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IBM invests to Accelerate Development and Commercialization of Disruptive Technologies in Asia

Close to 5,000 IBM Cognitive Solution Professionals across the region co-creating with clients to drive transformation
New Watson Centre at Marina Bay to house IBM Garage Singapore and IBM Studios – Singapore

In less than five years, disruptive technologies such as cognitive computing and blockchain are expected to drive dramatic shifts in every industry, from healthcare, to financial services, to tourism. To help clients of all sizes in the Asia Pacific region lead in shaping the future of their industries, IBM today announced plans to assist in the rapid prototyping and commercialization of solutions based on cognitive computing and blockchain.

IBM today opened The Watson Centre at Marina Bay, an incubator designed to bring together organizations of all sizes, business partners and IBM experts to co-create business solutions that leverage IBM’s cognitive, blockchain and design capabilities. IBM’s new Asia Pacific headquarters is based in the same location, in the heart of Singapore’s financial district.

Watson Centre at Marina Bay will act as a centre of expertise for almost 5,000 IBM cognitive solutions professionals in the Asia Pacific region alone, including researchers, IBM Watson specialists, data scientists, software engineers, agile developers and analytics experts. It will also offer education, hackathons, and customised workshops for a broader ecosystem of innovators including software companies, startups, developers and systems integrators.

The Centre will play host to Asia Pacific clients looking to lead in a variety of markets and industries, using Watson technologies that reason, improve through learning, and discover insights hidden in large amounts of complex data. IBM has been working to meet growing demand for cognitive computing in Asia Pacific through a variety of avenues, including partnerships with Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand and SK Holdings C&C in Korea, as well as establishing developer ecosystems in the region.

“We are pleased with IBM’s decision to establish their APAC HQ and the new Watson Centre, together with a number of innovation initiatives, in Singapore to develop impactful digital solutions for their clients,” said Yeoh Keat Chuan, Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board. “This is a testament to Singapore’s growing start-up ecosystem, presence of strong industry verticals and the availability of digital talent with deep capabilities.”

Financial Services

DBS Bank, a leading financial services group in Asia, will work with Watson Centre at Marina Bay to develop new use cases based on disruptive technologies, and to assist in its strategy to support FinTech startups in the region.
Mr Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS said, “At DBS, we seek to leverage digital technology to make banking simple and effortless for our customers. As we shape the future of banking, it is important to work with a thriving innovation ecosystem to tap into disruptive technology and ideas. Our partnership with IBM will help us to continue driving innovation within DBS, as well as assist in the acceleration and development of locally-generated FinTech innovations.”

IBM Garage Singapore

With the advent of blockchain, and the increasing demand from clients across Asia to explore the possibilities of this transformative technology, IBM will help accelerate the design, development and commercialization of Singapore blockchain applications through the IBM Garage and the IBM Global Entrepreneur program.
At the IBM Garage, experts collaborate with clients, developers and entrepreneurs to test-drive tools, processes, and procedures to make Blockchain real. The garage creates a bridge between the scale of enterprise and culture of startups and supports the development of an Open Standards based Blockchain ecosystem and creates new work opportunities in Singapore.

IBM Global Entrepreneur Program helps startups and entrepreneurs who are building new generation of distributed ledger applications on the Blockchain harness the power of IBM Cloud, as well as deeply connect and embed them into IBM’s vast global network of enterprise clients, consultants, Innovation Centres and more to rapidly build, scale quickly and accelerate growth.

“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,” said Randy Walker, Chairman and CEO, IBM Asia Pacific. “Here they can leverage the latest in customer experience design, use cognitive technology to draw insight from vast quantities of data, and draw on IBM’s huge investments in research and development. In partnership with our clients we are nurturing local talent and building an ecosystem to accelerate the development of cognitive solutions and Blockchain platforms.”

For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/Watson and ibm.com/press/watson. Join the conversation at #ibmwatson.