Román Orús
Bringing quantum ideas into industry and artificial intelligence
Román Orús is a Spanish theoretical physicist and technology entrepreneur whose work connects the mathematics of quantum systems with practical problems in computing and artificial intelligence. His research focuses on tensor networks, structures that provide an efficient way of representing extremely complex systems made up of many interacting components.
Tensor networks were originally developed to study strongly correlated quantum matter, where the number of possible states grows too quickly for ordinary computational methods. Orús has helped expand their use in condensed-matter physics, quantum information, quantum gravity and machine learning. His reviews and introductory publications have become widely used references for researchers entering the field.
The same mathematical tools can also be applied to optimisation and to reducing the size, cost and energy consumption of artificial-intelligence models. By transferring ideas from quantum physics to industrial computation, Orus works at the boundary between fundamental theory and deployable technology. His approach illustrates how concepts created to understand matter can become tools for finance, energy, manufacturing and advanced data processing.
Career and recognitions
Orús studied Physics at the University of Barcelona and completed his doctorate in 2006 under José Ignacio Latorre. He held research positions at the University of Queensland and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, later serving as a professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and as a visiting researcher in France and Spain. He is an Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Donostia International Physics Center.
In 2019 he co-founded Multiverse Computing in Donostia-San Sebastián and became its Chief Scientific Officer. The company develops quantum and quantum-inspired software for industrial applications. His honours include the European Physical Society Early Career Prize and the 2024 Physics, Innovation and Technology Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Physics and the BBVA Foundation. He is also a member of the United Nations Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, contributing scientific evidence to global debate on AI’s opportunities and risks.