As the quantum computing threat to information security increases, a team of Taiwanese scientists and researchers have created the country’s first communication network based on quantum cryptography, which may enable “permanent encryption.”
Recently, the chairman of the National Science and Technology Council, Wu Tsung-tsong, stated that the effort was accomplished through cross-ministerial cooperation and the combination of talents from various disciplines. “This model will significantly enhance network communication security,” he said.
The team provided a live demonstration to establish that communications using the technology cannot be compromised without alerting both the sender and receiver. Associate professor at National Tsinghua University Chuu Chih-Sung developed the model and stated that the encryption method relies on the uncertainty principle, a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics.
Using a specific variety of light, the uncertainty principle generates several highly predictable behaviours. In addition to being suitable for transmitting data along a fibre optic cable, the predictability of the light’s behaviour makes it immediately apparent when a third party is intercepting the communications.
According to the National Science Council, the research team will collaborate with Chunghwa Telecom to implement the technology throughout Taiwan and facilitate the incorporation of quantum encryption into commonplace applications.
States and corporations around the world are investing vast sums of money in quantum computing technologies. In June 2022, Canadian researchers made public for the first time a quantum computer that can complete a task in 0.36 seconds that would take the next-best supercomputer 9000 years to accomplish.
On the other hand, Premier Chen Chien-jen was given a briefing by the National Science and Technology Council about a programme that uses science and technology to help the country move towards net-zero carbon pollution.
Premier Chen said that new scientific and technological breakthroughs will be a big part of whether Taiwan can reach its long-term goal of having net-zero pollution by 2050. He told the different ministries and agencies to work together to support the research, development, and use of science and technology linked to net zero.
He added that Taiwan’s goal of having no emissions at all by 2050 is both a challenge and a chance. Science and technology will be big parts of the net-zero change that will happen in businesses, society, lifestyles, and the energy sector.
Under the programme, net-zero research, and development (R&D) will allow for more effective and efficient use of energy and resources. It will also involve the introduction of smart technologies, sharing economies, and new understandings in the humanities and social sciences to help the public adapt to a net-zero lifestyle in the future and lessen the effects of this change.
Premier Chen said that the government plans to spend at least NT$ 15 billion (US$493 million) on the programme every year. In the first part, from 2023 to 2026, spending will be focused on building the basic technological infrastructure that will be needed to reach the government’s national net-zero policy goals by 2030.
It promotes five main areas—sustainable and future-oriented energy sources, low carbon and carbon reduction, carbon negative, the circular economy, and the humanities and social sciences—to speed up the use of net-zero technologies in the real world and make next-generation research and development easier.
The plan also encourages the government and civic groups to work together to spread the idea of “net zero” to the public and set up ways for people to spend on their own. The premier said that this will help the people understand and get involved, and it will also help Taiwan become a model country for net-zero science and technology.
