PR Newswire
JOHANNESBURG and ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 25, 2016
JOHANNESBURG and ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM Research (NYSE: IBM) today opened its second research location on the African continent and announced several new project collaborations in the areas of data driven healthcare, digital urban ecosystems and astronomy.
IBM researchers in South Africa with backgrounds in machine learning, mathematics, computer science, robotics, genomics and computational biology, are exploring the use of cognitive computing, the Internet of Things and Big Data to support South Africa's national priorities, drive skills development and foster innovation-based economic growth.
"South Africa is a tremendous growth and transformation story, yet its increasing population and healthcare delivery shortfalls continue to pose challenges in the country," said Solomon Assefa, director, IBM Research – Africa. "With the ability to detect patterns and discover new correlations, cognitive and cloud computing and the Internet of Things can provide potential solutions."
The lab's team of scientists is already collaborating extensively with local universities, research institutions, innovation centers, start-ups and government agencies. This will help foster South Africa's emerging technology ecosystem and develop and scale new innovations.
As part of a 10-year investment program through South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry and working closely with the Department of Science and Technology, the new research lab is based at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). The university was recently ranked amongst the top 10 in emerging economies by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
"The launch of the IBM Research laboratory is an exciting milestone in the move towards a new era of globally competitive research, innovation and entrepreneurship that will be emerging out of the Tshimologong Precinct in Braamfontein. Wits is delighted to be collaborating with IBM. We look forward to seeing top talent congregate to address the continent's most intractable problems and work on the world's next game changing technologies," said Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand.
Aligned with areas of strategic national importance, the lab's focus areas include:
Data Driven Healthcare
Digital Urban Ecosystems
Exploring the Universe
Open Infrastructure, Sustainable Design
The new lab features an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform based on OpenStack connected to IBM Storwize for efficiently provisioning 80TB of storage for research projects.
The lab is located in the Tshimologong Precinct in Braamfontein – an inner-city area which is today re-emerging as a vibrant Johannesburg district. The two-level, 900 square meter lab has a DIY maker space with electronic design equipment and a 3D printer.
Agile work spaces provide a collaborative environment for IBM scientists to train and mentor Wits students and local start-ups. Developer communities across Africa will also have access, at no charge, to a LinuxONE Community Cloud located in Johannesburg, which acts as a virtual R&D engine for creating, testing and piloting emerging applications via the cloud.
IBM Research Innovating for Africa
IBM has operated in Africa for almost 100 years. Today, its operations span 24 countries, including South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Kenya and Tanzania. IBM Research - Africa is the first commercial research organization on the continent, conducting applied and far-reaching exploratory research into Africa's grand challenges and committed to delivering commercially-viable innovations that impact people's lives.
IBM's first African research lab was opened in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013. The South African research facility supports IBM's Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP). In recent years, IBM has also invested in the development of an IBM Client Centre, an Innovation Centre, Service Delivery Centre and a number of offices and data centers across South Africa.
About IBM Research
For more than seven decades, IBM Research has defined the future of information technology with more than 3,000 researchers in 12 labs located across six continents. Scientists from IBM Research have produced six Nobel Laureates, 10 U.S. National Medals of Technology, five U.S. National Medals of Science, six Turing Awards, 19 inductees in the National Academy of Sciences and 20 inductees into the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame. For more information about IBM Research, visit www.ibm.com/research.
Continue the conversation on Twitter @IBMResearch #IBMResearchWITS.
Photos are available here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/ibm_research_zurich/3j9Md4
*Weigelt, B., Peterse, J. L. & van 't Veer, L. J. Breast cancer metastasis: markers and models. Nat. Rev. Cancer 5, 591–602 (2005)
**Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2016, published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Lighting Global, an innovation of the World Bank Group. In cooperation with Global Off-Grid Lighting Association
Contacts: | |
Hulisani Rasivhaga | Chris Sciacca |
IBM Media Relations South Africa | Communications Manager, IBM Research EMEA |
+27 76 790 8175 | +41 78 60 44 092 |
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SOURCE IBM Research
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