Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF) Heng Swee Keat has on Thursday outlined an investment of close to SGD 300 million ($222 million) into Singapore’s National Quantum Strategy (NQS) to advance Singapore’s growing Quantum industry.
He said in a statement that this investment will strengthen the nation’s position as a leading hub in the development and deployment of quantum technologies over the next five years.
He also launched the Green Data Centre (DC) Roadmap to guide digital sustainability and chart green growth pathways for data centers (DCs), supporting artificial intelligence (AI) and compute developments.
For AI, he announced the release of Model AI Governance Framework (Generative AI), as well as the development of the Digital Forum for Small States (DFOSS) AI Governance
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It is noted that the NQS is funded by the National Research Foundation, (NRF), and driven by the National Quantum Office (NQO), hosted by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
The NQS will focus on four funding initiatives anchored by four strategic thrusts – scientific excellence, engineering capabilities, talent, innovation and enterprise partnerships.
According to the statement, the NQS will invest to elevate the Center for Quantum Technologies (CQT) into a national research and development (R&D) center with nodes in partner institutions, including A*STAR and local universities, bringing together research talent across the country to drive national quantum research priorities.
To strengthen Singapore’s capabilities in quantum technologies and accelerate translation of quantum solutions, the Quantum Engineering Programme 3.0 (QEP 3.0) will be enhanced with the addition of a new National Quantum Sensor Programme (NQSP).
The NQSP will bring research performers and industry partners together, to collaborate on industry-centric research projects in the focal areas of Position, Navigation & Timing, Biomedical Sensing & Imaging, and Remote Sensing.
A new National Quantum Processor Initiative (NQPI) will also be established to build local capabilities in the design and build up of Singapore’s own quantum processor(s).
A National Quantum Scholarships Scheme (NQSS) will also be funded under the National Quantum Strategy to develop a pipeline of up to 100 PhD and 100 Master-level quantum talent over the next five years to meet Singapore’s research and industry needs and build a quantum-ready workforce.
Meanwhile, investments will be made to develop a vibrant quantum ecosystem through strong industry partnerships and the nurturing of local enterprises which can work with NQO.
The National Quantum Computing Hub (NQCH), a program under NQO, will strengthen its innovation & enterprise and ecosystem-building efforts, by driving synergistic tripartite partnerships with industry, end-users and the research ecosystem in quantum computing, to support the translation of quantum R&D into real world solutions.
Following the successful testbed trials of the National Quantum Safe Network (NQSN), Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) also launched the National Quantum-Safe Network Plus (NQSN+) where our operators will provide commercial quantum-safe solutions for businesses by end of this year.
Meanwhile, the Green Data Center Roadmap aims to provide at least 300 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity in the near term, with much more through green energy deployments.
Through the additional capacity, it aims to seed innovative ways to accelerate energy efficiency, as well as hybrid ways to unlock further capacity through green energy.
The roadmap pioneers an end-to-end ecosystem approach, recognizing the important role of DC operators as catalysts in forging key partnerships across the multi-faceted ecosystem to bring together solutioning partners to realize the broader goal of sustainable development.
It also outlines IMDA’s plans to partner the industry to push boundaries and accelerate DC sustainability on two fronts: energy efficiency and green energy.
According to the statement, the plan will accelerate DC’s energy efficiency at hardware and software levels and allow industry and end-users to put in place best-in-class technologies to maximize efficiency, capacity and economic potential.
It will also accelerate DCs’ use of green energy to expand capacity, and explore how they can deploy this at scale over time to maximize space for continued DCs’ growth.
It is noted that Singapore has been actively contributing and driving conversations in the international space on AI safety through the Model AI Governance Framework (Generative AI) and the Digital Forum of Small States (DFOSS).
The Model AI Governance Framework (Gen AI) is the first comprehensive framework pulling together different strands of global conversation surrounding AI governance.
The finalized framework was released on Thursday and will be mapped to international AI principles such as the G7 Hiroshima Principles for interoperability after receiving over 70 responses globally largely endorsing the framework’s multi-stakeholder and robust approach to AI governance.
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