Maria Luque: Public Sector Business Consultant and Managing Director, Mission-Oriented
What does your work look like, and what have you been working on lately?
At the intersection of public policy and tech, daily, I wear many hats. Sometimes I’m an analyst, sometimes a strategist, and sometimes your work looks like one of a very prudent grassroots organizer. We try to help public administrations, tech companies, tech startups and venture capital firms to understand what’s at stake in every stage of the emerging tech development pipeline, in terms of impact (Who are you impacting with this technology, which sectors do you foresee you will impact, which public purpose use cases can you create with the tech development stage we have right now?), and helping bridge stakeholders interests to R&D with purpose, which is a very active job, based on analysis, generating narratives and communicating in everyone’s language.
People can hire you under many titles, as the world is working out a name for this cross-sectional and multi-faceted role, but you’re the watchdog that puts order within chaos and tries to safeguard the public interest -something that you usually don’t get paid for- whilst briefing your public or private client on tech partnerships, stakeholder mapping, impact analysis, advocacy or communication.
Lately, I’ve been working on business consulting for the public sector in digital transformation projects. I’ve also been helping quantum technology startups to align their interests with those of the government, to enhance public funding and ease scaling up, and elaborating public interest use cases, as well as communicating how they can better serve clients and society. These past 12 months, I’ve been excitedly helping the IPNSIG, a special interest group at the Internet Society, in co-defining a vision and strategic roadmap for a Solar System Internet for Humanity, and, in sum, to align global efforts to deploy internet connectivity at an interplanetary scale.
How has your career path unfolded?
Through many, many iterations, experiences and personal growth. I started out as a public policy and public affairs consultant within the tech field, and through experiences and projects my duties have evolved to more strategic roles, also on the business side of the tech development pipeline.
How did you get into the field of Public Interest Technology (PIT)?
It was there from the beginning. You do realize you’re already in the Public Interest Technology field when, working within the private sector, you do the extra work -the one that no one pays you for- to care about bending outcomes towards a public purpose either in tech architecture design, lobby or policy advocacy. That happened to me and my team, 6 years ago. In every project and job that I held (in tech startups associations, AI and Machine Learning Startups, lobby boutiques, and, lately, as a Business Consultant for the Public Sector and, more maturely, through my cabinet at Mission-Oriented) I’ve been striving to guide my analysis, intelligence, strategy or communications work to help every stakeholder understand the trade-offs of taking the public interest into account when creating strategy, tactics or R&D-ing tech. You make your way as you go, as there’s nothing established, no fixed job description, or right or wrong expectations for the contributions you will be making, professionally, to others. You validate the innovative and seemingly intangible side of this work towards your clients as you get tangible results.
Also, my background is in Law & Political Sciences. So, in parallel with my roles in public policy, public affairs and business strategy I’ve been deepening my scope in International Relations and Emerging Technologies, even developed an expertise in Business Management of Quantum Technologies and Critical Infrastructure Policy, Security & Regulation, and even project management. That has helped me to be up to the tasks that I engaged in, sometimes making up the way, and the job description, as you go. I guess putting on the white hat is still a mixed-skills, hard work to sell.
If students are interested in pursuing a career in PIT, where might they start?
Based on my experience, you can start at any point in your education career. It’s indifferent if your core educational background is based on social sciences (as mine is) or if it’s more of a STEM background. From both pillars, you can start learning about the other. The important point here is for you to have the public interest in your heart, and that your brain can follow with strategic thinking skills, proactiveness, the will to roll up your sleeves, vision and creativity. In this digital era, where only the digital gap may separate you from knowledge, the latter is accessible anywhere. So, i’d say follow your heart, learning-wise, learn about international relations, get into philosophy, do deep studying sessions on theoretical physics or learn how to code: do whatever you feel you may need. I suggest some prudent voluntary work or internships in Science & Tech Think Tanks, Tech Startups while you’re studying, if it’s feasible. Maybe apply for a Tech Congress Fellowship if you’re in the States. Get yourself ready to be the one who can bridge the tech, the regulatory and the policy worlds. Work at a later stage, independently of the title - Data Protection Officer, AI ethicist, Policy Strategist, Chief Operating Officer with a hint of software architectures and a bit of policy- will follow. And you’ll find it.