IBM Watson ties up with top engineering institutes in India to accelerate demand for skills among Indian students. Gauri Rane reports
In a first of its kind collaboration, India's top engineering institutions will join IBM's global academic initiative to introduce a course in cognitive computing. The top notch institutes include IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata (ISIK) and BITS Pilani. With a keen focus on aiding the growth of the education sector in India, IBM has played a major role in providing innovative technology solutions to the Indian education sector. “The main idea behind introducing a cognitive computing course was to empower university students with the technical knowledge to build apps infused with Watson's intelligence, while gaining the entrepreneurial vision to deliver their innovations into the marketplace,” says Vani Singh, Indian Leader, IBM Wastson Group.
Unlocking data to make better business decisions has become crucial for businesses and has rapidly created a global and industry-wide opportunity for candidates who can uncover insights from data to solve problems and act on findings quickly. “We have tied up with leading educational institutions in India to improve the quality of the educational process, introduce new curricula and prepare their students for jobs in the future,” says Singh about the collaboration.
The IBM initiative makes available certain programmes and educational materials related to IBM’s Watson technology at no charge. IBM will provide Application Programme Interface and web-based access to the IBM Watson Developer Cloud to develop a prototype application that is intended to leverage the cognitive capabilities of the IBM Watson system to demonstrate a unique application or experience.
“The course on cognitive computing, a first-of-its-kind in India, will help students gain technical knowledge and hands-on expertise in fields such as natural language processing, machine learning and content lifecycle management that is required to develop new applications,” says Singh. Students will begin by learning through presentations and discussions about the technologies before switching to hands-on engagement with Watson. The course has been co-designed by the Watson Group and leading academic experts in fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science.
IBM will provide a range of resources and support, including course materials and faculty that includes world-class developers and researchers. “There will also be guest lecturers from senior IBM executives and IBM Watson technical mentors, who will provide guidance throughout the semester, as students work with Watson and build prototypes of cognitive computing apps,” informs Singh.
Offered by the institutions as part of their course curriculum, the course is a mix of technical and business knowledge and brings together natural language processing, machine learning and content lifecycle management concepts under one umbrella. “We hope this will fuel an ecosystem of innovators making Cognitive the new standard of computing,” explains Singh adding that through this course, students will get unprecedented access to Watson Platform via the Watson Developer Cloud.
“We choose to partner with top notch technical institutes like IITs because they already impart the knowledge of cognitive computing and skill-based learning, which makes their students more industry-ready,” informs Singh.
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