MIT Technology Review publishes an annual list of 35 innovators under the age of 35, and they recently released their list of innovators for 2018. The list features over 20 innovators who are solving problems related to or using computer science.
Some highlights from the list include:
- Menno Veldhorst, Delft University – Veldhorst demonstrated a way to print quantum circuits on silicon, a task long considered impossible. This system of printing is now being used by Intel to create their new “spin qubit” chip and has greatly increased their capacity to produce quantum chips.
- Elizabeth Nyeko, Modularity Grid – The CEO of Modularity Grid, Nyeko has designed an intelligent, cloud-based system to improve the efficiency of mini-grids, small-scale electricity generation networks that supply electricity to localized group of customers, by tracking and predicting individual use and then reapportioning electricity to users in need of constant power. Nyeko is testing this system in rural Uganda, an environment where lack of access to large scale power grids makes this technology all the more impactful.
- Julian Schrittwieser, DeepMind – In 2016, AlphaGo, a Go-playing computer program developed by DeepMind, defeated South Korea’s Lee Sedol, the world Go champion, in a best-of-five series. Schrittwieser was part of the team that designed AlphaGo and is now the lead engineer of the AlphaGo Zero project, which learned Go by playing against itself, and subsequently defeated the original AlphaGo, posting a perfect 100 game to 0 record.
Other computing-related projects include Alexandre Rebert’s self-fixing cybersecurity system, Joy Buolamwini’s push for algorithmic accountability, Alice Zhag’s AI-based drug development machine, and Barbarita Lara’s disaster messaging platform that can operate even when Internet and phone networks go down.
Check out the rest of the MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 here.
