Taipei to launch quantum computing education drive

• By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA

The Taipei City Government is implementing an initiative to teach quantum computing in high schools and vocational high schools to provide young people with career training in the technology sector, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said on Friday.

Quantum computers are the product of the latest revolution in computer science and possess immense computational powers that surpass existing supercomputers by multiple orders of magnitude, Chiang said.

The technology would completely change the current approach to applied statistical analysis and algorithm design to accelerate developments in biomedicine, agriculture, transportation and finance, he said.

Photo: Ho Yu-hua, Taipei Times

Education must enable younger generations to adapt to technological change and encourage their participation in the technology industry, Chiang said, adding that the city has created an office for science, engineering, art, mathematics and novel technologies education to reach that goal.

Taipei is the first local government in Taiwan to issue quantum computer science teaching materials to high schools and vocational high schools, a city spokesperson said.

Supplementary teaching materials on quantum computing are to be published on the city’s online education resources, including the Taipei Cooc-Cloud at https://cooc.tp.edu.tw and the Taipei Technology Education Net at https://techpro.tp.edu.tw, they said.

The city also released supplementary materials for classes on generative artificial intelligence (AI) in elementary and junior-high schools, they said.

The portion of the material designated for teachers includes suggestions for lesson plans, classroom activities and learning metrics, while the material for students includes tips on using AI to facilitate learning and research without committing plagiarism, they said.

Taipei Zhongyi Elementary School and Yongchun Senior High School students have presented science projects on quantum entanglement and superposition, the spokesperson said.