SIMACRO Selected to Lead National Bio-Manufacturing Digital Platform Initiative
SIMACRO has been selected as the lead organization for a newly approved National Bio-industry Technology program focused on industrial strain-based bio-material manufacturing. The project runs four and a half years, from July 2026 through December 2030. It marks the first time SIMACRO has served as the lead institution (주관기관) on a government-funded initiative built around direct collaboration with academia.
A First-of-Its-Kind Digital Platform for Bio-Manufacturing
The program's objective is to build an AI-based modeling and operations platform specialized for industrial bio-manufacturing processes, a first attempt at this scale domestically.
SIMACRO leads the project's Section 1, the Digital Platform track responsible for completing the bio-digital platform and its underlying models. SIMACRO's ProcessModel V™ (PMV™) platform serves as the foundation for this work, extended here into a bio-specific package.
A Cross-Institutional Research Team
The consortium brings together Seoul National University (SNU), Chungnam National University (CNU), Sogang University, Inha University, and KRIBB (Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology), alongside SIMACRO.
Assistant Professor Hong Moo-sun (SNU) leads the AI hybrid modeling work, including the algorithms that select the optimal ML model for a given process.
Associate Professor Roh Ko-san (CNU) leads the Pre-FEED automation engine, generating process flow diagrams, equipment sizing, and manufacturing cost estimates.
Professor Na Jung-geol (Sogang U.) leads fermentation experimentation for itaconic acid.
Assistant Professor Kim Jun-woo (Inha U.), formerly head of CJ BIO's process engineering R&D center, leads commercial bioplant design validation.
KRIBB contributes fermentation data for PHA.
Why the Experiments Target Extreme Conditions
The fermentation experiments across the consortium are not designed to find the best operating conditions. They are designed to probe the edges of the process, including abnormal and extreme operating conditions a manufacturing line would normally avoid.
The goal is not to run production, it is to build a model. KRIBB and Sogang University are generating data under process limits and abnormal fermentation scenarios for this reason.
Strategic Relevance for the Bio Industry
The government's decision to fund a bio-specific digital platform reflects a recognition that general-purpose process software, built around traditional chemical processes, does not adequately handle the biological complexity of industrial bio-manufacturing.
For SIMACRO, this is also the company's first project structured around academia as the primary collaboration model.
Written by Hyejin Cho
SIMACRO media team | media@simacro.com
