The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) hosted the APEC Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges on September 12th. Representatives from member economies of the APEC Digital Economy Steering Group (DESG), as well as privacy and cybersecurity experts from Canada, Belgium, Chile, Japan, Thailand, etc. are invited to Taipei to discuss the latest developments and challenges of privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) in terms of policy making, technological innovation and practical applications.

Minister Lin Yi-jing pointed out that AI technology will profoundly change the future world, and high-quality and large amounts of data are the key to model training. However, when governments or businesses release data for innovative AI applications, protecting personal privacy becomes a critical issue. This seminar is a response to this challenge. It seeks to explore the balance between privacy protection and data utilization through international exchanges.

MODA explained that this seminar was officially funded by APEC. It is an important milestone of Taiwan in promoting international data privacy cooperation. The conference covered three major themes, including policy and system design, innovative technological applications, and sharing of practical application scenarios. It works to strengthen the cooperation links between Taiwan and APEC economies through cross-border exchanges and jointly build a more resilient digital trust ecosystem.

The seminar kicked off in the morning with a keynote speech by Natascha Gerlach, Director of Privacy Policy of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL) in Brussels, Belgium. She emphasized that PETs can help businesses and governments in legal compliance, promote AI innovation and cross-border cooperation. They play an important strategic role in global data governance. The theme of policy and system design was then introduced, with Runa Augus, Senior Director of the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and Kohei Kurihara, CEO of Privacy by Design Lab (Japan), sharing their practical experience in applying PETs to cross-border data flow and multi-party collaboration.

The afternoon seminar focused on the two major themes, innovative technological applications and practical application scenarios. Pakorn Thongjeen, CEO of Security Pitch (Thailand), and Claudia Negri-Ribalta, researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Luxembourg, shared the practical challenges in implementing legal compliance and software engineering facing the industry. Yu Chia-mu, Associate Professor of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (Taiwan), and Jun Chu, Cybersecurity & Privacy Policy Lead for Asia Pacific at Google Singapore, discussed how to balance data utility and technology implementation while protecting privacy from the point of view of practical technological applications.

MODA pointed out that PETs have become an important tool and policy focus for global data governance. In particular, at a time when AI is developing rapidly and data is flowing across borders frequently, PETs can enhance the trust for data use and inject strong momentum into the development of the digital economy. In the future, we will continue to deepen cooperation with APEC member economies. We will keep a finger on the pulse of international technology and policies, strengthen Taiwan's data privacy protection system and application capabilities, promote the construction of an open, secure, and trustworthy digital environment in order to enhance Taiwan's competitiveness and influence on the global digital governance stage.