QKD Can Potentially Be Applied to Singapore’s Healthcare Sector

(Finance.Yahoo) Toshiba shares insights in this article on how QKD can potentially be applied to benefit Singapore’s growing healthcare sector as a start, with Toshiba’s recent breakthrough development and demonstration of QKD in securing highly sensitive healthcare data in Japan.
With QKD already proving its efficacy in the healthcare sector, QKD can potentially be applied to benefit Singapore’s growing healthcare sector as a starting point. As telemedicine gains traction in Singapore especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, QKD can support future developments of tele-medical services, where patients seeking consultations in remote locations can trust their privacy with doctors.
Singapore’s government has spearheaded initiatives that support the growth and development of quantum technologies, through open innovation and collaboration with industry partners and universities. In 2002, the Quantum Information Technology Group was formed, and later became the foundation for Singapore’s first Research Centre of Excellence – the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) in 2007.
Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is also partnering CQT to build quantum-related capabilities in Singapore. In 2019, the National University of Singapore (NUS) partnered with Singtel, and successfully tested QKD implementation in Singtel’s commercial fibre networks. This paves the way for future QKD adoption and deployment in Singapore.
Singapore’s early move into quantum research, coupled with the right infrastructure, expertise and a spirit of open collaboration and innovation helps position it as a forerunner in QKD, and potentially becoming a hub for global QKD research.
The wide-scale deployment of commercialised QKD will take time, as the technology is still being refined. While QKD is being promoted via open collaboration between the government, industry partners and universities, its advancement can be further accelerated with stakeholder engagement, infrastructure improvements and cost efficiencies.