Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1114702
09.05.19 12 OPINION George Mangion George M. Mangion is a senior partner of PKF Malta, an audit and consultancy firm | gmm@pkfmalta.com The chivalrous quest of robotics and AI O ne may be intrigued by the inci- dence of the heightened tempo in party propaganda embracing the upcoming MEP and Local Councils elections by political parties. e administration is in a race to an- nounce new projects to please voters. e latest fad seems to be promising to build more social housing - and of course government has given the green light for the Gozo tunnel. Party apologists find comfort and prosper in hailing the administration for promising so many ambitious pro- jects. Definitely others equally made hay while the sun shine under the pa- tronage of the pro-business attitude of the Planning Authority. On to the subject of robotics and arti- ficial intelligence (AI). is has become the flavour of the month and finds the wholehearted support of government which, for the second time, is sponsor- ing a mega blockchain and AI confer- ence this month. is is an initiative in the right direc- tion and has led to other events which are being organised concurrently by the private sector. PKF had put its shoulders to the wheel when, three years ago, it hosted an in- ternational event at the Microsoft In- novation Centre, Skyparks Gudja. e event styled "Blueprint for Innovation" saw an expert lineup of speakers. ese included Gor Sargsyan, MD , Qbiticlog- ic International Atlanta USA based in Silicon Valley, Stas Gayshan MD, CIC Boston US, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlan- do Chairman MCST, Joe Woods MD, Creolabs, Netrefer CEO, Kenneth Far- rugia ,President FinanceMalta, Ing Joe Sammut CEO LifeSciences Park, top speakers from MCAST and University while the parliamentary secretary Silvio Schembri responsible for Innovation at OPM gave the opening speech. Media comments were positive as all agreed that the island needs to do more to boost its contribution to R&D which based as a percentage of GDP is one of the lowest in the EU and in this context, the government in its 2019 budget is pledging to open the taps for more in- vestment. e good news is that for the MEP and local council elections all political par- ties are promising to increase invest- ment in innovation and related Block- chain subjects. Alas, we heard it so many times by the public sector that it plans to support an innovation and business accelerator centre of caliber. It seems that the spirit is willing but the body is weak yet the private sector is slowly moving to fill the gap. It professes to be a true catalyst to anchor existing research within the di- verse manufacturing community and to attract new ones. ere is so much at risk for our coun- try in its quest to harness the best brains in the fields of digital research and AI. e nonchalant attitude of maintain- ing the status quo - saying "if it is not broken then do not change it" - is de- ceptive. e trajectory of new technologies can be enigmatic. ey start off from an initial idea, which is often outlandish or somewhat crazy, going through a series of milestones in laboratories, and final- ly making the leap from laboratories to the real world. One may ask-what are the potential new technologies being researched and studied locally and how would these be applied in to improve the competive- ness of our manufacturing and services economy. ree years ago, the author pioneered a familiarisation trip visiting Massachu- setts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA to explore links to pro- mote Malta as a potential business ac- celerator and/or life sciences hub for in- novators, inventors and entrepreneurs. It is interesting to note that the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts founded in 1861 - built in response to the in- creasing industrialisation of the Unit- ed States. e uniqueness of MIT is in its appetite for problem-solving - espe- cially those intratable technical prob- lems whose solutions make a tangible difference. Be that as it may, while not taking giant steps yet within our limitations, one cannot but admire the world-class research ongoing in the Department of Physics at the University of Malta. A senior lecturer in quantum mechan- ics in the Department of Physics at the University of Malta is coordinating a pi- oneering project which involves group research. e local team is concerned with de- veloping the basis for a new kind of technology - machine learning which brings with it a substantial challenge. What is machine learning and how does this science integrate with the lat- est craze of Artificial intelligence and its sister technology concerning driv- er-less cars? Machine learning frequently involves solving problems of manipulating and classifying large numbers of vectors in high-dimensional spaces. Classical algorithms for solving such problems typically take time involving a num- ber of vectors within the dimension of space. Naturally with the advent of cheap- er processors and huge data memory banks one can use super computers to manage data running at exponen- tial speed. ese so-called quantum computers are essential to manipulate high-dimensional vectors so common in clusters. ere are many applications which benefit from quantum learning using algorithms which lead to input-out- put relationships. is is important for tasks such as image and speech recog- nition or strategy optimisation, with growing applications in the IT industry and of course it is used to interpret re- al-time images relayed from multiple car sensors so prevalent in driver-less technology. Ideas range from running compu- tationally costly algorithms or their subroutines efficiently on a quantum computer to efficient translation of mathematical exercises involving var- ious topics being researched. Another application is in problem solving. Computers really took off only after it became possible to build not just single transistors but chips con- taining many of them, up to billions in the latest fast processors. e limiting factor is their electrici- ty consumption and heat generation so experimentation has started to use light as a source for running proces- sors. is platform can be applied to improve devices across the board. In the future, it will create a means for computers to work directly with light, which will run systems that are more efficient and use less power. One foreseen application is to create motion sensors so accurate that they could help us navigate underground, for example in digging long tunnels or underwater, where GPS signals are un- available. ese technologies, which could dis- rupt markets and generate economic growth are merely the tip of the ice- berg. Understanding the inherent com- plexity of the quantum world, the ram- ifications how the laws of physics can disrupt information and its ability to adapt mathematical norms developed in quantum theory can place the is- land in a competitive stance where re- searchers are appreciated as creators of a bright future.