Innovation in RTP Speaker Series: IBM Smarter Planet Update

Two years ago, IBM kicked off the Innovation in RTP Lecture series with a presentation about launching IBM's Smarter Planet initiative. March 9, 2011 marks the 2nd anniversary of the lecture series and IBM will provide an update on the Smarter Planet and how IBM is working with governments and corporations around the world to make our world smarter: with less traffic, healthier food, cleaner water, safer cities.

What does it mean to be smarter?
At IBM, we mean that intelligence is being infused into the systems and processes that make the world work, into things no one would recognize as computers: cars, appliances, roadways, power grids, clothes, even natural systems such as agriculture and waterways.

Data is being captured today as never before. It reveals everything from large and systemic patterns of global markets, workflows, national infrastructures and natural systems; to the location, temperature, security and condition of every item in a global supply chain. Through social media, billions of customers, citizens, students and patients tell us what they think, what they like and want, what they're witnessing, in real time.

Intelligence, not intuition, drives innovation.
But data by itself isn't useful. The most important aspect of smarter systems is the actionable insights that data can reveal.

Over the past two years, we've talked about what it takes to build a smarter planet. We've learned that our companies, our cities and our world are complex systems indeed, systems of systems. Advancing these systems to be more instrumented, intelligent and interconnected requires a profound shift in management and governance toward far more collaborative approaches.