Win the Future

Look ahead: not decades, not even years. Imagine a Silicon Valley-span of time that may be counted in mere months, a future that is maybe even sooner than that. Imagine the power to hail a self-driving car, catch a ride, and not think a moment about parking. See yourself hopping on a bullet train to Los Angeles. Ignore the highway traffic and get there in three hours, maybe less. Envision an electronic caretaker at home: a brilliant amalgamation of hardware and software that can help grandma with her daily routines and fetch her medicine. Look no closer than your body, where genomics can produce better diagnostics and treatments of disease and discomfort. These are exciting times!

Yet these days also bring forth near-constant reminders of our vulnerabilities: to cyber-security threats, environmental disasters, and our democratic values. As the future unfolds, sometimes faster than even we would want, technology is the key to realizing these new possibilities, and to anticipating and mitigating disasters we can barely imagine. Technology is the key. But so too is community.

That’s why I am so happy to welcome you to the 2018 Silicon Valley Women in Engineering (WiE) Conference. Here we bring together nearly 100 women technologists and 450 engineering students as a community to survey today’s opportunities and ponder what lies ahead. What are the key technology drivers?  What are other dots that need to be connected? What are the impacts?

By “impacts,” I invite you to look closer to one example I offered. Think about those self-driving cars that are right around the corner. Talk about an exciting innovation! But we are compelled to consider: What will happen to all of those taxi drivers and Uber drivers? Those Lyft drivers? What will happen to an entire transportation economy ready to be turned upside down? Think also about automobile manufacturers - here and around the world. How will they confront a future when we need fewer cars? Where will those employees go? We’d better set about finding answers to these questions, to facing new challenges that are technological, economic, social, national, international—and deeply personal.

The 2018 WiE Conference promises a great opportunity for you to explore these issues while expanding your horizons and elevating your visions. Toward that end, we are fortunate to have the participation and support of many women technologists and leaders who are committed to helping and guiding our students. They can help us look ahead to an amazing, exciting, disruptive and transformative future. That need, the need to look further ahead, brings us together as a community. Together we embrace a shared vision: a way ahead to help students, especially women students, prepare for tomorrow.

Because after all, those who are prepared for the future will emerge as winners.