Horizon 2020-Funded EPIC Releases Policy Recommendations for Singapore-EU Collaboration Potential Relating to the Role of AI in Security and Privacy
This week, the Horizon 2020-funded EPIC project released its fifth in a series of policy briefs providing policymakers in the European Commission (EC), as well as in the project partner countries of Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, with an update on the state-of-play of ICT cooperation as relates to the EC’s actions. This publication, entitled ‘Security, Privacy and the Role of AI: Singapore’s EU Collaboration Potential’, has been drafted to inform both EU and Singapore-based policy stakeholders in the AI and cybersecurity/privacy landscapes. Privacy preserving information technologies, cybersecurity and the potential threats and opportunities presented by AI were the subject of two separate EPIC events, both of which took place in Singapore. December 2018’s ‘Workshop on Privacy Preserving Information Technologies: new opportunities for digitally enabled SG-EU research collaboration’ brought together EU- and Singapore-based researchers to discuss recent trends and possible new directions for privacy-preserving technologies research and innovative applications. April 2019’s ‘Security and Privacy: The Role of Artificial Intelligence’ presented an industrial research perspective on the challenges and solutions that lie ahead at the intersection of AI, privacy and security and included experts from research and industry, and professionals from new technology providers. The brief starts by describing how security – from cybersecurity to the Internet of Things – and privacy have become major concerns – and how artificial intelligence plays an important dual role in this domain: as a source of concern, but also as a source of potential solutions. Next it looks at several research initiatives in both the EU and Singapore which address the topic, before highlighting two joint activities between the two regions. Finally, the brief makes three general suggestions for ongoing collaboration opportunities between the EU and Singapore. The full document has been made publicly available and can be accessed at https://bit.ly/2Kbu6z7 Contributors include Tan Chee Seng, Director of A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) and Ashok Kumar Marath, Programme Manager at the same organisation. A further contributor was EPIC coordinator and Austria-based technology consultant Erich Prem. While the policy briefs are prepared as part of the EPIC project, the views expressed therein are solely those of the authors and not of the EC or its services. “The EU, with its world-wide recognised data ethics, and Singapore with its massive testbed and development of the Smart Nation concept, would make ideal collaborators in the development of these technologies. Such a partnership could ensure the application ethical principles while at the same time maintaining security of systems and utilising the potential power of AI,” said A*STAR’s I²R Director Tan Chee Seng. In addition to providing future oriented recommendations for policymakers, the EPIC policy brief series will provide insights into the main challenges and previous successes in the selected topic areas based on input from the EPIC consortium members, interviews with researchers and previous results and findings. Target audiences include research policy advisers and research counselors in Brussels, R&D policymakers in the corresponding ministries and departments in the partner countries, top researchers and research managers from leading research organisations, and ICT industry associations. EPIC is aimed at improving cooperation in the area of information and communication technologies between Europe and the three partner countries Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The project is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (ICT) under Grant Agreement No. 687794. To learn more about the EPIC project, or to view upcoming events, visit www.epicproject.eu
Keywords
Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, Singapore, Research Collaboration, ICT, Privacy Preserving Technologies
