Deep Pockets: Recent Episodes
Petra Soderling
This show uncovers the Roots of Tech industries, how they were Founded, and more importantly how they were Funded. The Internet, Space Technologies, Nuclear Power, Nano materials, Telecommunications networks, GPS, Microprocessors, Lithium batteries, Quantum computing – None of these would exist if it wasn’t for the average Joe - The tax payer. Nothing in the show should be taken as investment advise.
Since 2022, the world’s Quantum ecosystem has gathered in Washington DC to bring a quantum-ready future into focus. As you will hear from these interviews, Quantum World Congress is the world’s premier gathering for quantum technology leaders, innovators, and visionaries. The air was filled with hope, camaraderie, laughter, and optimism.
I attended the full 2024 event, including a precursor that was organized by the Embassy of Finland in Washington DC together with Johns Hopkins Science Policy and Diplomacy Group, as well as the pre-event International Forum ... with a microphone in hand.
Interviewees in the order of appearance:
André König, CEO of Global Quantum Intelligence (GQI)
Lincoln Carr, Quantum Education and Research Consultant; Professor of Physics and Quantum Engineering
Corban Tilleman-Dick, Founder & CEO of Maybell Quantum Industries, Chair, Elevate Quantum
Dr. Bob Sutor, Vice President and Practice Lead, Emerging Technologies, Futurum Group
Omid Noroozian, Ph.D., Deputy Chief Technologist, Astrophysics Division, NASA
Rajat Ghosh, Manager, National Quantum Strategy Secretariat at Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Canada
Aravind Ratnam, Chief Strategy Officer (Q-CTRL), Australia
Andreas Masuhr, Head of the Quantum Initiative, Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz (SCNAT), Switzerland
Tomas Andersson, Senior Research Officer, Swedish Research Council
Lene B. Oddershede, Senior Vice President, Professor, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark
Jarmo Sareva - Consul General, Ambassador, Consulate General of Finland in New York
Petri Koikkalainen, Counselor for Science and Education, Embassy of Finland in Washington DC
Fikriye Selen-Okatan, Senior Advisor, Digital Technologies and Startups, Business Finland in New York
Celia Merzbacher, QED-C Executive Director at SRI International
George Thomas, President of Connected DMV, organizer of Quantum World Congress
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Even though quantum computers are not in wide use yet, it is well known that they have the potential to break the encryption system that is in use in most modern computing systems. Across the globe, governments are beginning to prepare for the opportunities, but also to the threats that quantum computers will introduce. Danika Hannon, Deputy Head of the Quantum Strategy Institute, will tell us how the U.S., Europe, and Asian countries protect themselves against potential future threats.
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Take any device in your home with a screen; your phone, your computer, your TV, there’s a high likelihood that the display is built in South Korea, or by a South Korean company. At the very least whoever built it has licensed technology from South Korea. That’s kind of amazing. How did this Asian country become to dominate this piece of technology? Listen to this story from Government and Innovation - the Economic Developer's Guide to our Future, available in Amazon.
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The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act came into force August 1, 2024. This is the most comprehensive legislation on the topic. What does it entail, who is affected, how to comply? Meeri Haataja, CEO and Co-Founder of Saidot is one of Europe’s leading experts on AI governance. This episode discusses policy, innovation, social impact, and human interest stories of one humanity’s most disruptive modern technology.
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Bob Sutor worked at IBM for nearly 40 years, creating the modern IT infrastructure and industry. His most recent area of expertise, quantum computing, turns out to be the most exciting of them all. In this episode, Bob tells us why we are now in a point in history when the quantum industry needs its "Apollo program", a large scale government funded program and industrial policy that will take us to the next level.
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How does recruiting in AI differ from recruiting in biotech, or quantum? Who is currently hiring, startups, corporations, or the academia? Will deeptech founders ever use professional recruiting companies? Any differences between North America and Europe? Answers to these, and other burning deeptech recruitment questions by Amir Rasool from Orion Technology.
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Finland's Climate Fund started its operations in December 2020. To date it has made 25 investment decisions that total 182.9 million euros in startups such as Solar Foods that makes protein out of air, Betolar, a sustainable cement company, or Paptic, a fiber based packaging material innovator. In May 2024 the Finnish government decided to ramp the fund down. Was the fund succesful, unsuccesful, and are there any lessons learned for others? Deep Pockets talks to Pia Erkinheimo, Director of Dealflow and Customer Relationships on her journey.
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Season 1 was launched in October 2021 as I was writing by book Government and Innovation, the Economic Developer’s Guide to our Future. I wanted to have conversations with people in the crossroads of technology and government in order to better understand the landscape, and also to collect interviews and material for the book. Which I did, and I’m extremely grateful to all of those people.
Season 2 began just as the book was coming out, in February 2023. With season 2 I wanted to give the audience a taste of the book, now that it was available on Amazon. Each episode is loosely linked to a chapter in the book, covering both government funded technologies as well as various means for governments to support innovation.
Season 3 opened in the beginning of 2024. Here I wanted to celebrate other nonfiction authors who had written books that talk about, or support the idea of publicly funded research and innovation. I found six fabulous books that everyone who is interested in this topic should read.
Having organized, booked, scripted, recorded and edited 27 episodes I must confess I’m looking for something that wouldn’t be so time consuming. Hence, the Random Rendezvous.
In Season 4 I can book whoever I want, to talk about whatever they want. No script, no agenda, just a friendly conversation on a topic that’s current or interesting. I will invite people I meet in conferences, online, or authors of books I read. There will always be a link to technology, innovation, or economic development, that’s for sure.
But I also want to keep the mind open to discover something new and exciting.
I can’t wait to see what it will be. Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it.
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Claudia Fracchiolla, Public Engagement at the American Physical Society takes us behind the scenes to how the idea to have 2025 nominated as the United Nations's International Year of Quantum happened, who was involved, and what happens next. Support the Show.
With this closing session of Season 3 - the book club - I'm talking to Chris Elliott from Studio Aguze. We had some fun moments recording my audiobook, and want to celebrate nonfiction authors by offering insight into the audiobook recording process. I hope you've enjoyed Seas 3, and talk to you soon again.
Brian Lenahan of the Quantum Strategy Institute talks about his two passions; the writing process and quantum. The latest book 'On the Shoulders of Giants: 10 Quantum Pioneers of the Past' talks about the people in distant and recent past who inspire the scientists, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts of today. Who were the mathematicians, the tinkerers, the builders and philosophers that brought us the quantum science we commercialize today.
Within the next ten years, the anti-aging industry will be world's biggest industry. It will no longer be just about "looking younger" or "feeling younger". It will be, through science, about "solving the problem of the aging of the human body". This is the promise of the book The Death of Death - The Scientific Possibility of Physical Immortality and its Moral Defense by by José Luis Cordeiro and David Wood.
It may be a surprise that radio spectrum is a limited resource, becoming more and more limited as new uses and users are being added. Today’s guest Jennifer A. Manner knows everything about this subject as she literally wrote the book, many books in fact, about the standardization, allocation, and innovation around radio waves. Her most recent book 'Spectrum Wars - The Rise of 5G and Beyond' discusses the evolving international spectrum regulatory landscape and how to meet the growing demand for spectrum for 5G , 6G and beyond.
Kimberly Clausing's book defends the global economic integration, and suggests ways for Americans to first of all, ride along and not become crushed by international realities, but also to create national policies within the U.S. to equip workers for the modern economy, better tax policies, and better partnerships between tax payers and businesses.
Wealthcare - Demystifying Web3 and the Rise of Personal Data Economies by Dr. Brigitte Piniewski introduces the imperative for individually specific health intelligence. As Web3 and AI advance new technical instruments, diverse stakeholders are desperate for a clear understanding of the path to society's next data-driven wealth inflection. How can decentralized personalization lead to human-in-the-loop decision-making.
For many private companies creating products in nascent technologies, government agencies are the first paying customers. How would a small business go about discovering and creating these contracts. Dan Roche’s book “The Total Beginner's Handbook for Doing Business with the Government - A Plain Language, Easy-to-Understand, and Mildly Entertaining Guide to a Complicated and Often Misunderstood Business” will get you started.
Welcome back to Deep Pockets, the show that brings you insight and knowledge on the birth and dissemination of deep technologies, the role of different stakeholders, and what it takes to make a successful innovation-based economic plan.
University spin-off team, or university drop-out founder? Today we discuss tech transfer from academia to markets and who owns inventions realized in companies and universities. Today's guest is the former president of Licensing Executives Society Scandinavia, Olli Pekonen, who has extensive experience in patenting hi-tech inventions. What would be the best model to foster maximum innovation potential out of the brightest scientists and innovators of our time? How to make sure inventors get a fair share or at least something of profits?
Space is becoming an increasingly interesting playground for private companies. What are the next great milestones of the space industry we will likely see in recent years? In the studio with me is the maestro of the space industry, Arfan Chaudhry, Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships in the Saudi Space Commission, former International Director of the UK Space Agency.
Our modern society may need more cyber security experts than soldiers. What do you think of this sentence? Thought-provoking? Today's guest, the multitalented Danika Hannon, gives us the lay of the land of the fascinating world of cyber security, where AI and quantum are adding new layers of challenges. Even though the cyber security industry is increasingly critically important to individuals, companies, and societies, it is in a serious shortage of skilled professionals.
Education innovators want to make learning easier and more fun for children – but how a successful educational innovation is created? This and many other topics with me is discussing today Märt Aro, an expert in educational innovation from Estonia, a land of such start-up success stories like Skype, and also an outstanding achiever in the PISA results. Märt is a founder of several education companies and NGOs, the latest being DreamApply.com.
On November 15, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law a 1.2 trillion dollar bill, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. How will this law and its budget affect the transition toward cleaner energy and a healthier environment? In the studio Rao Konidena, author of Modern Electricity Systems: Engineering, Operations, and Policy.
We are all interested in our health, but as taxpayers and voters, we should also be interested in the health of our fellow citizens, coworkers, teachers, bus drivers, and CEOs. In this episode, Charlie Schick, Ph.D. in molecular biology, is "crafting bits-atoms-narratives in a physical-digital-sublime world" for us.
Jon Radoff, a famed game designer, spokesperson on AI and virtual worlds, and a self-described “metavert” designed the concept ‘the seven layers of Metaverse’. What is metaverse, why do we need it, who is creating it, and who is using it? Does the government play a role? Join our conversation peeling off the layers of metaverse.
Can start-up entrepreneurs and academic scientists speak the same language? Can one person be both of those things at the same time? We interview the multi-talent Tanya Ramond, who holds a PhD in physics, runs her own company, mentors space start-ups at Techstars, reviews programs at NSF, and oh, also plays the violin and speaks French. Join our talk and discover practical tools for commercializing science.
Robert Beletic, call sign ‘Surf’, sat down with us to talk about his long career in the US Air Force, the Canadian Air Force, and UAE Ministry of Defense. How does a long career in the operational and strategic national security environment prepare someone for an economic development role? In this case, extremely well. Join us to hear what this Top Gun is doing for the Colorado Aerospace industry.
Strategizing trade, creating public policies around trade, and executing on those is not a privilege reserved for nations only. Even states can create and boost federal and international trade. Gabrielle Gerbaud, Executive Director of the Minnesota Trade Office, shares her trade toolbox with us, including tax policies, diplomacy, direct commercial guidance, and free-trade zones. How does Minnesota, the second happiest state in the US and the birthplace of inventions like Post-it notes, create its trade policy?
Is the US making most of its immigration potential? Is the system working for American companies in demand of smart and educated employees? Is it working for those immigrants? Silicon Valley Specialist Attorney in Immigration and Nationality Law, Sophie Alcorn, has firsthand experience in working with tech professionals, startups, and Fortune 100 companies. Join our conversation on immigration, technology, aspirations and the good life.
New Orleans is described as the northernmost Caribbean city with a rich cultural heritage. Michel Hecht, CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc. talks to us how economic development efforts on federal, state, and local level have enabled Nola tech companies to create $2.5 billion worth of exists since January 2021, how oil and gas rigs are being turned into wind farms, and how NASA, Lockheed Martin and Boeing are creating the New Orleans Space Campus.
Climate crisis, Russia's aggression, Cybersecurity: Many good reasons to reduce dependency from static, large fossil fuel based energy infrastructures. Rao Konidena, Founder and CEO of Rakon Energy LLC walks us through the logistics, finances, and policy aspects of distributed, aggregated energy grids.
The US, EU, China and other states have announced public initiatives worth of billions, in support of quantum technology development in their regions. Celia Merzbacher, the Executive Director at the US based Quantum Economic Development Consortium QED-C, discusses the public and private quantum economic dynamics that will have a tectonic impact on how nations will prosper in the future.
Why is CIA investing in tech startups? Should the Department of Defense be responsible for basic science? Was 9/11 good or bad for innovation?
Laura Thomas, a specialist in National Security and Emerging Technologies discusses the role of national safety, budgeting and public procurement in how they affect technology innovation.
In 2001 Ora Lassila, James Hendler, and Tim Berners-Lee publish a paper in the Scientific American titled The Semantic Web. This would be a new form of Web content that is meaningful to computers rather than humans and will unleash a revolution of new possibilities. Then what happened? Dr. Ora Lassila tells the story.
David Wood, Futurist, Catalyst, Author, and Singularitarian shares the fascinating stories of the early smartphone industry. "The story of the evolution of smartphones is fascinating in its own right – for its rich set of characters, and for its colourful set of triumphs and disasters. But the story has wider implications. Many important lessons can be drawn from careful review of the successes and, yes, the failures of the smartphone industry."
"Any investor that invests into quantum computing and expects a liquidity event other than exit is fooling her or himself". André M. König, CEO of Entanglement Capital talks quantum computing, public support and private investment landscape.
In the spring of 2020 I realized I was spending too much time watching Netflix, and reading too few books. I stumbled upon Dr Mariana Mazzucato's The Entrepreneurial State. That led to a journey into technologies, governments, and deeply rooted worldviews.