Dr. Zina Jarrahi Cinker, Founder and Director General of MATTER, Chief Creator of XPANSE Abu Dhabi 2024 – speaks to Techitup ME about Quantum Revolution, Matterverse, the age of exponential technologies.
Techitup: Can you talk about the Quantum Revolution, how do you see Quantum Technologies shaping up our future and the impact it can create?
Dr. Zina: When I think about the quantum revolution, I’m amazed by how far we’ve come and how much more is on the horizon. Actually, 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of quantum mechanics, and thanks to a lot of our efforts and the global quantum community, it will be celebrated as the United Nations proclaimed International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. This amazing development showcases how critical quantum development and quantum technologies will be as a technological tool to reshape our world.
When we talk about quantum technologies, most people don’t realize that we’re not talking about one single thing. The realm of quantum technologies includes areas like quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum cryptography, and quantum communication. Each of these fields is achieving amazing milestones, and they’re no longer sci-fi concepts or buzzwords.
What’s even more fascinating to me personally is the history of computation as human beings. We started with mechanical machines made of wood and metal using gears and levers. Then we moved to silicon chips and transistors that got smaller and smaller and opened the door to this magnificent digital age we live in. And now we’re entering the third uncharted era, where we’re manipulating individual atoms to compute! It is mind blowing.
And what has been the potential impact? From discovering new pharmaceuticals and doing quantum chemistry to securing our data and optimizing financial portfolios, we’re just starting to scratch the surface of what’s possible. The quantum era is just beginning.
Techitup: What latest research do you see being conducted around the MATTERVERSE framework, can you share some thoughts on how real or exciting this could get?
Dr. Zina: As a condensed matter physicist by background, it is no surprise that I am fascinated by the world of atoms and molecules, or as we call it, the matterverse. Look around you – everything you touch and feel is made of matter. From our brains to our computers, to the clouds and our buildings, everything is made of a hundred or so ‘Lego pieces,’ or as we call them, elements. That’s all that makes life’s entire complexity.
The field of matterverse looks at how the different compositions and the way we put together these atoms and molecules can create everything around us. In the past few decades, amazing work has been done in the field of nanoscience and in my own field of graphene and two-dimensional materials. I did my PhD in graphene, which is one single atomic layer of carbon – the thinnest and one of the strongest materials that ever existed. Case in point of some of the advances that are taking place -Now we can create transparent biosensor tattoos where you can control a drone with only the movement of your eyes, or advances in nanoscience where we can have spinach send an email to the exceptional work at Harvard of resurrecting the cells of an extinct woolly mammoth or storing all of your data inside a strand of DNA! These are all advances resulting from us mastering the world of matter or the matterverse, and they’re not science fiction – they’re happening now.
To showcase these most cutting-edge advances, we are bringing some of the world’s leading scientists and innovators to Abu Dhabi from November 20-22 to XPANSE 2024. It might sound like science fiction, but they are actually happening right now and will be transforming our lives very soon.
Techitup: When you merge powerful technologies like AI, ML, Quantum computing, the results can be astonishing. How can leaders / decision-makers navigate this era of rapid tech advancements?
Dr. Zina: As I often say, we’re entering a new age in the history of humankind: the age of exponential technologies. In this age, four areas of technology – nanomaterials and nanoassembly, quantum technologies, AI and machine learning, and genomics and multiomics – are reaching a point of maturity that are not only accelerating one another exponentially but they’re also creating hybrid areas of development that we would not expect before.
In this era, we can no longer rely on predictive linear models to know where a technology sector like finance would be in 5 years. Look at the way AI caught many industries by surprise. This wasn’t a surprise to those of us in the field; we knew it was coming, and this is just the beginning. The hallmark of the age of exponential technology is that the pace of development is so dizzyingly fast that most industries won’t be able to keep up.
Also, we often advise policymakers and leaders that in this age, you can no longer focus solely on your own field. You need to know what is happening on the horizons of all different areas of technology because you never know when they will intersect with yours. In the same way that AI has now intersected with many different sectors, quantum will soon intersect with many more, and these are just a few examples.
The truth is that there are very few places and forums in the world where all those pieces of exponential technology are brought together in one place, around one table. And that’s why we created XPANSE – to bring the world’s brightest minds in exponential tech and deep science to the same table with decision-makers to put the pieces together and shape the horizons of the future with exponential technology.
Techitup: Please tell us about XPANSE 2024—Beyond Exponential, your vision, expectations, and the impact the platform will make?
Dr. Zina: XPANSE 2024 is unlike any event you’ve ever seen before. It’s a bold initiative that we launched with ADQ this year, and it’s going to be the world’s first visioning of the future with exponential technologies.
XPANSE 2024 is two separate things combined in one package:
Firstly, it’s a powerful global forum and event bringing together 2,500 of the world’s brightest minds to Abu Dhabi from November 20-22, 2024. We’re convening Nobel Laureates, CEOs, industry leaders, scientists, and thinkers to set the horizons of areas like exotic computing, quantum, genomics, embodied intelligence, next-gen 2D materials, fusion energy, AGI, brain interfaces, organoid intelligence, and more.
Secondly, XPANSE is much more than an event. It doesn’t end after 3 days like other events. It is actually a year-round ecosystem-building engine that will work 365 days a year with teams based in Abu Dhabi to connect stakeholders globally and regionally, hatch opportunities, and create collaborations and partnerships to commercialize and advance these exponential technologies.
This is what XPANSE will be: the epicentre for exponential tech, where the world will come every November to Abu Dhabi to see and share firsthand the cutting-edge technologies that will shape the next chapter for cities, citizens, industries, and societies. You have to come and experience it.
Techitup: You chose UAE for debuting the XPANSE Forum and as a central point of something big, what role do you see UAE playing in the future of exponential technologies?
Dr. Zina: It’s quite interesting how we ended up choosing Abu Dhabi as a location for the XPANSE forum. Initially, Abu Dhabi was not even on our option list. It took only one trip for me to visit the UAE, Khalifa University, and within the next few months, we decided that we wanted to create XPANSE in Abu Dhabi and not the EU or US.
Once we learned about the depth and array of technologies and infrastructure in the UAE, such as the Emirati Genome Project, the advanced material, AI, and quantum research and development spearheaded in the UAE, we recognized that this would be the prime place where, together, we can build and boost an ecosystem for exponential technologies.
It’s important to understand that XPANSE is not just a three-day event. To build an exponential tech ecosystem, we needed to work with a partner and leadership that has truly long-term vision-driven strategies that are not focused on a three—to five-year technology horizon.
In this day and age, it is rare to see a strong commitment to this kind of long-term strategic and vision-driven thinking on a national level. But we found that thinking in Abu Dhabi, and that’s why we partnered with ADQ, which is spearheading the creation of a knowledge-based economy. This collaboration isn’t just about hosting an event; it’s about creating the synergy between XPANSE and Abu Dhabi’s vision to become a global hub for exponential technologies. We believe that through this partnership with Abu Dhabi, we have the ability to showcase not only the future but also the ability to shape the pieces with our partners in the region.
