Hello Nicole Büttner!
Why was the Fosbury Flop a disruptive innovation? What exactly lies behind Deep Learning? And: Where are the founders?
Tell us about it.
WHAT DO YOU DO, PROFESSIONALLY, ALL DAY? WHAT IS THE EXACT FIELD/DISCIPLINE IN WHICH YOU WORK?
My goal every day is to put artificial intelligence to work for people, companies and society, and to find useful applications of this technology and implement them. In other words, in my everyday life, I’m in close contact with all kinds of companies and stakeholders. I try to understand what problems are relevant at the moment there to see how we can address them with our “AI tool kit.” For instance, the problems I deal with include topics such as the processing satellite data for purposes of terrestrial observation, automatic diagnosis of X-ray imagery, the elimination of gender bias in application processes and extending through to partial automation of production specifications in the processing industry (e.g. for CNC milling).
WHAT LED YOU TO TAKE SUCH AN INTEREST IN THIS FIELD/THIS DISCIPLINE? WHEN DID IT BEGIN? AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
My path to the field of artificial intelligence was not a linear one. I studied macroeconomics and econometrics – “old school data,” so to speak. After four years working in the financial sector in Paris, I was chosen to head business development and project management at Auctionomics in Palo Alto, California – the firm of one of my former professors at Stanford, Nobel laureate Paul Milgrom. That was where I came into contact with software development for the first time. It was there, working in the field of game theory, that we designed auctions and implemented them in software. And that was also where machine learning was used – and that’s when I became hooked. After that, parallel to setting up my first company, I learned a bit more about coding, got involved with deep learning. I worked independently online to learn the basics. To this day, I do not code; instead, I serve a kind of translator function that calls for a grasp of the technology involved, and that addresses relevant problems in the industry.
My goal every day is to put artificial intelligence to work for people, companies and society, and to find useful applications of this technology and implement them. In other words, in my everyday life, I’m in close contact with all kinds of companies and stakeholders. I try to understand what problems are relevant at the moment there to see how we can address them with our “AI tool kit.” For instance, the problems I deal with include topics such as the processing satellite data for purposes of terrestrial observation, automatic diagnosis of X-ray imagery, the elimination of gender bias in application processes and extending through to partial automation of production specifications in the processing industry (e.g. for CNC milling).
WHAT LED YOU TO TAKE SUCH AN INTEREST IN THIS FIELD/THIS DISCIPLINE? WHEN DID IT BEGIN? AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
My path to the field of artificial intelligence was not a linear one. I studied macroeconomics and econometrics – “old school data,” so to speak. After four years working in the financial sector in Paris, I was chosen to head business development and project management at Auctionomics in Palo Alto, California – the firm of one of my former professors at Stanford, Nobel laureate Paul Milgrom. That was where I came into contact with software development for the first time. It was there, working in the field of game theory, that we designed auctions and implemented them in software. And that was also where machine learning was used – and that’s when I became hooked. After that, parallel to setting up my first company, I learned a bit more about coding, got involved with deep learning. I worked independently online to learn the basics. To this day, I do not code; instead, I serve a kind of translator function that calls for a grasp of the technology involved, and that addresses relevant problems in the industry.
WHAT STUMBLING BLOCKS DID YOU ENCOUNTER IN YOUR CAREER PATH, AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?
I am basically a very optimistic person; I wouldn’t say that there were blocks in my way. One thing I did discover about myself, though, is that if I want to be in my element, the people around me a crucial part of that – I want to learn from them, trust them, work on a real team. That’s something I had to learn retrospectively, so I wasn’t always 100% in my element. But for me, this has more to do with radical self-discovery than with “external” obstacles.
DID YOU CONSIDER YOUR GENDER TO BE AN ADVANTAGE, A DRAWBACK OR A NEUTRAL FACTOR IN YOUR CAREER?
I always think it is a shame that we still have to discuss this question in 2021. Actually, my gender shouldn’t matter at all – but in reality, it does. For example, when speaking with investors for my first company, one of the potential investors asked me how many shares I would give up if I had a child. I was absolutely shocked, and obviously I didn’t take his money, either. So it turns out that people often still consider women less effective than men at combining children and their careers. And that makes my blood boil.
At the same time, there are some great role models out there. One of the co-founders of Merantix, Adrian Locher, has two children and takes the time to drop them off at daycare and pick them up. Of course he sits down to work again in the evening. I celebrate this – because he sets an example for everyone in his company that it’s naturally compatible with his role and also OK if other parents – women or men – follow his lead.
I hope we’ll be seeing more examples like this soon. Because we will hopefully be seeing more women sooner as founders of startups in the technology sector.
WHAT DRIVES YOU ONWARD AND UPWARD? (WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF YOUR VERTICAL STRESS?)
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” (Ernest Hemingway)
Actually, I am always driven by my curiosity and a need not to stand still, and to get and keep myself, and topics in the world, in motion. One of these topics for me, for example, is how we manage to make AI truly usable in when applied to SMEs.
I am basically a very optimistic person; I wouldn’t say that there were blocks in my way. One thing I did discover about myself, though, is that if I want to be in my element, the people around me a crucial part of that – I want to learn from them, trust them, work on a real team. That’s something I had to learn retrospectively, so I wasn’t always 100% in my element. But for me, this has more to do with radical self-discovery than with “external” obstacles.
DID YOU CONSIDER YOUR GENDER TO BE AN ADVANTAGE, A DRAWBACK OR A NEUTRAL FACTOR IN YOUR CAREER?
I always think it is a shame that we still have to discuss this question in 2021. Actually, my gender shouldn’t matter at all – but in reality, it does. For example, when speaking with investors for my first company, one of the potential investors asked me how many shares I would give up if I had a child. I was absolutely shocked, and obviously I didn’t take his money, either. So it turns out that people often still consider women less effective than men at combining children and their careers. And that makes my blood boil.
At the same time, there are some great role models out there. One of the co-founders of Merantix, Adrian Locher, has two children and takes the time to drop them off at daycare and pick them up. Of course he sits down to work again in the evening. I celebrate this – because he sets an example for everyone in his company that it’s naturally compatible with his role and also OK if other parents – women or men – follow his lead.
I hope we’ll be seeing more examples like this soon. Because we will hopefully be seeing more women sooner as founders of startups in the technology sector.
WHAT DRIVES YOU ONWARD AND UPWARD? (WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF YOUR VERTICAL STRESS?)
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” (Ernest Hemingway)
Actually, I am always driven by my curiosity and a need not to stand still, and to get and keep myself, and topics in the world, in motion. One of these topics for me, for example, is how we manage to make AI truly usable in when applied to SMEs.
WHICH DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION HAS IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST?
The Fosbury Flop. Before Dick Fosbury began executing high jumps in a position lying on his back, everyone had been using the scissor jump. When he began trying this technique, the other athletes laughed at him. But then he won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and broke the American record. Today, we don’t know any other technique in the high jump. For me, this is the most impressive example for completely rethinking and disruptively changing conventional approaches. So it’s a leap forward in both senses of the term :)
WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF THE CULTURE AND LANDSCAPE FOR INNOVATION IN GERMANY (AND IN EUROPE)? WHAT WORKS WELL? AND WHAT DOES NOT WORK? WHAT DO WE NEED IN GERMANY TO SPAWN MORE SUCCESSFUL INNOVATIONS?
In principle, I believe Germany and even the whole of Europe have a great deal to offer, and that is important for a culture of innovation. In my view, values traceable to the Enlightenment – such as emancipation, education, human rights and clearly defined property rights – are fertile ground for innovation. Where I think there is room for improvement is in terms of speed and focus. Sometimes, I don’t think the federal scattergun approach, which creates little decentralized initiatives everywhere that claim sovereignty in their own right, is very helpful. We need to think more ambitiously while making greater use of synergies and networks and pooling all these resources and people.
WHERE/IN WHAT SECTOR/FIELD/AREA IS INNOVATION PARTICULARLY LACKING?
I think there’s still a big blank spot in many functions of government – in education, for instance – but in many other citizen-oriented services, too. There’s more we can do here. Let’s get started!
The Fosbury Flop. Before Dick Fosbury began executing high jumps in a position lying on his back, everyone had been using the scissor jump. When he began trying this technique, the other athletes laughed at him. But then he won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and broke the American record. Today, we don’t know any other technique in the high jump. For me, this is the most impressive example for completely rethinking and disruptively changing conventional approaches. So it’s a leap forward in both senses of the term :)
WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF THE CULTURE AND LANDSCAPE FOR INNOVATION IN GERMANY (AND IN EUROPE)? WHAT WORKS WELL? AND WHAT DOES NOT WORK? WHAT DO WE NEED IN GERMANY TO SPAWN MORE SUCCESSFUL INNOVATIONS?
In principle, I believe Germany and even the whole of Europe have a great deal to offer, and that is important for a culture of innovation. In my view, values traceable to the Enlightenment – such as emancipation, education, human rights and clearly defined property rights – are fertile ground for innovation. Where I think there is room for improvement is in terms of speed and focus. Sometimes, I don’t think the federal scattergun approach, which creates little decentralized initiatives everywhere that claim sovereignty in their own right, is very helpful. We need to think more ambitiously while making greater use of synergies and networks and pooling all these resources and people.
WHERE/IN WHAT SECTOR/FIELD/AREA IS INNOVATION PARTICULARLY LACKING?
I think there’s still a big blank spot in many functions of government – in education, for instance – but in many other citizen-oriented services, too. There’s more we can do here. Let’s get started!
IS IT IMPORTANT TO PROMOTE WOMEN SCIENTISTS AND INNOVATORS DIFFERENTLY AND MORE FORCEFULLY? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS ABOUT THAT?
On a per-capita basis, we are a very innovative location when compared to China and the US. Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to turn this advantage into commercially successful companies. I think this translation of scientific innovation into innovative and transformative business models is one point where we can offer even more support. At Merantix, we’re trying to make this possible at the AI Campus in Berlin, which we will be opening in April 2021. That’s where we will be bringing scientists, companies, investors and the authorities together in an effort to maximize synergies for the benefit of startups in AI.
WHAT DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION DO YOU ABSOLUTELY WANT TO SEE COME ABOUT? / WHAT BIG PROBLEM WOULD YOU LIKE TO SOLVE?
What motivates me particularly are topics that focus on people. There are two topics that are particularly exciting to me. One is how we deal with the resources on our planet – whether for the investigation and production of alternative energy sources and materials, in making better use of or optimizing the production and mobility solutions that already exist. Another is to identify ways in which we can provide more people with access to even better healthcare. Important levers in this area include personalization of treatments, better predictions for drug approvals but also the provision of diagnoses and therapies through partial automation.
I firmly believe that AI has an important role to play in this connection – let’s do it!
On a per-capita basis, we are a very innovative location when compared to China and the US. Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to turn this advantage into commercially successful companies. I think this translation of scientific innovation into innovative and transformative business models is one point where we can offer even more support. At Merantix, we’re trying to make this possible at the AI Campus in Berlin, which we will be opening in April 2021. That’s where we will be bringing scientists, companies, investors and the authorities together in an effort to maximize synergies for the benefit of startups in AI.
WHAT DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION DO YOU ABSOLUTELY WANT TO SEE COME ABOUT? / WHAT BIG PROBLEM WOULD YOU LIKE TO SOLVE?
What motivates me particularly are topics that focus on people. There are two topics that are particularly exciting to me. One is how we deal with the resources on our planet – whether for the investigation and production of alternative energy sources and materials, in making better use of or optimizing the production and mobility solutions that already exist. Another is to identify ways in which we can provide more people with access to even better healthcare. Important levers in this area include personalization of treatments, better predictions for drug approvals but also the provision of diagnoses and therapies through partial automation.
I firmly believe that AI has an important role to play in this connection – let’s do it!
NICOLE BÜTTNER is an entrepreneur, economist and tech optimist. Her passion is to make new technologies useful to companies and people. Nicole is co-founder and CEO of MerantixLABS, a leading AI solutions firm and member of the management board of Merantix. Previously she founded two companies in the machine learning and data analytics field.
Nicole is passionate about bringing digital technologies to government and setting the right agendas for a prosperous technology sector in Europe. She is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and was nominated as Young Leader by the Aspen Institute. Nicole trained as an economist and econometrician at the University of St.Gallen, Stockholm School of Economics and Stanford University and holds a MA in Quantitative Economics and Finance.
Nicole is passionate about bringing digital technologies to government and setting the right agendas for a prosperous technology sector in Europe. She is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and was nominated as Young Leader by the Aspen Institute. Nicole trained as an economist and econometrician at the University of St.Gallen, Stockholm School of Economics and Stanford University and holds a MA in Quantitative Economics and Finance.