Overview of IBM Research - Africa · Overview of IBM Research - Africa Dr. Uyi Stewart Chief...
Transcript of Overview of IBM Research - Africa · Overview of IBM Research - Africa Dr. Uyi Stewart Chief...
Overview of IBM Research - Africa
Dr. Uyi StewartChief Scientist, IBM Research - Africa
IBM’s Smarter Planet: Reimagining how science and technology
can have impact
• Fighting infectious disease by spreading data
• Improving communication by talking to the Web
• Creating drinking water by filtering oceans
• Managing human impact on rivers by streaming information
• Reducing traffic jams by creating them
• Helping premature infants by sensing complications before they happen
• Reimagining the energy grid by synchronizing supply
• Reducing CO2 while boosting business efficiency
• Mapping beneath the seafloor to help reduce the risk of dry holes
IBM Research Globalization
IBM Research Labs
China
WatsonAlmaden
Austin
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Zurich
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Dublin
Australia
Brazil� Cognitive Services
� Natural Resources
� Disaster Management
� Healthcare & Life Sciences
� Natural Resources
� Smarter Devices
� Human Systems/Events
� Industry
Solutions
� Accessibility
� Internet of Things
� Smarter Cities
� Big Data & Analytics
� HW & SW Quality
� Cloud, Mobile
Haifa
� Smarter Cities
� Services
� Mobile
Communications
� Semiconductors
� Systems
� Software &
Services
� Big Data &
Analytics
� Semiconductors
� Processors
� Big Data &
Analytics
� Storage
� Nanotech
Healthcare
� Science
� Nanotech
Materials
Africa
Why Africa?
Why Now?
A continent of immense breadth and complexity, Afri ca presents aremarkable long term opportunity …..
In 2008 consumer spending in Africa was US$860B (more than India and Russia), and 2020 estimate is S$ 1.4T
52 cities in Africa (more than Europe) have over 1M people each. 400 M Africans live in cities (India has 340M)
600M mobile phone subscribers in Africa (India 670M in 2010), with 316M signed up since 2000
By 2015 Africa’s nominal GDP is expected to reach US$2.5T (close to Brazil US$2.8T and India US$ 2.4T)
Africa has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, making it a huge potential food source
Africa has 50% of world’s gold; 90% of platinum, 98% of chromium,33% of uranium, and 65 % of diamonds
More than 75 companies each earn over USD 3B in revenues in Africa
In 2008, 85M African households were in the middle income group
Africa has over 500M people of working age. By 2040, this is expected to exceed 1.1B (more than China or India)
Total 2009 Africa FDI $515B (India $164B), grew 17.4% pa 2002-9, with over 50% to S Africa, Egypt and Morocco
The goal of IBM Research – Africa
Address Africa’s grand challenges through commercially viable innovations that impact
people’s lives
Strategy for capturing and delivering innovations created in Africa for Africa
Clusters/Grand ChallengesAgri-Business
EducationEnergy
Financial InclusionHealthcare
Public SafetyWater/Sanitation
Economics Price
Output
Productivity Yield
Loss
Genomics Characterization
Discovery
Collection
Movement Ownership
Transfer
Interventions Vaccinations
Seed Distribution
Fertilizer
Quarantines
Climate Retrospective
Regional
Forecast
Water Soil Analysis
Irrigation
Indigenous Crops
Crop-livestock
?
Big Data Growth
2010
Vo
lum
e i
n E
xab
yte
s
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2015
Percentage of uncertain data
Pe
rcen
t of u
nce
rtain
da
ta
100
80
60
40
20
0
Sensors & Devices
VoIP
Enterprise Data
Social Media
You are here
Towards Cognitive Systems
Train & LearnBuild Models,
Define Insight
HypothesizeUnderstand and Plan
Policy
Engine
Verification (e.g. Simulations)
Active Learning
OutcomesActuation and Validation
Natural
Interfaces
Society Nature Institutions Archives
2011-04-05
Algorithms and Applications
Static programming
Archives
Structured Data and Text
People Hypothesize,Determine “what it means”,Run other applications…
The Calculating Paradigm The Learning Paradigm
Input ���� Same Output Input + Learning ���� Different Output ���� Differentiation
What have we been up to in the past year?
Updates on selected projects
Project Summary/Scope
Human Capacity Development Elevate the level of ICT and related scientific skills in Kenya by working in collaboration with select universities and local entrepreneurs and innovators
Traffic Awareness New algorithms from low-resolution image recognition & traffic estimation for traffic control (estimating congestion level and traffic flow) and city planning.
Develop a mobile app that’ll enable citizens look up current traffic and/or road conditions in Nairobi (plus alternative route recommendation)
Water Management Analyze historical water demand and supply data to create forecasting models for future water demand and infrastructure requirements for the City of Nairobi, and Kenya.
Develop a conceptual and numeric model of Nairobi Aquifer System (NAS); and project groundwater abstractions over the next 30 years
Public Health Address pressing health needs related to Cervical Cancer using IBM’s innovative technology to develop solutions for diagnostics, treatment, and referals
Agribusiness Understand current supply chain for agribusiness and define new business model to capture and create value in a cloud-enabled mobile commerce platform
Create an intelligent, digital interactive biorepository of livestock- related data to enable deep analytics and modeling of the relationships between agricultural and economic variables in sub-Saharan Africa
Digital Mobile Advertising Leverage geo-specific data for advertising goods and services offered by small-medium businesses to commuters (matatus) on select roads in Nairobi
Education Leverage Raspberry Pi in public schools to open up the typical ‘black box’ of computers and teach a functional curriculum that empowers students to use computers and sensors as problem-solving tools to understand the world around them and spark meaningful innovation
Community Health
Workers•are often the only health care providers in rural areas•are dependent mostly on their experience and intuition
Community Health
Workers•are often the only health care providers in rural areas•are dependent mostly on their experience and intuition
Tribal Knowledge•is fundamental to understand societal behavior in Africa•is essential to the development of Africa
Tribal Knowledge•is fundamental to understand societal behavior in Africa•is essential to the development of Africa
Socio-Economic
Challenges•appear to be grand challenges in Africa•are hard to assess due to the latencies in data collection
Socio-Economic
Challenges•appear to be grand challenges in Africa•are hard to assess due to the latencies in data collection
Cognitive computing breakthroughs in new learning models and cognitive interfaces and the availability of rich data to enable transformative progress in the continent. Salient examples include:
The story of IBM Research - Africa is an ongoing story of…
Thank You!