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Bringing women to the forefront of DeepTech: Shalini Kapoor, IBM

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Vaishnavi Desai
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Women in DeepTech

In the recent years, there have been multiple initiatives to bring women to the forefront of STEM. Providing equal opportunities, ending pay disparity and even working out solutions for situations unique to women have encouraged female participation in the tech workforce. But the road is long and journey arduous.

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In conversation with Shalini Kapoor – IBM Fellow AI Applications, IBM India Software Labs, we discuss the challenges faced by women in DeepTech, how technology can play a part in bringing forth inclusion and DeepTech developments at IBM.

Edited excerpts:

Challenges faced by women in DeepTech

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According to a recently published book by UNESCO “A braided river: The universe of Indian Women in Science”, India has an estimated 2.6 million women graduates in science - one of the highest in the world. The report also states that more women than men are graduating in a growing number of scientific disciplines – over the last 5 years the number of females per 100 male students pursuing a Master of Science has increased from 157 in 2015-16 to 180 for the year 2019-20. These data points suggest that more women are pursuing STEM education and careers.

The DeepTech sector is gender agnostic and provides a conducive environment for women to work and lead. In fact, in areas like Artificial Intelligence, multi-disciplinary skills are essential, allowing women to excel in this domain. Furthermore, to stay in DeepTech a person needs to innovate continuously, file patents, participate and be active in the relevant research forums, publish papers, and attend conferences. It is a rigorous cycle that, for women, may coincide with other life events like marriage, moving places, maternity break, raising kids, and caring for elders, all at the same time.

Navigating through these life events while not losing focus on your professional pursuits and passion is critical. Sometimes, the most important thing or a challenging task is to dedicate time to think deeply about a problem or solution and find answers in the plethora of information. So, reaching the stage or area of DeepTech is difficult. Once a woman decides to work in DeepTech, she has mastered enough obstacles to stay there. Then it is all about staying in a technical role and not getting pulled into the plethora of management roles that dilute the technical competencies and capabilities needed.

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What can be done to bring women to the forefront of DeepTech

I believe that women should be provided with more opportunities and platforms to present their ideas, learnings, and breakthroughs and build their external eminence. These can boost their confidence and inspire them to take on challenging roles. At the same time, what is also important is the presence of 'Allies' - within the organization who believe in them. Talent is not an issue or concern, but what women need is a nudge, and if organizations take these steps, we will see more women in DeepTech roles. 

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Shalini Kapoor, IBM
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Flexibility around their roles, deliverables, and careers is an important ingredient of the success of women. Many women shy from taking up challenging roles because either they find the rules and conditions too stringent or are hesitant to explore flexible options. A simple statement ‘Women participants- please explore flexible options’ will coax women to enquire and choose what they can deliver. We need to nudge women to choose flexible options and offer those choices. We need diversity in DeepTech but it will not happen automatically.

To be able to achieve gender balance at every level in the organization IBM has many programs & interventions to empower women employees in the early, mid, and senior levels, these include work hour flexibility, inclusive & gender-neutral policies, leadership and employee training on unconscious bias, and mentorship programs, etc. Active mentor and sponsor relationships are instrumental in equipping young talent with the right skills to advance their career and charter a growth path.

How can technology play a role in diversity and inclusion?

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A diverse and inclusive organization not only makes business sense but can help propel innovation and also help attract and retain the right talent. An inclusive workplace requires the participation and action of each member of an organization to celebrate its diversity and make progress. Technology can also be an enabler of diversity and inclusion in an organization by providing data-driven insights and proposing actionable solutions. It can also help identify biases, help in eliminating them, and improve systems and processes that ensure bias-free outcomes. At IBM, we harness data transparency and AI to enable accountability, action, and outcomes for increased diversity representation and inclusion at every level. Our data fuels a science-based model to help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. It informs what we do, and supports us to scale cultural and behavioral transformation across IBM. This includes multiple dimensions across our societal and business initiatives such as:

- Recruitment pipeline development to maximize the flow of diverse individuals to IBM

- Skills-based hiring to power IBM into the future

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- Differentiated experiences affirming IBMers belong, are engaged and are heard

- Mentorship and career development programs to increase diversity representation in management and executive roles across our company

- Transparency in IBM’s diversity mix and accountability in selection decisions

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- Respect for the individual and appreciation of our differences and intersectionality

- Innovative technology enabling Equity and Equal Opportunity in IBM programs and practices

 Elaborate on your vision for IBM in the coming future.

Technology can impact lives and help us solve societal and business problems that exist in our society today. My vision is that IBM will innovate and create solutions that would impact billions and improve their lives. 

As organizations transform themselves, IBM will lead the strategy and transformation into a new era of computing and we will see a convergence of AI, Hybrid Cloud and Quantum technologies that will help accelerate the rate of scientific discovery like nothing before.

IBM will lead in Hybrid Cloud, AI and the Quantum era. For instance, our quantum scientists and engineers are conducting fundamental research to improve this technology. Quantum computing is expected to shed light on processes of molecular and chemical interactions, address difficult optimization problems, and boost the power of artificial intelligence. Advances like these could open the door to new scientific discoveries, life-saving drugs, and improvements in supply chains, logistics, and the modelling of financial data. We believe, within a few years, the industry will have discovered the first applications where quantum computers together with classical computers will solve practical problems. 

DeepTech developments at IBM

Our strategy is focused on helping clients leverage the power of the hybrid cloud and AI and our R&D work is advancing our capabilities in these two areas. As an organization, we are also focused on shaping the technologies of tomorrow and are focused on scaling the development of quantum computing. In 2021, we unveiled Eagle, a 127-qubit quantum processor – the first quantum chip that breaks the 100-qubit barrier and represents a key milestone on our path towards building a 1,121-qubit processor by 2023. Apart from Quantum, we are driving breakthrough innovations in semiconductor design and systems. Last year, we unveiled the world’s first 2-nanometer chip technology, which will allow 50 billion transistors to fit on a chip the size of a fingernail. With the innovations that we are driving in Hybrid Cloud, AI, and quantum computing, we believe that we can accelerate new discoveries up to 10 times faster and at ten times less cost. This will help uncover breakthroughs that will affect our daily lives and the way we work. 

I’m part of the IBM Software team that is building innovative solutions that accelerate the data-driven agendas of our clients by infusing AI throughout the enterprise, empowering intelligent decision making. We are developing products that simplify self-service data consumption through a data fabric, optimize customer care operations and make better predictions through business analytics. Our Data & AI capabilities facilitate how businesses collaborate and enable intelligent management of enterprise assets and supply chains with environmental intelligence and the world’s most accurate weather forecast data to build more resilient, sustainable operations.

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