The impact of technology has become overwhelming in our societies and in our lives. Technology impacts our personal privacy, our personal safety, but also our national safety, political stability, and even financial well-being.

If we think about new fields of science and technology coming into mainstream commercial use - most recently AI and increasingly quantum come to mind - what are the types of things that we should be doing now in order to avoid unwanted consequences in the future.

Today's guest is someone who knows this world inside-out. Christina Willis wears many hats; she's a scientist who's career has taken her from industry to the legislation chambers and back again.

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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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