Members Calling #164 | Marta P. Estarellas: “We have entered a global race for the future of supercomputing”

11 June 2026 Members Calling News

There are still many questions without answers. How do we cure diseases that remain untreatable? How do we design materials that do not yet exist? How do we decipher processes that are too complex for today’s most powerful computers? Marta P. Estarellas (Mallorca, 1989) wants to push beyond those frontiers of knowledge.

As CEO of Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, she leads one of the companies helping put Barcelona on the global map of quantum computing, one of the most transformative technologies of the coming decades. The spin-off, born out of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE), has developed the quantum systems now integrated into MareNostrum 5, making the city one of the few places in the world where classical supercomputing, digital quantum computing and analog quantum computing coexist within the same scientific infrastructure. It has also launched Europe’s first multimodal quantum data center, aimed at accelerating applications in fields such as healthcare, advanced materials, energy and artificial intelligence.

A chemist by training, with a PhD in Physics and studies in Computer Science, Estarellas built her career across the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan before returning to join a global race with a clear objective: creating the tool capable of answering, at last, some of the questions humanity has been trying to solve for centuries. Today, however, we ask her to set aside science’s biggest mysteries and answer ours.

Throughout the conversation, one idea keeps resurfacing whenever she talks about the future. Beyond technology, she insists, lies humanism: something that, “no matter what happens,” should continue to guide the way we understand the world. “First people, then technology, and then money,” she says.

TB: What is the purpose of your project?

MP: To build more sustainable and efficient computers—machines that allow us to expand our understanding of the world around us and, in doing so, improve people’s lives.

TB: What stage is the project at, and where do you see it in two years?

MP: We were founded in 2019 and are currently in a phase of accelerated growth. We’ve entered a truly global race, and in two years’ time, I’d like to see our technological approach established as one of the world’s leading paths toward the future of supercomputing.

TB: A key decision that has shaped your project.

MP: Prioritizing people first, technology second and money third.

TB: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced, and what has it taught you?

MP: Making ourselves heard and becoming less hesitant. It taught me the importance of being in the right place at the right time and, above all, not letting opportunities pass by.

TB: The best advice you’ve ever received.

MP: No matter what happens, never stop looking at things through the lens of humanism.

TB: We all change over time. Have you changed your mind about anything?

MP: I used to doubt whether real innovation could happen within a company. Today, I know it can.

TB: A professional role model who inspires you.

MP: Vanesa Díaz from LuxQuanta. One of the best CEOs I know.

TB: What do you value most in the people you work with?

MP: A genuine passion for what we do.

TB: A technology that will shape the future.

MP: Quantum computing, without any doubt. There is no future for AI without quantum computers.

TB: A startup or company you admire and why.

MP: Open Cosmos. A remarkable example of growth and resilience, led by its CEO, Rafel Jordà—also from Mallorca—who has built and continues to lead an excellent and ambitious project.

TB: What do you do to disconnect?

MP: Surround myself with my animals.

TB: A book you would recommend.

MP: ‘El último hombre blanco’, by Nuria Labari.

TB: A song that defines your current moment in life.

MP: ‘Alpinistes-samurais’, by Antònia Font.

TB: A recipe, a dish or a restaurant.

MP: Teriyaki chicken. And a burger from Antonia’s on long workdays.

TB: A place in the world.

MP: Tokyo.

TB: Where would you invest €100k?

MP: In any scientist or engineer excited about an entrepreneurial idea.