The U.S. is Building Quantum Internet that'll be Virtually Unhackable

The United States (US) Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled a report that lays out a blueprint strategy for the development of a national quantum internet, an Internet based on quantum computing technology that when implemented will be "virtually unhacabled".

Notably, a system that communicates using quantum mechanics represents one of the most important technological frontiers of the 21st century. One of the distinctive feature of quantum transmissions is that they are exceedingly difficult to eavesdrop (secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation/communications) on as information passes between locations, making it (Quantum Internet) a virtually unhackable networks.

In February of this year, scientists from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, and the University of Chicago created a 52-mile (83-kilometer) "quantum loop" in the Chicago suburbs, successfully establishing one of the longest land-based quantum networks in the nation. That network will soon be connected to DOE’s Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, establishing a three-node, 80-mile testbed.

The U.S. Department of Energy 's 17 national laboratories will serve as the backbone of the coming quantum internet, which has initial government funding.

Scientists are also exploring how the quantum internet could expedite the exchange of vast amounts of data. If the components can be combined and scaled, society may be at the cusp of a breakthrough in data communication, according to the report.

Moreover, creating networks of ultra-sensitive quantum sensors could allow engineers to better monitor and predict earthquakes—a longtime and elusive goal—or to search for underground deposits of oil, gas, or minerals. Such sensors could also have applications in health care and imaging.

Indian IT firms Contributed Massive $57.2 Bn to the US GDP in 2017 - Top Diplomat

In July 2018, Indian IT company Mindtree has given US$2 million grant to Stanford University, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) launched an education initiative in 2017 called "My Future in School". In September 2018, Infosys partnered with Trinity College on Applied Learning Initiative, while WIPRO has partnered with US-based nonprofit social enterprise, First Book, to distribute over 200,000 books by 2019-end. These are some of the examples of contribution by Indian IT companies to the United States besides business operations in the US, mentioned by Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India's Ambassador to the US.

Indian IT companies contributed USD 57.2 billion to the GDP of the US in 2017, India's top diplomat in the US said on Tuesday.

Addressing business leaders in Denver, Colorado, Shringla said India-based global IT services companies employ more than 175,000 workers in the US accounting for 8.4 per cent of employment in the computer systems design and related services industry.

In his address at the 2019 State International Development Organisation (SIDO) Conference on “US-India Trade and Investment: Opportunities and Best Practices,” Shringla said Indian IT companies in the US are deeply embedded in the roots of American society and their contributions have exceeded far beyond the economy.

Shringla said the two-way investments between India and the US reached about USD 60 billion.

The US with USD 45 billion cumulative investment is the sixth source of foreign investment in India, he said in his address to State International Development Organization annual (SIDO) convention's India event organised in partnership with US India Business Council (USIBC).

SIDO is the only American organisation that is focused on state international trade development.

"The US-India relationship is at a critical juncture and needs to evolve with the changing landscape of US global trade relations. State-to-state ties help Indian companies investing in the US and US companies who need support at the ground level in India," said USIBC president Nisha Desai Biswal.

India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said is taking steps to ensure that US investments into India is taken to new levels by ensuring profitability as well as protection of Intellectual Property.

Through India's National IPR policy since its launch in 2016, the government has been working actively to promote IPR awareness and augment technical manpower to simplify the patent procedures and reduce pendency in patents and trademarks, he said.

It has completed 50 enforcement workshops for police officials across 26 states and union territories. An IPR enforcement toolkit has been prepared to serve as a ready reckoner for policy officials. Enforcement of intellectual property in India is one of the major concerns of American companies.

India, he asserted, has made strides across various sectors. The fact that India has jumped 65 places in four years to reach 77th position on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business ranking and 52nd rank in the Global Innovation Index are just some of the global indices reflecting India's emergence as a hub for innovation and manufacturing.

“This is in line with Prime Minister Modi's 'Make in India' initiative. India is currently home to the world's 4th largest auto industry and 3rdlargest domestic civil aviation market,” he said in his address PTI LKJ

Indian Entrepreneurs Are Shifting To Canada Post US Uncertainty

The current situation in the US has got the entire world worried. While we all thought that we're progressing forward towards a world where everyone was equal and the walls of discrimination were finally narrowing down, the recent travel ban imposed by the newly elected US President tells another story altogether.

The order has also had a huge impact on the spirit of Indian entrepreneurs who had a dream of making it big in the US as they don't know what exactly is coming next. Since it is difficult to make a new business thrive amongst all this uncertainty, a lot of Indian Startups are now choosing Canada over the US. In addition to the uncertainty trouble, cracking the US immigration system nowadays has also become a very difficult task, a feat which only a lucky few are able to achieve.

Canada has emerged as a popular immigration choice amongst Indian entrepreneurs after the US due to the clarity the country offers under its Canadian Startup Visa or SUV programme. The logic behind this is simple-considering the fact that building a startup is a challenging task itself, no entrepreneur wants to deal with the added tension of having to maintain their immigration status while going through such a crucial period.

According to industry experts, a number of founders from many countries such as India, are either already in the US on a temporary immigration status or have a desire to go to the US and make it big. But, unfortunately, currently both of these scenarios are under a huge risk than they ever were in the past with the new policies implemented by President Trump that are relooking at immigration laws, including the most coveted H1B visa. Since right now the US President's office and its judiciary are involved in a lot of back and forth on the issue, which direction will the decision go towards the end is a difficult thing to predict. These circumstances offer a great opportunity to Canada to step forward and try bringing some of those disgruntled founders to a country which is famous all around the world for its much more open and transparent immigration programme and policies.

Seeing the light of opportunity in the dark times is Toronto's Extreme Accelerator’s co-founder Sunil Sharma. According to him, there lies a huge opportunity in the growing concern over the immigration policies of the Donald Trump Administration south of the border. In fact, seeing the current situation he is planning to soon launch a dedicated fund aimed at enticing entrepreneurs considering a move from the US to Canada. In an interview to HT, he mentions that he believes Indians, whether they're in India or in the Silicon Valley, are among “the world’s most prolific creators of startups” and this is one of the reasons he wants to attract some of these geniuses to Canada. He said, “We think India is a great country to co-create startup companies with. The concept is to create mini multinational companies, where there’s a Canadian headquarters and an Indian operation and teams in both countries.”

Sharma has already soft-launched the fund and has been successful in bringing in five teams of founders, including two from the Indian subcontinent. Canada's SUV programme, which is a pilot programme scheduled to end in 2017 and offers 2,750 visas, allows for up to five co-founders of a company and their immediate families to immigrate to Canada. According to experts, the new opening could end up giving the programme a more permanent shape.

Till now, SUV's uptake hasn't been that impressive, but its proponents believe that the new environment (courtesy US travel ban) will help in significantly increasing the number of applicants to the programme.

What Does Trump Mean For Tech and Startups?

Last week saw America going through a historic election, which saw Donald Trump being elected as the 45th President of the United States. Since the result, there has been a sense of shock all around the world, with a vast majority of people not being able to comprehend what really happened. But now, the dust is finally starting to settle and people are slowly starting to accept the reality. Here, we evaluate, what Donald Trump as the President of the largest economy on Earth means for the Tech and the Startup sector.

Privacy and Encryption

So, this particular issue basically has Apple right in the centre. It all dates back to when the FBI while investigating shootings in San Bernardino had asked the tech giant to weaken the encryption on its famous iPhone so as to help them in investigations. However, Apple ended up refusing FBI's request stating that the personal privacy of its iPhone users should take precedent. While a majority of tech biggies seconded Apple's decision, Mr Trump wasn't impressed.

Speaking on the issue during his Campaign rally in February 2016, he said, "Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information."

He further echoed the same views during a February 2016 interview with Bloomberg, "I would come down so hard on [Apple chief executive Tim Cook] his head would be spinning all of the way back to Silicon Valley."

One thing is very clear, user privacy when using technology is something that will continuously rear its head during Mr Trump's Presidential term. Further, his views on the surveillance state will also be an issue of concern. Though we haven't heard any firm policy on it yet, but Mr Trump did talk about his intention to restore the Patriot Act, which would once again give the NSA the power to collect bulk data on American's phone records which was earlier taken away by the Congress. Though his boycott Apple pitch might have been in the heat of the moment, but it did clear his views and attitude towards privacy and encryption.

Foreign talent in Silicon Valley

Mr Trump's victory has cast a shadow on the future of the H1-B visa which is considered quite important in the US tech sector. American companies often bring talent from foreign land to fill their demand for skilled engineers and developers. Though the visa grants a temporary residency, but the tech companies can choose to sponsor their employees so as to make them remain in the US indefinitely.

During CNN Republican debate in March 2016, Mr Trump said, "I know the H-1B very well. And it's something that I, frankly, use, and I shouldn't be allowed to use it. We shouldn't have it. Very, very bad for workers. And second of all, I think it's very important to say, well, I'm a businessman and I have to do what I have to do. When it's sitting there waiting for you, but it's very bad. It's very bad for business in terms of — and it's very bad for our workers and it's unfair for our workers. And we should end it."

But since then Mr Trump seemed to have had change of mind (not heart, we're sure). According to him, the H1-B visa is being wrongly used to bring in cheaper labour to America, rather than skilled one.

So, basically, the conclusion here is, the President-elect is okay with highly-skilled immigration, particularly when it comes to immigrants coming to study at top US colleges. Under President Trump, we could see the H1-B visa

It seems he will either alter or completely abolish the H1-B visa and try to enforce an alternative that clamps down on the abuse he presumes is being inflicted by the current system.

America's preparations for Cyberwar

According to research firm Forrester, Mr Trump is most likely to face a cybercrisis within the first 100 days of assuming office.

So, while there have been long discussions on how the new President will handle the control of the nuclear codes, there have also been major concerns over how he is most likely to handle the massively growing cyber threat from the likes of Russia, China and several other stateless hacking groups.

Speaking on the matter during the Presidential debate in September, Mr Trump said, "It is a huge problem. I have a son - he's 10 years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers. It's unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough. And maybe, it's hardly doable. But I will say, we are not doing the job we should be doing. But that's true throughout our whole governmental society. We have so many things that we have to do better. And certainly cyber is one of them."

Many deemed this statement as an opinion of a tech-illiterate grandpa who did not understand how Internet functioned.

The Republican President-elect also failed to recognise FBI's lead in blaming Russia for hacking the Democratic National Convention - one of the several cyberattacks that played a major role in Trump winning the Presidential battle.

According to Trump's campaign website, his administration will do an "immediate review of all US cyber defences and vulnerabilities". He is also in the favour of developing the US's offensive capabilities so the country could retaliate against any cyberattack.

Amazon's Future at Stake

Jeff Bezos, the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon, shares a not so great relationship with Mr Trump. It was Bezos' owned Washington Post that didn't shy away from taking on Trump's campaign out in the open. It was the very newspaper that had first published the now infamous video of Mr Trump making untasteful remarks about women and bragging about sexual assault. Mr Trumps considers Amazon as a company that is anti-competitive and is avoiding tax.

Appearing in the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News in May 2016, he mentioned, "Amazon is getting away with murder tax-wise. [Bezos is] using the Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed."

It did not stop at this. In various tweets, Mr Trump had accused Mr Bezos directly of making use of the Washington Post as a way to reduce Amazon's tax. However, it is important to note that the Washington Post isn't part of Amazon. It is a company that Mr Bezos owns privately, so what Trump is suggesting isn't possible logically.

Responding to Trump's accusations on Twitter, Mr Bezos started a #SendDonaldToSpace hashtag saying that he would be very happy to fund a rocket that would take Mr Trump on a one-way trip into space.

It is important to note that on the day of the results, Amazon's stock nosedived drastically in the anticipation of what the future holds for the company.

Net Neutrality

It has been quite some time that there have been long discussions about the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) wanting to control the internet traffic so as to provide internet fast-lane for major, data-intensive services like the Netflix. But, many consider this as against the very spirit of equality that the internet stands for.

From what can be evaluated from Trump's campaign, Net Neutrality is something which he understand very little about, and it is something he doesn't want to spend too much time on. It is for sure not on the list of his priorities for now.

The future of energy tech

Businesses built around renewable energy are considered as an important area of growth for the US. In fact, in order to provide the much needed push to the growth of the companies dealing with it, the past US governments had offered attractive subsidies so as to lure in the customers who could not afford renewable energy on their own.

But, according to the new President of the US, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."

According to Mr Trump, coal is the area that requires the maximum support of the government as it has suffered huge losses because of the false climate change issue that made the government shift focus from coal to renewable energy. Mr Trump thinks that the whole climate change issue is a big hoax which shouldn't get as much attention as it is getting.

During his campaign, Mr Trump had promised to "unleash America's $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves." The money for it may in part come by doing away the current subsidies being offered by the government for various renewable energy efforts.

What about the Startup industry

Experts predict that the financial markets are most likely to face a lean time for sometime now. But, one needs to understand that there is no correlation whatsoever between the success of a startup and strong financial markets. Investors who understand this are most likely to act rationally and bear the rewards over the long term for their rational move.

As for the entrepreneurs, they will have to tread carefully for sometime till the picture becomes more clearer and not act irrationally. They need not to confuse the uncertain times with a lack of opportunity, but remain optimistic and rational. They also need to be aware of the macro environment they're operating in and act accordingly.

The only thing that can be done now is to wait and watch, and see how many of his Campaign promises/sayings Mr Trump actually stands on.

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