Terry F. Yosie, President and CEO of the World Environment Center
By Terry F. Yosie
Environmental issues are big, thorny problems. Scarcities in water, food and raw materials are too complex for any single company or non-governmental organization to solve on its own. In order to make a difference, it’s necessary to collaborate with like-minded partners to achieve shared goals.
Collaboration is a normal feature of customer-supplier relationships, government-business partnerships and initiatives with universities and other partners. It’s also typical for organizations looking for new business models that can sustain profitability while addressing societal needs, natural resource management, product and service innovation, and differentiation of brand value, to name a few. Collaboration can spur organizations to redefine their business purpose by utilizing society as another kind of R&D lab for innovation. Continue Reading »
Charles Vincent, Chief Architect, IBM Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities
By Fabienne Guildhary, IBM Communications, Energy & Utilities/Media & Entertainment
Often, history serves as a tool to teach us valuable lessons and help us avoid repeating the same mistakes. As Chief Architect of the IBM Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities, Charles Vincent is leveraging his considerable knowledge of Electric Vehicles (EVs) to better shape the future of transportation.
Charles’ passion for EVs was sparked long before his career in electronic transportation took off. Fascinated by the technology at an early age, Charles devoted a lot of time poring over vintage publications on the subject, such as American Electric Vehicle Association newsletters from the early 1900’s. Then in the 1980’s, Charles got the opportunity to put his knowledge and passion to work.
This is part two of a series about Smarter Public Safety. Read part one here.
By Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier
Just over 20 years ago, Washington, D.C., was known as the “Murder Capital” of the United States. I was a fairly new officer when we were given this title and believe me, it was not something I was proud of and I committed myself to ensuring I did what I could to change that. Fast forward to a year ago and I can’t tell you how proud I was to announce that our homicide rate has dropped to a 50-year low.
Four years ago, IBM set out a vision for building a Smarter Planet. Behind this promise was the idea that the world could become a more interconnected, smarter and better place to live. IBM Fellow and Global Business Services CTO Kerrie Holley is an example of one person who has made a difference in making the planet smarter.
Kerrie grew up in the South Side of Chicago—an area known for its crime and poverty. He never knew his father, knew very little of his mother and was raised by his maternal grandmother. Fifty years ago, one might have predicted a young Kerrie to fall victim to drugs, gangs and other negative influences in his environment. Instead, he excelled as a student at the Sue Duncan Children’s Center, where he would later tutor U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Academy Award nominee Michael Clarke Duncan. There, Kerrie developed a passion for science and math, which he would later use to earn a Bachelor’s of Science in mathematics and Juris Doctorate from DePaul University.
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Guest Post by: Bridget Van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Business Services
Every two years since 2004, IBM’s consultants have met with CEO and public sector leaders worldwide to understand their perspectives on issues ranging from globalization to talent. And every time, CEOs consistently identified market forces as the biggest driver of change.
That changed this year. Continue Reading »
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by Martin Kelly, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group
We’re pleased to announce the line-up for IBM SmartCamp 2012. This is our program for helping entrepreneurs who are developing products and services that make the world work better. Entrepreneurs who participate gain access to mentors who understand their industry and can help them develop their businesses. Also, networking and publicity can lead to venture funding.
We plan more than 17 SmartCamp events worldwide this year. The schedule starts in Miami on May 15th, with a new format focused on healthcare. Over the last two years we have seen growing interest in certain topics and believe the timing is right to have dedicated events. These one- and two-day events will bring together entrepreneurs, mentors and investors in particular industries allowing a more focused discussion. We will follow Miami up with New York on May 24th with a focus on Smart Cities. The New York event was planned to coincide with TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, to allow mentors and companies to make the most of the community.
For more information and to apply, you can get started here.
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“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Mark Twain
Today, IBM announced the 33 cities that will participate this year in its Smarter Cities Challenge grant program. This marks the second year in a three-year, $50 million, 100-city initiative. IBM sends five- or six-person teams of experts in a range of disciplines to help cities formulate strategies for improving the quality of life for their citizens.
By now, IBM has amassed a wealth of knowledge about how to help cities get started on transformational projects. Last year, the company engaged with 25 cities around the world, including St. Louis in the United States, Glasgow in the United Kingdom, Chiang Mai in Thailand and Johannesburg in South Africa. The previous year, they ran test programs in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Katowice, Poland; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Chengdu, China; and elsewhere. The themes of the projects ranged from education, transportation and to public safety to energy and sustainable economic development. Here’s a post on the Citizen IBM blog from Stephen Mandel, the mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, about the engagement there.
After each engagement, IBM’s Corporate Citizenship team identifies lessons learned. The exercise is partly aimed at improving the program itself, but the team also gleans insights that could help any leader in any city launch an initiative aimed at fundamentally transforming an aspect of how the city works. Here are some of the most critical lessons for leaders:
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By Manoj Saxena
General Manager
IBM Watson Solutions
Imagine asking a computer, “How much money do I need to retire?” or “Should I reshuffle my investments given the volatility of the world markets?” And then imagine getting an expert, personalized response in just a few seconds time.
That scenario is not possible today, but it could be in the not-too-distant future.
It was just over one year ago that IBM’s Watson technology shocked the world by beating two all-time champions on the TV quiz show Jeopardy!. Since then, we have been busy refining and expanding the technology so it can work as well as play. A few months ago, we announced a version of Watson for healthcare. Today we entered the financial services sphere. IBM will help Citi explore how the Watson technology could help improve and simplify the banking experience.
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USC, the Los Angeles Times and IBM Go Beyond
Best Picture to Look at the Bigger Picture
By Jonathan Taplin
Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab
The University of Southern California
As the parade of gowns and penguin suits made their way down the red carpet and into the Oscar awards ceremony last night, I had one eye glued to my TV and the other to my Twitter feed.
For more than three decades, my career in entertainment has spanned the worlds of music, film, technology and finance. As a long-standing member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab, I always await this event with eager anticipation.
But this year I decided to marry my love of film, digital media and technology by applying science to the Oscars. Why? I wanted to better understand how the public’s opinion of Oscar nominees stacks up against the actual winners on awards night.
Like many movie fans, not all of my favorite picks mirror the Academy’s choices, or those of the movie-going public for that matter. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was shouting at the TV during the 2011 Oscar telecast when “The Social Network” didn’t take home Best Picture. That’s why the collaboration between our Lab, IBM and the LA Timesto create the Oscar ‘Senti-Meter’ was so groundbreaking.
Using advances in analytics and natural language processing, the Senti-Meter enabled us to analyze millions of daily public comments via Twitter, comparing volume and even more importantly assessing the tone. It let us pick up on positive, negative and neutral opinions, even snarky vs. sincere tweets about the best actor, actress and film nominees.
by Nirav Merchant, iPlant Collaborative, Director, BioComputing at the Arizona Research Laboratories (ARL), The University of Arizona
Today researchers in life sciences are required to work with and analyze giga and terabyte size data sets. Similarly, students on university campuses walk around with hard drives in their backpacks with terabytes of research data. Much of this data moves at variable speeds, and is in different formats fueled by a new generation of high throughput data production technologies such as DNA sequencers and super resolution microscopes. Continue Reading »
