IBM opens Watson Centre in Singapore to scale AI, blockchain apps

Article By : Toni Urrutia

The three new facilities are located at the heart of Singapore's financial district, aiming to drive develpoment and commercialisation of AI and emerging blockchain technologies.

IBM has set up three new facilities in Singapore. Touted to offer education, hackathons, customised workshops for a broader ecosystem of innovators, the new Singapore outfit is now IBM's new headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region.

Strategically based at the heart of the country's financial district – the Marina Bay Financial Centre, the new Watson Centre is home to IBM Garage and IBM Studios, serving as a regional, collaboration hub for organisations, industry partners and IBM experts to develop business solutions to accelerate IBM's cognitive and data analytic technolgies.

At the launch last Thursday, IBM explained that Watson represents a new era in computing called ‘cognitive computing’, where systems are capable of understanding the world in the same way as humans do: through senses, learning, and experience.

IBM Asia Pacific's Chairman and CEO Randy Walker, said "Watson and blockchain are two technologies that will rapidly change the way we live and work, and our clients in Asia Pacific are eager to lead the way in envisioning and creating that future.”

These three business units are established to advance Watson:

• Watson, established for the development of cloud-delivered cognitive computing technologies that represent the commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI) across various industries.

• Watson Health, focused on improving the ability of doctors, researchers and insurers and other related health organizations to surface new insights from data to deliver personalized healthcare

• Watson IoT, to make sense of data embedded in over 9 billion connected devices operating in the world today, which generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data daily.

Through the IBM Global Entrepreneur programme and IBM Garage, IBM intends to scale its design, development and commercialisation of the country's blockchain applications.

In addition, the Watson Centre is also a host to 'IBM Studios – Singapore,' a centre that aims to support customer innovation by merging both experience design and digital expertise. Asia Pacific clients of IBM will also be aided in analysing business challenges and develop solutions grounded in individualised digital experiences.

Other Design Studios in the region include Bangalore, Dubai, Melbourne, and Shanghai.