Quantum computing: How Elisa Torres is changing the industry (#17)

00:00:02: Swiss Cyber Security Days Talk.

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00:00:08: Seaton.

00:00:10: Welcome to this episode of the Swiss Cyber Security Days Talk, Recorded Life here in Bern.

00:00:16: My name is Sandra Casalini and today I'm joined by Elisa Torres from Chile, founder and CEO of Girls in Quantum.

00:00:23: In this episode, we will talk about the importance of young women in emerging technologies.

00:00:28: Elisa herself is nineteen years old and founded Girls in Quantum at the age of sixteen and the role of quantum computing in the future.

00:00:36: Welcome to our podcast lounge, Elisa.

00:00:38: It is a pleasure to have you here.

00:00:40: My pleasure.

00:00:40: Thank you so much for inviting me and I'm so happy to be here in the Swiss Cyber Security days, a second year in a row and understanding more about what's happening here.

00:00:48: So while on occasions like this one, other speakers are asked about their specialty fields.

00:00:53: You are often asked, and I'm not excluding myself, about what it's like to be a young woman in your specialty field.

00:01:00: Is that bothering you sometimes?

00:01:02: That's a good question.

00:01:03: I would say that there's definitely a lot of challenges when it comes to being a woman into this field.

00:01:09: There's a lot of opportunities into quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and also cybersecurity.

00:01:14: But I'm really interested into how can we just... not to consider those barriers and instead focus on knowledge and learning.

00:01:21: At Girls in Quantum we've been able to establish programs where people can learn about quantum computing in a much easier and interactive way.

00:01:28: So it's easier for them to understand things that might seem difficult sometimes, into something that is much easier to mentor programs, research and different opportunities.

00:01:38: Of course it is unusual that a woman your age is doing what you are doing at a level you are doing it at.

00:01:44: So I will ask the question nonetheless.

00:01:46: What is that like for you?

00:01:47: Like how do people react to you?

00:01:49: How are you treated?

00:01:51: Good.

00:01:51: So it always depends.

00:01:54: I remember going to conferences at first and I had sixteen years old and people just looked at me and told me, unfortunately, oh, so you're the daughter of... someone or what are you doing here?

00:02:06: And then they saw my badge and they saw a speaker.

00:02:08: So they were just confused about a baby face and then a speaker at the same time.

00:02:12: So what was happening here?

00:02:14: And I think it's been definitely a quite an experience for me, understanding, okay, this is not a field which is usually dominated by females, male dominated, but how can we change that?

00:02:24: How can we bring the freshness of the new generation and understand that this is not always like this and we should just be able to change it and be open to and flexible to.

00:02:34: I'm happy to understand and see how many women are joining this field and just be able to understand more about quantum through girls in quantum.

00:02:41: Why is that necessary?

00:02:42: Like why is it necessary for more women to get involved in emerging technologies in general and in quantum computing especially?

00:02:50: For sure.

00:02:50: I would say that there's an analogy like if we had just all men or all women in a country.

00:02:56: or in the world overall, we need the collaboration.

00:02:59: We need both women and men to collaborate with each other and have different sort of outcomes, ideas.

00:03:06: brainstorm together.

00:03:07: And I think that so far we've been talking with more than thirty companies so far internationally.

00:03:11: And what they've seen is that the collaboration between women and men, it's key, it's valuable.

00:03:17: And that's what brings cyber's outcomes and great ideas afterwards, great products, great clients, great results and great investment.

00:03:26: So let's do talk about quantum computing, especially since twenty twenty five was declared the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.

00:03:34: It is very exciting.

00:03:36: It consumes a lot less energy than, for example, AI.

00:03:40: It optimizes applications in pharma.

00:03:42: What else excites you about it?

00:03:44: I'm

00:03:45: super excited about all those things that you mentioned, specifically pharma.

00:03:48: So how can we help people that are having different diseases?

00:03:52: How can we help them through biomedical research and quantum computing to creating perhaps or accelerating drug development?

00:03:59: I'm very interested to seek the future of that, but also to see what's happening now.

00:04:04: I was just a couple of months ago in Ohio, being able to understand how Cleveland Clinic is working with IVM in order to accelerate drug development.

00:04:13: which is one of the main areas of interest for me.

00:04:16: So that is really, really interesting.

00:04:18: Also logistics and cybersecurity.

00:04:20: So how countries around the world, there is more than seventeen initiatives globally that governments are implementing on.

00:04:26: how can they bring research, academia, industry all together so we can democratize knowledge, but also understand how can this be effective in our own countries and seek investment.

00:04:37: Speaking about being effective in your own country, coming from Chile is not very usual to be interested in that topic.

00:04:48: I would say that overall I've seen a lot of just wonderful women, wonderful students just learning about these areas.

00:04:54: And being from Chile, it's of course a new thing.

00:04:58: There's always people from the United States, people from other countries here in Europe as well.

00:05:04: We're all interested about these things, but in Latin America I think that we're missing that part.

00:05:09: It's not that we don't have the talent.

00:05:11: I would say that we have a lot of talent, but we have to retain the talent and that's really important.

00:05:16: So how can we retain the talent?

00:05:18: by giving fellowships, by providing support infrastructure in the ecosystem that is needed, especially because there's so many talented people that are doing their research but they don't have enough funding.

00:05:27: So I'm very looking forward to see governments and policymakers investing into research, investing into our people so we can have a quantum ecosystem there in Chile.

00:05:36: And I can probably say that there's a couple of companies working there already working with quantum computers and trying to accelerate the ecosystem.

00:05:44: So looking forward to that and hopefully bringing the name of Chile in this international conference as I am doing now.

00:05:51: So how did you and quantum computing cross paths?

00:05:55: We crossed paths unexpectedly, I would say.

00:05:58: It wasn't planned.

00:05:59: I joined first a quantum computing course in twenty twenty one, but I had four hours of school.

00:06:05: So I said to myself, I need to do something else.

00:06:08: What can I do with just four hours of school?

00:06:11: So we I just like tried looking for different courses online.

00:06:16: And one of them was quantum computing.

00:06:18: And I said to myself, what is this?

00:06:20: What is quantum computing?

00:06:21: Right.

00:06:22: So.

00:06:23: It might sound weird at first, but I joined the course through a scholarship, a full scholarship, that I gained.

00:06:30: And it was just a lot of learning immersed into the world of quantum applications theory, but also what can we do next in the community in it.

00:06:38: So I decided to just start my community on my own to bring more females into this field and provide free educational resources.

00:06:45: And that's how girls in quantum started.

00:06:48: So in the end, it was like a combination of boredom and curiosity.

00:06:52: Hundred percent.

00:06:53: Hundred percent.

00:06:54: I couldn't agree more.

00:06:55: Curiosity, it's the key.

00:06:56: Whenever I've had some talks with where I go to school sometimes or go and talk with parents, and the parents ask me, what do I need to do for my children, for all the kids that are learning about this, so they can get involved into this area?

00:07:11: And I always say, it doesn't need to be, you have to be into computer computing, you have to be in mathematics or you have to be... physics, it needs to be about curiosity and how you're able to just learn and be curious and be excited about something.

00:07:24: So

00:07:25: when we do speak of quantum computing and cybersecurity, we unfortunately have to talk about the fact that we are aware of that is that towards the end of this decade, it will be capable of decrypting the inscription algorithms currently in use.

00:07:41: How should we be dealing with that?

00:07:43: Yes.

00:07:44: quantum computing and cyber security, and among other fields, it's a really difficult topic to understand at first, I would say first site, or whenever we just listen to it at first time.

00:07:56: But whenever we have or we encounter these two concepts together, it's really important to understand the foundation and how we understand quantum as itself, as a technology that it's been for a couple of years now, more than a hundred years.

00:08:10: thanks to the international year of quantum.

00:08:12: That's why we're celebrating it this year.

00:08:14: Some might say one hundred twenty five, but that's another story.

00:08:18: But the thing is here is first understanding quantum.

00:08:22: It's efficient, it's faster for certain problems that our classic computers such as our telephones and like laptops cannot solve.

00:08:29: So how can we use it to optimize those issues?

00:08:32: And the third thing is that how can we seek for the global landscape that it's building up nowadays?

00:08:37: I just talked with Amir Bogdan from Quantum Basel and he was telling me about all the ecosystem that is happening here in Switzerland, but also globally and how there is this competition among countries.

00:08:47: who is going to be the best and who... all have this publication switch.

00:08:51: So for me, it's first understanding what the world is doing with quantum and how can they implement it into local policies and national also policies to grow and understand the quantum and how can they secure the data in their own governments.

00:09:06: So on a personal note, how do you treat your own personal data?

00:09:12: That's a really good question.

00:09:13: So I would love to start using quantum computers for that.

00:09:16: I think that we still have a little bit of time, I would say, to start using it more in a personal aspect or more in a daily basis.

00:09:25: However, I really try to be conscious about where do I post my information, whether I storage my information as well, always trying to keep always things between contexts as well and trust certain group of people.

00:09:41: social media, it's full of pictures perhaps of me and that I share of course in my personal account, but I think that overall... there's a dilemma between communicating what I do, which is educate people in quantum computing, but also how to save my data, right, and make it secure from other people that may have these bad intentions for it.

00:10:01: So I'm learning, as well as other people who are in this cyber world, I would say.

00:10:07: There's a lot of things to expect as well, but I hope that perhaps next time that I come here, we can be talking and I can be saying, actually, I'm using now quantum computers for this.

00:10:17: And your password is not one, two, three, four, five.

00:10:19: That's really good.

00:10:20: Yeah, no, for sure it's not bad.

00:10:22: It's much more difficult in my month on May that it needs to be also a longer password.

00:10:27: But one topic is also that your generation, social media, the internet is your everyday life.

00:10:34: And a lot of sort of borders are not there anymore.

00:10:40: Is it also something that you see sort of as a quest to Tell your generation not to be too careless.

00:10:47: Absolutely.

00:10:48: I would say that one of the most important things right now is to be aware of how do we use quantum computing?

00:10:56: Of course, in like, how can we use it in the future?

00:10:59: But how do we use our tools that we're using just on a daily basis, right?

00:11:05: Or phones?

00:11:06: How are we using social media in the way that, yeah, we share pictures with... look so nice sometimes and we're sharing stories.

00:11:12: At the same time, that has so much information that is valid for other people to do bad things.

00:11:18: So, origination has this great power and this great enthusiasm into sharing content creation, how to inspire the next generation to learning more about climate change or learning about how can we have a social impact into our communities.

00:11:32: And that has built a lot of, I would say, power and... I would say also resources into our generation to how in one click or with one video, they can reach millions of people.

00:11:46: So that's a powerful tool.

00:11:47: But at the same time, let's be aware about it.

00:11:51: Let's just be conscious.

00:11:52: Let's be aware about how can we provide education on the area and how can we prepare the next generation as well for the consequences that it might have in a couple of years or not just in the long term, but also in the short term.

00:12:05: Yeah, in the end, it comes down to being very vulnerable and to sort of protect that vulnerability.

00:12:11: Yes, and also parents.

00:12:13: So how can parents be prepared as well to help their children when sharing information?

00:12:18: Because nowadays, as you mentioned, we have the headphones on social media, and it's not just now at twelve years old or like fifteen years old, twenty years old.

00:12:26: It's people who are children.

00:12:29: They are just understanding how the world works and how perhaps just playing with their friends, but they don't know that one click, again, that one thing that they post online, that might change everything.

00:12:41: So how can we make... parents aware of what is the best way to teach them, to help them learn and to help children be safe from other people with bad intentions.

00:12:52: So let's

00:12:53: go back to girls in quantum.

00:12:54: In the last three years, you've got more than seven thousand students in twenty eight countries.

00:13:00: That's the figures you have by now.

00:13:02: What is your goal?

00:13:03: I'm so excited.

00:13:04: When I listen to those words, I just can't believe it.

00:13:07: That is true.

00:13:09: So one of the main goals so far, we've been able to achieve this through a lot of collaboration and partnerships, companies that help us make this possible through programs, through workshops and organizing different panelists, panels with experts in the field.

00:13:25: So what we look forward to is just create a global community as we're doing now, but with more countries.

00:13:30: We need it still.

00:13:31: I was just talking.

00:13:32: now in our panel, we need someone from Switzerland to help us represent what quantum computing is and how can we bring opportunities here and share that with other people as well in different schools across Switzerland.

00:13:45: So our goal is to build this global community to continue with research, to continue with academia, to help them.

00:13:53: Learn first with serial knowledge.

00:13:55: People start here not understanding quantum.

00:13:57: They just have the interest.

00:13:59: They have the spark.

00:14:00: And that's that thing that I really like.

00:14:02: They're passionate about it.

00:14:03: They're like, I want to learn at least about quantum.

00:14:05: Let's do it.

00:14:06: How do I start?

00:14:07: So they start learning with our resources.

00:14:08: We have three hundred resources and more online.

00:14:11: They're free and accessible.

00:14:12: There are videos, there are books, there are games, everything that you can imagine.

00:14:15: it's there.

00:14:16: Even think with Minecraft, which is usually common for just students to play, that where they can learn about quantum.

00:14:23: So our goal is that students can learn about that, but also afterwards be able to join hackathons, be able to apply the skills that they learn so they don't forget about it because it's just like a language.

00:14:32: If you learn a new language and you don't practice it with someone, then what happens?

00:14:35: Then you forget it, right?

00:14:37: So how can we help students learn quantum, then apply hackathons in social competitions, in their schools, and hopefully the next step that also is.

00:14:47: our goal is to connect them with roles, job postings, and recruiters as well that can help them.

00:14:52: and just have a job perhaps and be able to do that and spend their lives trying to do really meaningful work into quantum computing and doing what they like, of course.

00:15:02: Thank you very much, Elisa, for these insights.

00:15:05: It is great to see such a young woman thriving and succeeding in a field like this.

00:15:09: We wish you all the best for your future.

00:15:11: Thank you.

00:15:12: Thank you so much, Sandra, for the support.

00:15:14: And I'm really looking forward to this next couple of hours as well of this symposium and just witnessing this whole symposium and all the great things that are happening.

00:15:23: And of course, a big thank you to our audience for tuning in.

00:15:26: If you enjoyed the discussion, don't forget to subscribe.

00:15:29: And we'll see you next time.

00:15:32: Bye.

00:15:32: you.