming, Vicomtech is consolidating its position as a first-class technology partner, with real and proven capacity to develop and integrate quantum solutions applied to industrial challenges. Our experience combining Machine Learning and quantum algorithms shows that we are a key player in driving the next generation of automated and intelligent systems.

Congratulations to Pedro, Sergio and Arseniy on this great achievement, which places Vicomtech at the forefront of the convergence between Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing!