TechTopia, the annual technology summit in Goleta, showcases that the South Coast isn’t just its relaxed lifestyle stereotype but a region advancing technology and quantum mechanics.

The summit was hosted Wednesday by the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce. More than 100 attendees toured the UC Santa Barbara OASIS facility at 71 S. Los Carneros Road and the headquarters of AppFolio, a nearby property management software company.

Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the chamber, listed off the South Coast’s accomplishments, such as it being the infrared capital of the world and having the highest concentration of doctoral degrees per capita outside Silicon Valley.

“We are the economic engine of the South County, and we might be the best-kept secret in California,” she said. 

Attendees took a peek inside OASIS laboratories and envisioned the potential of some of the empty rooms. 

UCSB took over the OASIS space lease from Apeel Sciences in September and has office and laboratory space for researchers, students and companies.

One of the current empty rooms is the packaging room as it awaits the delivery of equipment in the coming months, according to Brian Thibeault, operations director of the UCSB Nanofabrication lab.

The packaging room floor also will be replaced with an electrostatic surface, which Thibeault said is necessary for the work.

Some of the rooms, such as the packaging room, are extensions of UCSB’s on-campus Nanofabrication facility and focus on attaching wiring to chips, stacking it a certain way and arranging them so that it “can interface with the real world,” Thibeault said.

The space aims to be a low-cost option to companies.

“We are excited about that, and there are people waiting in the doors to start using this,” Thibeault said, adding that the open spaces potentially could be used by researchers building satellites going up to space.

Attendees also heard from a Google engineer about their work with quantum artificial intelligence at Google’s Quantum AI facility in Goleta.   

Jenna Bovaird, a quantum fabrication engineer, introduced Google’s latest quantum chip, Willow, which can fit in the palm of one’s hand. Willow has made significant improvements from Google’s previous processor, she said. 

Willow has performed computations in five minutes that a classical supercomputer would have taken 10 septilian years, older than the universe, Bovaird said.

“We are really making these large strides to prove that there are things in the world that classical computing can’t keep up with, and that is why quantum computing is going to be an alternative for certain problems like drug discovery, better batteries and fusion energy,” she said. 

Following the tours, attendees heard about technological advances from local industry leaders.

A small panel of technology and artificial intelligence leaders spoke to attendees, saying the industry needs to prioritize housing for its workforce and youth outreach for its long-term success.

“Diversity is going to be a challenge that we need to figure out how to solve,” said Cat Allday, vice president of AI and product operations at Appfolio. “One of those challenges is really around housing.

“When you think about somebody who is early career coming out of UCSB, they have a hard time imagining that they can live a life here.”

Sachi Thompson, general manager of the Global Hardware Division at Curvature, agreed with Allday. 

“It’s so crazy to me that I have interacted with so many government officials and they think we are crazy, they think it is a fad that there is going to be housing and it comes in waves,” she said. “That is not the case.”

The panelists also believe more outreach to local youths should be done. 

“I believe so strongly in the talent that comes out of here, and they don’t have to be only from UCSB, and only have engineer-quality caliber,” Thompson said. “What makes this area so unique is the people who are able to stay.”