Today IBM unveiled its plans to embark on a bold new direction with Watson by launching the IBM Watson Group, a new business unit dedicated solely to the development and commercialization of cloud delivered cognitive innovations. This is a strategic shift by IBM to accelerate into the marketplace a new class of software, services and apps that think, improve by learning, and discover answers and insights to complex questions from massive amounts of disparate data.

I am here in the room in downtown NYC at this announcement Event!

Through the IBM Watson Group, IBM will continue to provide our academic partners with the types of tools and resources needed to help students build the T-shaped skills (discipline depth and cross-industry breadth) needed to succeed in the era of cognitive systems. This includes new workshops and seminars at its headquarters on topics such as development skills and techniques, as well as networking opportunities for students, academics and professionals.

Following are key details about today’s announcement:

  • IBM will invest more than $1 billion into the Watson Group, focusing on development and research and bringing cloud-delivered cognitive applications and services to market.
  • This will include commitments of $100 million in venture investments to support IBM’s recently launched ecosystem of start-ups and businesses that are building a new class of cognitive apps powered by Watson, in the IBM Watson Developers Cloud.
  • The IBM Watson Group will have a new headquarters at 51 Astor Place in New York City’s “Silicon Alley” technology hub, leveraging the talents of approximately 2,000 professionals, whose goal is to design, develop and accelerate the adoption of Watson cognitive technologies.

There are several other ways in the near future that you can learn more about the new IBM Watson Group and the way that cognitive systems will transform how we live, learn and conduct business:

  • Register for a virtual conversation on Jan. 17 with Katharine Frase, IBM vice president and chief technology officer, global public sector and Chalapathy Neti, IBM director of education transformation research about the role of cognitive computing in education.
  • Attend IBM Global Entrepreneur Week virtually or in person, Feb. 3-7, for online and in person venture and startup focused events including a presentation from Fluid, a startup using Watson technology to transform the retail industry.

As always, please reach out to us with any questions, ideas or opinions about the IBM Watson Group. We invite you, your students, colleagues and network to join us in the ongoing conversations about IBM Watson via social media using #IBMWatson. You can also watch this video series that brings the IBM Watson story to life.