Deepening and new frontiers in card-based cryptography through industry-academia collaboration and cooperation in the fields of mathematics and cryptography Ⅱ

Reference No.	2025a036
Type/Category	Grant for General Research-Short-term Joint Research
Title of Research Project	Deepening and new frontiers in card-based cryptography through industry-academia collaboration and cooperation in the fields of mathematics and cryptography Ⅱ
Principal Investigator	Daiki Miyahara（The University of Electro-Communications・Assistant Professor）
Research Period	May 27,2025. - May 30,2025.
Keyword(s) of Research Fields	Card-based cryptography, Secure multi-party computation, Zero-knowledge proofs, Finite groups, Association schemes
Abstract for Research Report	Card-based cryptography is a technique that realizes cryptographic tasks by employing a physical deck of playing cards. A feature of card-based cryptography is that it allows non-experts, such as high school students, to visually experience cryptographic protocols by physically manipulating a sequence of cards. This makes it applicable in educational settings, and there are examples of its use in lectures and similar activities. Over the past two years, we have conducted research workshops on card-based cryptography as part of the IMI General Research-Short-Term Joint Research, focusing on the following two points. First, we aimed to increase the number of newcomers by organizing and sharing a list of unsolved mathematical problems in the field. As a result, we have observed many results presented by new researchers in Japan, which led to significant results. Second, we created opportunities for presentations by young researchers, including students, and aimed to deepen their research through discussions with senior researchers from different backgrounds. We believe that this will encourage the students who gave presentations to publish new papers, thus contributing to the further revitalization of the field. We can conclude that the research workshops along these two points were successful, but some of the open problems given in the workshops have been solved in the second half of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. It is definitely a lost opportunity for newcomers to tackle already solved problems, and updating the list of open problems has become a crucial task. Therefore, we continuingly hold a workshop this year to share the latest research trends. This workshop will contribute to the increase of newcomers, the growth of papers, and the extension of the research area, by providing the latest research materials and the list of open problems to potential researchers in Japan.
Organizing Committee Members (Workshop) Participants (Short-term Joint Usage)	Takaaki Mizuki（Tohoku University・Professor） Yuji Suga（Internet Initiative Japan Inc.・Senior Engineer） Koji Nuida（Kyushu University・Professor） Kazumasa Shinagawa（Ibaraki University・Assistant Professor）