The amount of data coming off of sensors and devices challenges researchers and data scientists to determine how to capture it and develop the right tools to analyze it. At IBM Research we are building centers of competency around this big data challenge that will pull together the right sets of collateral to make it easier to do engagements and execute the type of analysis needed for businesses to be successful.
To add to a growing suite of Research-based centers, such as the Customer Experience Lab, we are now launching an Accelerated Discovery Lab, based out of the IBM Research - Almaden site in San Jose, CA. The lab, which has physical and virtual components to it, is a cross-Research effort to create an environment that can accelerate our ability to get insight or predictive capability out of data, leveraging a rich set of hardware, software and domain experts.
We have a number of projects going on in the accelerated discovery space, spanning unique market areas: water management is a new area for us, and we're collaborating with WaterFund to develop new pricing indexes for cities. Social media analytics is a thriving area for our researchers, ranging from marketing campaign development to multi-user dashboards for social insight pulling data from hundreds of different sources. We also are working on drug discovery, where we're finding that whitespace in the pharma landscape is discoverable using our technologies, allowing organizations to venture into new and promising R&D areas.
The environment, complete with twice monthly Accelerated Discovery Forums (internal and external speakers), numerous flat panel displays for individual and group workspaces, telepresence capability and presentation walls, brings a new experience for both IBM researchers and our collaborators to work side by side with specific data sets and bring ideas to the forefront. For big data analysis to occur, and with the speed and accuracy needed to impact organizations, the experts, with the portfolio of technologies need to be co-located, and we look forward to what this unique design will bring about.
