IBM's Watson already has Jeopardy! under its belt. Now Big Blue is turning to the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business for ideas on what to do next.
Manoj Saxena, the general manager of IBM's Watson Solutions unit, says the goal is finding ideas that will "take Watson from a Jeopardy-playing machine to a business-grade decision support system."
Twenty-five Simon MBA students were the first in the nation to partner with IBM on tackling that charge.
The first-place idea used the supercomputer for crunching reams of weather-related data and census numbers during natural disasters.
The aim, Saxena says, is "helping local authorities deploy the right resources to prevent damage and destruction."
For more on this story visit the Innovation Trail website.
The Innovation Trail is a collaboration between five upstate New York public media outlets. The initiative, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), will help the public gain a better understanding of the connection between technological breakthroughs and the revitalization of upstate New York's economy. Reports focus on research, development, education, funding, and policy issues around emerging fields like energy, information technology, biotech, nanotech, and photonics.
