Finding Ada: There is one in every girl

I truly believe there is an Ada Lovelace in every girl in every part of the world, just waiting to be uncovered.

I am fortunate I have had an opportunity to work with many Adas across the world already through our partners Mastercard and Microsoft.

With Microsoft we have successfully inspired hundreds of girls in Seattle, New York, London, San Francisco, Bucharest and Warsaw to create AI for Impact and this initiative will now scale across 150 countries.

Since Covid, we have been running all our programmes online and this gave us an incredible opportunity to reach young people from across so many different countries across Africa, Asia, US, Europe and the UK.

Today we are celebrating Ada Lovelace Day and it's Day 4 of our Ada Lovelace Hackathon 2020, our annual flagship programme.

This exciting event brings together students from all around the globe to develop innovative AI solutions to the most pressing healthcare and societal challenges facing the planet.

Attracting 130 enterprising young people from around the world, we have created an opportunity for young minds, aged 12-18, to join the wider AI and machine learning community from the safety of their homes in this virtual hackathon. With 52% of participants being girls and 67% coming from a state school, participants are tuning in from countries all over the world including the UK, US, Romania, Syria, Kazakhstan and India making this is one of their most global events so far.

We are proud of the fact that we brought the best speakers to inspire our future Adas.

1. Harriet Green OBE - EDB Board Member, Influencer, Former IBM Asia Pacific CEO & Chairman

We launched our hackathon with a talk from the incredible Harriet Green OBE. She talked about the realities of the fast-changing and unprecedented times we live in tackling climate change, COVID-19, recession and much more. She inspired our participants with insight into the unique opportunity they have to be real change-makers and leaders; “You are all our future...your job is to acquire the skills the world needs” She closed with the words of Thomas J Woodson SR: “Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of "crackpot" than the stigma of conformity.”

2. Renee Cummings - Founder & CEO, Urban AI, Data Activist, AI Ethicist and Criminologist.

Renee taught our participants the importance of diversity, equity and visibility in all aspects of data and AI. Any AI system we develop must not only be diverse and equitable, but also diverse and transparent and most importantly fair: “Where there is promise, there is also peril. Where there is reward, there is also risk”. She talked about the importance of advocacy and awareness and the need for more diversity in race, ability, gender and more. 

She told our participants that their role as young people is essential as you will be the ones who make these ethical decisions and decide the importance of diversity and inclusion in the future of tech. You will stretch the imagination of AI with multidisciplinary thinking

3. Dr Fadji Maina - Nigerien Earth scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

We heard from the incredible Fadji Maina about her journey from the small village of Zinder, Niger all the way to NASA. Her curiosity, intelligence and desire to help her community solve their water problems as a small girl lead her to achieve her PhD at 25, be named a Forbes 30 U30 and become one of the most influential scientists in tech today. She gave us this key insight : “Knowledge is infinite, everything is infinite, we can always go up.”

4. ?shild Hanne Larsen - CIO and SVP of Corporate IT, Equinor

A 26-year veteran of Equinor, ?shild worked her way up from a job in catering on an offshore rig to CIO. At Equinor, she held roles of increasing responsibility in IT (Downstream), HR, and Leadership Development.

She offered powerful advice for the younger generation of girls and women hoping to work in tech and AI: 

1. You CAN make a difference
2. Say yes to opportunities
3. Find a role model that inspires you
4. Remember to pay it forward

5. Susan Etlinger - Industry Analyst, Altimeter group.

In this amazing talk, Susan talked about the importance of giving platforms to and empowering the right voices. As well as providing her unique insight into the world of this and bias in AI, she brought with her the stories and voices of a diverse group of creators and advocates in the world of AI and Tech. In the Q&A she answered the participants' curious questions about the importance of diversity in AI and the reality of data bias.

6. Margeaux Penwarden - Data Scientist at QuantumBlack, McKinsey & Company

In this inspiring talk, Margeaux talked us through her background and journey into data science. She talked about what roles in data science involve and her experience navigating the industry. Her advice and insights were powerful for participants and moderators alike who have experienced imposter syndrome and the sexism that is a part of the tech and AI world.

7. Ivana Bartoletti - Technical Director, Deloitte & Co-Founder, Women Leading in AI Network

Ivana joined us for a very special live episode of the Teens In AI Podcast. Ivana talked with Michaela and Elena about Privacy, Bias and Global Politics in AI. She provided fascinating insights into the future of privacy and politics in a world of COVID and gave powerful advice to your women hoping to work and create AI and tech.

8. Santa Borel - Senior Data Scientist, Privacy Analytics

Santa gave us an incredibly powerful talk about her journey to AI throughout university and beyond. It was inspiring for the young participants to hear the power of ambition and creativity and that there are multiple unconventional routes into AI and tech.

9. Yonah Welker - Explorer, Mentor, Board Member

Yonah really opened our participants eyes to the importance of diversity and specifically neuro-diversity in tech and AI. They talked about their journey and defining experiences. This was powerful for all participants, but particularly empowering for the neuro-diverse participants in the hackathon to recognise their unique abilities and talents.

10. Orla Doyle - Lead Data Scientist, IQVIA

Orla gave a fascinating insight into AI Health and common myths about AI and its future. She raised questions about the future of AI in a clinical setting and some of the ethics behind its implementation into the healthcare industry. 

11. Dilek Hakkani-Tur - Senior Principal Scientist, Amazon Alexa

We heard from Dilek about the incredible work that goes on behind the scenes in amazon and Amazon Alexa. She talked about language processing and the challenges that context and language presents