Ever since his grad student days at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Amir Ronen, now a scientist at IBM Research - Haifa, has been thinking about the intersection of game theory and computer science. In fact, he’s one of the leaders in a sub-discipline, called algorithmic game theory, which lies at the intersection of the two fields.
Ronen believes that this line of thinking could lead to important breakthroughs that will help us improve everything from transportation systems in cities to environmental protection regimes. “I’m dreaming of an ultimate game theory engine–a miracle engine that helps us make better decisions,” he says.
He is one of six scientists who recently received the prestigious Godel Prize, which is awarded each year by the Association for Computing Machinery for academic papers what contribute significantly to scholarship concerning algorithms and computing theory. The ACM cited Ronen and his co-author, Noam Nisan, along with the authors of two other papers, for laying the foundation for growth in algorithmic game theory.
Posted by
Guest in
By Dr. John E. Kelly III
IBM Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research
When I was a child, my father worked at General Electric’s research lab in Niskayuna, N.Y. I would visit and watch him tinker with vacuum tubes—light bulb-like devices that were used to direct electrical current in all sorts of gizmos, from radios and TVs to radar and computers. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what he was doing, but those visits inspired me to study science and, ultimately, to get degrees in physics and materials engineering.
I later came to understand that I had witnessed one of the great transitions in the history of technology. While my dad was showing me vacuum tubes, other engineers at GE’s lab were experimenting with the vacuum tube’s successor, the transistor, which ultimately ushered in modern electronics and personal computing. Those core technologies enabled computers that could be programmed to perform a wide variety of tasks.
Today, we are at the dawn of another epochal shift in the evolution of technology. At IBM Research, we call it the era of cognitive systems.
This is a big deal. The changes that are coming over the next 10 to 20 years—building on IBM’s Watson technology–will transform the way we live, work and learn, just as programmable computing has transformed the human landscape over the past 60+ years. You could even call this the post-computing era.
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
Like many serial inventors, mathematician Dimitri Kanevsky looks for solutions for problems that he faces in his own life. In his case, some of his biggest challenges are related to the fact that he has been deaf since age 3.
Dimitri Kanevsky demonstrates an Internet-based system for capturing real-time transcripts of teleconferences.
Kanevsky, a member of the speech and language algorithms department at IBM Research, has invented a long string of hearing- and speech-related technologies. They include a system for helping people improve the effectiveness of lip-reading, a method that enables deaf people to converse on the telephone and an Internet-based system for capturing real-time transcripts of phone conferences. “I like to solve challenging problems, and I get a thrill from creating novel math concepts and making discoveries,” he says.
Today, Kanevsky will get another kind of thrill–when he’s honored with a Champion of Change award at the White House. The award recognizes individuals who make a positive impact on science, technology, engineering and math for people with disabilities. Here’s a livestream video link for the event.
While Kanevsky has a long record of achievements as an inventor, including 152 US patents, it’s clear from talking to him that some of his most important inventions may come in the future.
By Wayne Balta
IBM Vice-President for Corporate Environmental Affairs
Ever since then-CEO Thomas J. Watson Jr. made environmental stewardship a company-wide priority in 1971, IBM has been in the vanguard among corporations when it comes to protecting the natural environment. And, with more than 425,000 employees in 170 countries, we can move the needle on sustainability.
But in addition to large companies like IBM, the world’s millions of small and medium-size businesses can also collectively accomplish quite a bit. More than 99% of all businesses fall within the SME category—which is typically defined as organizations with fewer than 500 employees. So, based on sheer scale alone, the world’s SMEs are not only the primary source of innovation and economic growth; they’re also the key to saving the planet.
Posted by
Steve Hamm in
Banks are practically drowning in data, but most haven’t figured out how to manage it and derive insights about their businesses and their customers. That was the primary takeaway from today’s Forbes magazine panel, The Power of Advanced Analytics for Smarter Banking. For quotes and context, visit #ForbesAnalytics on Twitter. IBMers Boxley Llewellyn and Duke Chang were on the panel. Here’s Boxley talking about the opportunity for banks:
Posted by
Chris Luongo in
Drug counterfeiting is a significant public health threat in Africa and other developing countries. This is a big problem for drug companies — and an even bigger problem for patients, whose lives may depend on these medications.
But technology can be a powerful asset in the fight against counterfeiting. And the good news is Sproxil and IBM are showing the way.
Click on the image below to open the slideshow version.
Posted by
Guest in
By Ashifi Gogo
CEO, Sproxil
In the U.S., large scale drug counterfeiting is rare, but in some parts of the world, particularly in developing nations, it’s rampant. This makes fighting treatable diseases like malaria – which kills a million people every year — extremely difficult. According to the World Health Organization, about 200,000 of the world’s malaria deaths alone can be linked to ineffective treatment resulting from counterfeit anti-malarials.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors globally are now experimenting with ways to combat counterfeiting by creating a smarter pharmaceutical supply. My company, Sproxil, provides a cloud-based service called Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA) that allows consumers to use their mobile phones to determine if their medicine is genuine, at point of purchase, in a matter of seconds. Each package using the MPA service bears a label with a unique PIN as well as a text number. At the point of purchase, the consumer scratches the label to reveal the PIN code, then sends it to our authentication service via a free text message. Within seconds, a reply is sent back indicating whether the drug is genuine or counterfeit.
I’m proud that in January we reached a milestone within regions of Africa where consumers have used MPA technology one million times to verify their medication.
Rugby is one of the world’s toughest sports. Large men wearing little or no protective gear collide with each other at full speed. They leap. They scramble. They mash together in scrums. So it’s no wonder that rugby’s injury rates are nearly three times higher than soccer’s.
Credit: Leicester Football Club
In professional rugby, one of the essentials for achieving a winning record is reducing the injury rate. That’s why the Leicester Tigers, the most successful professional rugby team in the United Kingdom, recently adopted predictive analytics software aimed at proactively reducing injuries. The goal is to avoid the physical and mental fatigue that sets players up for some of the most common rugby injuries, which include muscle and ligament tears and joint dislocations.
“Our data suggests that if we have a fully fit squad, we’ll rival any team in Europe. If we have a lot of injuries, we’ll have trouble competing with the best,” says Andy Shelton, Head of Sport Science. In spite of having three key players out with injuries right now, the Tigers are in second place in the premier division in the final weeks of the season.
Posted by
Guest in
Editor’s note: To celebrate the history of math and its impact on the world, IBM has released Minds of Modern Mathematics, a free iPad app that re-imagines a classic 50-foot infographic on the history of math created by the design team of Charles and Ray Eames and displayed at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. Janet Perna, a retired IBM executive and one-time math teacher, has strong feelings about the importance of math education–starting in elementary school. Join the conversation on Twitter: #math #Eames
By Janet Perna
former General Manager, IBM Information Management
When I was a young math teacher fresh out of college in my hometown of Middletown, New York, I tried to make math entertaining and practical for my students. I’d have them learn basic arithmetic by doing things like making change and dividing a sheet cake into equal servings. They learned the basics of geometry by imagining that they were tiling the classroom floor. These exercises made math seem useful especially for those children who were not destined for college, but would become the backbone of the community taking on blue collar jobs in Middletown.
Unfortunately, then and now, most children are turned off to math by the time they enter junior high school. I have found that many elementary school teachers with whom I have spoken are intimidated by math, and aren’t confident enough to make it interesting and useful to their students. If teachers are afraid, the students will fear math, too. That’s why I believe that we need new programs to strengthen math skills and creativity in our university teacher education programs, and, even more broadly, in liberal arts curricula.
Major research initiatives sometimes begin with a startling revelation. So it was with IBM’s Battery 500 project.
Winfried Wilcke, the program leader, attended an energy workshop at Stanford University in August of 2008. During a break, Nobel Physics Laureate Burton Richter told him that the US electrical grid had the capacity to charge all of the cars in the country at night if they were electric. “I said to myself, ‘He must be kidding.’ But I did the calculations, and he was basically right,” says Wilcke. That launched Wilcke on a quest to develop a new battery technology that would make it possible for a family sedan to travel 500 miles on a single overnight charge–making it a practical all-purpose vehicle.
Wilcke’s quest reached a milestone today with the announcement that two industry leaders, Asahi Kasei and Central Glass–have partnered with IBM in a research collaboration aimed at fulfilling the 500-mile dream via new lithium-air battery technology. Asahi Kasei is one of Japan’s leading chemical manufacturers. Central Glass is a top electrolyte manufacturer for lithium-ion batteries. They will work with an extended Battery 500 research team that includes scientists at IBM’s labs in San Jose, Calif., and Zurich, Switzerland, and at several U.S. national labs, including Argonne and Stanford-SLAC.
