IBM Watson expanding footprint with developers in India

IBM Watson, the cognitive computing platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technologies as part of cloud offering, is expanding its footprint in India.

In an interaction with DH, Angel Diaz, Vice President Developer Tech & Advocacy, IBM Digital Business Group, said the company's Watson capability has really made an impact in India.

"We have seen its deployment from startups to big enterprise customers, cutting across business domains. IBM Watson is expanding its business prospects and this relation will further solidify," he said.

IBM India and South Asia Chief Digital Officer Nipun Mehrotra said that around 300 startups are leveraging IBM Cloud and most of them are using Watson services.

Diaz said Watson API also generated enthusiasm among software application providers to build apps and services that are embedded in Watson's capabilities.

"Indian developers are the second largest community on the Watson platform. We are betting big on four million developers in India who are creating 10% application development around the world," he said.

"We have seen overwhelming use of Watson technologies among various startups in India along with other enterprises in the healthcare, education and analytics, among others," he added.

The company is also working with insurance companies in India to analyse weather data for crop insurance scheme and fashion design company Falguni Shane Peacock to develop new designs. Manipal Healthcare is one of the pioneer partners of IBM Watson in the healthcare space.

EduTech companies like Jigsaw Academy, Krackin Technologies, Imarticus Learning, Eduvance, GradValley Data Science and iAcademia are availing Watson services.

The company also organised IBM Code Day to strengthen IBM's commitment to the developer community in India. The event is aimed at enhancing specific skills and gain hands-on experience in the latest technologies across cloud, AI, data and emerging technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and quantum computing.