IBM has partnered with several leading professional institutes in India to introduce a Cognitive Computing course to empower India’s university students to build applications infused with IBM Watson’s intelligence.
IBM Watson, the cognitive computing technology, opens a new era of computing based on its ability to interact in natural language, process vast amounts of disparate forms of big data and learn from each interaction.
In its latest partnership in India, IBM is offering the course to students in Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay, the Indian Statistical Institute – Kolkata and Birla Institute of Technology and Science – Pilani.
Cognitive Computing course will help students gain technical knowledge and hands-on expertise in fields such as natural language processing, machine learning and content lifecycle management that is required to develop new cognitive computing applications.
Students will get an opportunity to study the underline technologies of Watson. They will have access to their Watson instance via the Watson Developer Cloud. They will select an industry to focus on, such as retail, travel or healthcare, and work as a team to ingest relevant data into Watson and then train it. Ultimately, the students will break into sub-teams and develop prototype apps and a business plan based on their Watson industry of choice.
The initiative is part of an ongoing effort to up skill the students, expand and strengthen their understanding of Big Data and Analytics in order to meet the growing demand for highly skilled workforce- needed in today’s marketplace, IBM said.
“Watson is at the forefront of a new era of computing, fueling a new market and ecosystem of clients, partners, developers, venture capitalists, universities and students. IBM India’s partnership with the three universities represents another milestone in IBM’s global advancement of Watson”, said Vani Singh, India leader, IBM Watson Group.
“We aim to help participating universities succeed in their vision to turn today’s students into tomorrow’s cognitive computing leaders,” Singh added.
This announcement marks yet another milestone in the recognition IBM Watson has earned in the global market since its launch earlier last year.
Watson’s engagement spans across six continents and more than 20 countries, including India, South Africa, Australia, the U.K., Thailand, Canada, the U.S and more.
IBM today said several start-ups and ecosystem partners are rigorously launching applications based on the cognitive capabilities of IBM Watson. The latest in this series includes WayBlazer, a new travel insights firm in Austin, which uses the technology to deliver intelligent travel information to users.
Watson-powered apps are debuted in several industries including travel, retail, IT services, healthcare, and non-profit.
Some of the latest implementations also include those at Thailand’s Bumrungrad International Hospital, South Africa’s Metropolitan Health, Australia’s ANZ Global Wealth, Deakin University, CaixaBank, Travelocity and Kayak.com.
IBM has also announced the opening of its global Watson headquarters in New York City’s Silicon Alley and six new Watson client experience centers around the world.
