Watson Goes to Washington, Shows Off Latest Health-Care Work to Lawmakers

- by Emi Kolawole, in The Washington Post

IBM supercomputer Watson was in Washington, D.C. late last week to show lawmakers what it’s learned about health care. The Watson team has been collaborating with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and health-care insurance provider Well Point to teach Watson everything there is to know in the medical world.

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), right, receives a demonstration from IBM’s Michael Holmes of new proposed capabilities for the Watson supercomputer on Capitol Hill Thursday, May 16, 2013. (photo, Emi Kolawole)

Members of the team were in Washington to showcase some of the supercomputer’s new health-care related features, including the ability to ingest patients’ medical information and synthesize thousands of medical journals and other reference materials along with a patient’s preferences to recommend treatment options.

Watson, IBM representatives made sure to emphasize, does not offer do-this-not-that instructions to doctors or diagnose patients on its own. Get the full story.

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Related:

Learn how Watson can help solve the health care challenge

IBM Watson for Health Care: The Voice of the Doctor (video)

Kenya News: IBM Opens Innovation Centre

- from IT News Africa

As part of its ongoing expansion in Africa, IBM has opened its first IBM Innovation Center in East Africa. Located in Nairobi, Kenya, the center will help fuel growth and innovation in the region. It is co-located with a new IBM Client Center that brings IBM’s expertise to clients in the region.

The new IBM Innovation Center aims to nurture and grow regional IT innovation and help startups and new business IT solutions get to market faster. Read more.

(Image source: PR Newswire)

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Related:

IT in Africa, the Next Frontier – IBM Is Leading the Way

A Smarter Planet: How to Build Innovation Ecosystems

 

- Posted by Regan Kelly

IBM Working with U.S. Congress to Drive Innovation

Christopher Padilla, Vice President, Governmental Programs, IBM

- by Christopher Padilla, at Building a Smarter Planet

This week, nearly 200 of IBM’s senior leaders representing all 50 states are on Capitol Hill to urge action on policies that will drive innovation and economic competitiveness. With more than 300 congressional delegation meetings, our executives are addressing a range of issues critical to U.S. business.

As public-private collaboration becomes increasingly critical to overcoming challenges that no single sector can handle alone, we look forward to working with U.S. congressional leaders on these important issues.

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- Posted by Regan Kelly

 

New Careers Site for Women at IBM Announced

Over the past 100 years, millions of IBMers all over the globe have helped make the world work better and smarter. Today, IBM is made up of more than 430,000 women and men in 170 countries. IBMers are leading business and technology experts working with clients in all industries in the private and public sectors to build a smarter planet. We thrive on solving problems – big and small – and are constantly building our knowledge and expertise in order to find the best solutions to help our clients achieve their goals and create new possibilities.

IBM is growing and we’re looking for more talented individuals to join our team. Looking for a new challenge? Interested in making an impact? Looking for a progressive organization that values and rewards collaboration, innovation and creativity? A pre-eminent social enterprise that is today’s most essential company?

Whether it’s consulting, management, research, sales or any other area of business, and if you want to focus on today’s most exciting technologies — Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud — the opportunities are endless and you can make a difference at IBM.

See the new site and view IBM hot job opportunities

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Greater IBM, what do you think of this new site? Comment below in the Leave a Reply field – thanks!

 

- Posted by Regan Kelly

Enterprise Transformation: IBM Senior VP Linda Sanford on the Company’s Decade of Change

IBM today has more than $100 billion in annual revenue and 430,000 employees in 170 different countries. Senior Vice President Linda Sanford, with the help of the IBM CIO organization and the business transformation team reporting to her, is orchestrating a massive transformation that has thus far yielded an $8 billion payback for the company.

In this interview, Sanford details the company’s decade of change and talks about why it’s critical for organizations to regularly transform their products, systems, and processes. She also explains IBM’s priorities, and the CIO’s office’s involvement in its overall transformation. Read the interview here.

Related video: Transforming Business through Collaboration and Innovation (interviews with IBM customers)

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About the expert:

IBM’s Linda Sanford

Linda Sanford serves as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Transformation, for IBM, and leads the strategy for IBM’s internal transformation to becoming the premier globally integrated, smarter enterprise. In this role, Ms. Sanford is responsible for driving the company’s ongoing reinvention spanning technology, operations and culture.

Self-Service Kiosks: Another Life-Changing Patented Innovation from IBM

Low on cash? Out of stamps? Want to skip to the gate?

Without this IBM innovation, you’d only be able to get cash during normal banking hours: Self-service kiosks, another patented IBM innovation.

Last year, IBM was awarded the most U.S. patents for the 20th year in a row. What’s the secret? Follow along as IBM decodes the culture behind extraordinarily continuous invention.

Trackpoint: IBM Was Here

That little one-finger red button right in the middle of your laptop’s keyboard? That little doohickey? (or as IBM likes to call it, a TrackPoint pointing stick)? That came from a patented IBM innovation.

Photo courtesy Dimitri Kanevsky

Watch more about this revolutionary alternative to the mouse in this 1990 research film (a little dry, but provides some really interesting background into a technology we all now take for granted):

In fact, IBM last year was awarded the most U.S. patents for the 20th year in a row. What’s the secret? Follow along as we decode the culture behind extraordinarily continuous invention: many more at IBMbler here.

Neato Infographic: 20 Years of IBM’s Innovative Spirit and Successes

20 Years of Patent Leadership – Congratulations, IBM

IBM has generated more U.S. patents than any other company for 20 years in a row, with 6,478 patents in 2012. More than an impressive number, it is an indicator of the company’s impact on industry: from semiconductor work transforming the mobile industry, to machine learning being used in healthcare, via the IBM Watson system.

20 Years of Patent Leadership:

Related videos:

Culture of Innovation

Why Patenting is Important

Who Would Have Known

New Era of Computing

IBM Dominates in Patents, Crushing the Competition for the 20th Straight Year

It’s not only that innovation-driven IBM once has again led the United States in the number of new patents. It’s also that 2013 makes the the 20th year in a row that IBM has managed to lead the list and dominate the competitive arena.

In this piece in Business Insider, Max Nisen explains how the company has been able to pull off this remarkable feat year after year. Read the full story.