Quantum computing and 5G are examples of technologies the U.S. government should play a role in developing and investing in, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said Tuesday.
The federal government has "clear roles" to play in accelerating innovation when it relates to technologies that government agencies are likely to procure, as well as when it relates to public health, national security and safety, Baldwin said Tuesday at an MKE Tech Week event in downtown Milwaukee.
"If we lose the quantum computing race, nothing you want to be encrypted will be encrypted (for) long," Baldwin said during a Q&A with Madison Region Economic Partnership CEO and MKE Tech Hub Coalition board member Jason Fields. "It's a security issue."
Baldwin also said the U.S. needs to invest in 5G infrastructure providers that can compete with companies like the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
"One of the things the State Department always asks me to do when I'm traveling somewhere is 'Please encourage their governments not to buy Huawei as the infrastructure for their 5G ambitions,'" Baldwin said. "We right now do not have an alternative to offer."
Baldwin also spoke about the need for widespread, affordable high-speed internet access in order to create equity in technology, education, the workforce and health care.
Earlier Tuesday at a WI Tech Month event, Baldwin discussed federal funding for broadband expansion through initiatives including the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, which will fund states' efforts to establish high-speed internet infrastructure. She also said she would support the internet becoming a public utility in Wisconsin.
"I do believe that — maybe not in the early days, but certainly now — broadband access is as important as electrification was or having an interstate system," Baldwin said. "If it's not considered a public utility of some sort, we won't have adequate ... oversight and transparency."
MKE Tech Week, a series of Milwaukee events organized by the MKE Tech Hub Coalition, goes through Friday. WI Tech Month, a lineup of statewide events organized by Milwaukee-based groups the Milky Way Tech Hub and Latinos in Tech, runs through October.
