The SIX Podcast

Inspired by Mother Teresa: The Humanity in Data Science

Mother Teresa, born in 1910 in Skopje in what is now North Macedonia, became world-famous for her selfless work in India, where she founded the Missionaries of Charity order. She dedicated her life to the poor, the sick and the dying by advocating love and care. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. She died in 1997 and was canonized in 2016. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been with Julinda Gllavata throughout her career. From her PhD in image recognition to her work on early driver assistance systems and her entry into the financial sector, the topic never left her: “I realized that 50% of my life was in some way related to AI.” Today, Julinda Gllavata is Head Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence at SIX. More than 15 years ago, during her time in the automotive sector, it was still a major challenge to get people excited about AI, let alone explain to them how it works. At the latest with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, awareness and enthusiasm has increased dramatically. Julinda Gllavata emphasizes the central role of data for all  AI use cases: “Without the right data, we can’t use AI.” In the latest episode of our podcast, Julinda Gllavata not only explains promising applications of AI in the financial sector to host Hannah Wise, but also why Mother Teresa would have been delighted by the possibilities of AI. Be it because, despite all the technology, humans are still at work or because, with many small changes, great things can be achieved. True to her motto: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Inspired by Hiro Protagonist: The Reality of Science Fiction

Hiro Protagonist is – as his name suggests – the main character in the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. In a dystopian Los Angeles, he delivers pizzas. But he is also a swordsman and “hacker.” In the latter role, he helped to program the so-called Metaverse – Facebook comes to mind – a parallel world in which people can immerse themselves as avatars thanks to virtual reality goggles. When Snow Crash was released in 1992, the Internet was still far from what it is today. Nevertheless, Neal Stephenson foresaw much of what makes up today’s digitalized world. Florian Schütz emphasizes that science fiction will always remain storytelling, but can certainly make us think about current phenomena. In connection with Snow Crash, for him these include computer viruses or the shift of power from government organizations to private companies. Florian Schütz is the first federal cybersecurity delegate, a position that was created in 2019. In this role, Florian Schütz heads the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and coordinates the national strategy for the protection of Switzerland against cyberrisks. Under the leadership of the NCSC, the foundations for the establishment of the association Swiss Financial Sector Cybersecurity Centre (Swiss FS-CSC) have been laid. Florian Schütz explains to host Hannah Wise the characteristics and advantages of such a public-private partnership, makes cyberrisks an issue for the board of directors, and, as a bonus, gives useful cybersecurity tips.

Inspired by Shelley Zalis: The Foundations of Financial Confidence

Shelley Zalis is the founder and CEO of The Female Quotient. That makes her one of the best-known fighters for gender equality in the workplace. Her Equality Lounge at the World Economic Forum in Davos has been one of the places to be for years.  As founder of OTX, she became a pioneer in online research and the first female executive in the top 25 in the industry. Dr. Mara C. Harvey has 21 years of experience in wealth management at UBS. Her work also led to the publication of the book “Women and Risk: Re-writing the Rule” in 2018. From then on, at the latest, advocating for financial literacy among women and the topic of financial parenting has become an integral part of her life.  As author, founder and CEO of SmartWayToStart, Mara Harvey seeks to lay the foundations for a secure financial future for children and their parents. Her sixth children’s book has just been published and the world’s first masterclass on financial parenting has gone live. Shelley Zalis is a great inspiration for Mara Harvey because financial parenting also means talking about financial equality. According to Mara Harvey, you can’t start talking to kids about money early enough. She explains to host Hannah Wise why it’s important for everyone to gain control of their finances. That process needs to start early in order to realize the potential of wealth accumulation over the span of a lifetime. Moreover, in the course of digitalization, it has not become easier to understand the mechanisms of finance.

Inspired by Valtteri Bottas: The “Drive” of Innovation

Finnish Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas has been driving for the Swiss racing team Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen since 2022. However, he achieved his greatest successes at Mercedes, where he drove alongside Lewis Hamilton from 2017 to 2021. In 2019 and 2020, he finished runner-up behind him in the Drivers’ Championship. Bottas has won 10 Grand Prix and achieved 67 podiums so far. Sven Siat, Head Connectivity at SIX, is not a die-hard Formula 1 fan. He got to know Valtteri Bottas through the Netflix documentary Formula 1 – Drive to Survive. He was particularly impressed by the down-to-earth nature of the Monegasque by choice. Down-to-earthness is something you don’t really expect in the proverbial racing circus. Typical of Formula 1 is rather the constant drive for improvement, for innovation – and the degree of standardization, especially with regard to automotive technology.  Sven Siat explains to host Hannah Wise why innovation is both a cause and a consequence of Open Banking, and why norms in the form of standardized interfaces are also important here.

Inspired by Ansel Adams: The Improvement of the Status Quo

Ansel Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist. He is famed for the clarity and depth of his black-and-white images. He achieved the unique expression found in these photographs through deep technical understanding of all the production steps involved in film-based photography: lighting, developing negatives, and printing.  Adams wrote books on each of these processing steps, volumes that Adrian Perrig devoured as a teen. Now a professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, Perrig was impressed by the results Adams achieved, and just as impressed with his systematic approach to his work. He nearly became a professional photographer as well, but decided on a career in IT. That decision could turn out to have been a very positive one for all of us. Perrig explains to host Hannah Wise how he is set to make the internet more secure and efficient. Precisely like Ansel Adams, he is introducing innovations to a field thought to have been fully exhausted.