Diversity drives innovation that shapes the future of our society: "Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature" Part 2
This is the second part of a dialogue between Hiroaki Kitano, Executive Deputy President and CTO of Sony Group Corporation, and Magdalena Skipper, Editor in Chief of Nature. "Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature" aims to spotlight the contribution of women researchers and support their efforts to create new technology and innovation. Through the discussion, Kitano and Magdalena looked back on their careers and shared messages for the next generation of researchers. They also noted that being tolerant and not being afraid of failure, while embracing diversity, not only in gender but in all perspectives such as nationality and expertise, will drive technology and society for the better.
Women researchers move the world and society
In answering the question why there have been less women in technology and why they have been underrepresented, Magdalena touched on the historical factors of the issue and said, "As we see more and more women going into technology and innovation, we can see whether it will become more humanized."
The two also shared the recognition that the issue of the low ratio of women in senior leadership position should be addressed. Magdalena said that to change the current situation, it is important to provide opportunities for women to speak out and to be recognized for their contributions. She also shared a message for current and future women researchers.
"The message that I often share with women who are either starting out or continuing in their career, is not being afraid of failure, and embracing failure. Failure is always part of success and there is no success without failure. Another important aspect of my advice is being bold, taking those steps forward, putting yourself forward, taking those opportunities, and believing in yourself. Everyone has outstanding ideas, and those ideas have to be shared. By sharing them they may be defined further."
They also emphasized the importance of the judging process. Magdalena pointed out, "There is quite convincing evidence to suggest that we don't see women or other members of underrepresented groups winning awards because the juries themselves are not diverse," and highlighted the award`s direction to ensure a diverse judging panel across gender, nationality or area of expertise.
Diverse perspectives and open-mindedness enrich our society
In response to the question "How do you create that inclusive environment for diverse teams?", Kitano shared his own experiences of working with a team of people from diverse backgrounds.
"Most of the teams that I built from scratch myself have a diverse group of people from different nationalities, different academic backgrounds, and are gender-balanced as well. I haven't intentionally decided a certain percentage of women. I think if you seriously recruit the most talented people, you can get diversity."
In closing out the conversation, they concluded that that accepting diverse perspectives and failures and respecting one another is critical to drive the development of technology and enrich society.
"We're trying to do things no one has done before (in science and technology), so basically 90% or 99% of our trials don't work. I think it's good to have different views and more tolerance and mutual respect and resilience to accept the dynamically different conditions." (Kitano)
"We ourselves need to be open-minded enough to give the space to ask diverse set of questions or approaching answers to already posed questions in a different way, so we can enrich our knowledge, our set of solutions, innovations, and we'll be much richer for it." (Magdalena)
Applications are currently open for the Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature which will honor three outstanding early to mid-career women researchers driving positive change in any domain of technology with a prize of $250,000 USD each. Applications open through May 31, 2024.
