IBM Watson Services Challenge

The number of easy to integrate APIs on cloud that support several Artificial Intelligence (AI) tasks is exploding and this is contributing to increase the adoption of AI methods to solve a larger number of industrial and practical problems.

IBM launched Bluemix in 2013 with the intent to provide a comprehensive industrial platform on cloud to expose and manage a large number of APIs which includes now tens runtimes and services. These services include a number of AI services, known Watson services, that combined together and with other kind of services will serve as the basis for the next generation of cognitive computing applications that thrive on data. A large number of Watson services are in the area of computational linguistic.

There are a large of innovative use cases like speedboats racing with data and new university programs empowering students with Masters programs and workshops that enable cloud-based development using similar platforms and tools.

With this challenge we would like to see more examples of how a platform as Watson Services are or could be used individually or in combination with other BlueMix services or with custom new services.

The challenge is to create the most innovative app on Bluemix services that we have seen which leverages at least one Watson Service, with a specific focus on NLP and speech services for Italian language context.

There are no restrictions to any particular application domain: perhaps you are solving a real challenge with healthcare, or aviation, or perhaps you create an app that serves no immediate business value but offers you fun and enjoyment. Submissions of all kinds are welcome.

Challenge Rules

  • Log onto Slideshare and make a presentation of your Bluemix App. Show us what problem it solves, how it uses the Watson Services and other Bluemix services to solve this problem in NO MORE than 15 slides.
  • At least ONE Watson service should be utilized by the App.
  • Provide a link to your App/System to be evaluated.
  • Submit your contact and the relevant and APP/System urls to let it accessible from reviewers by 11:59 PM CET September 30, 2016.

Prize

IBM will grant the AILC (http://www.ai-lc.it/) with a total of 3.000 Euro grant that will be used to award the first 3 best submissions with the following distribution:

  1. Euro 1,500
  2. Euro 1,000
  3. Euro 500

Judges

The judge panel includes a mix of Academic and IBM representatives:

  • Cristina Bosco: Assistant professor at the University of Torino, member of AILC board;
  • Pierpaolo Basile: Assistant Professor at University of Bari Aldo Moro, co-chair of EVALITA 2016;
  • Pietro Leo: Executive Architect, IBM Italy CTO for Big Data Analytics & Watson.

They will be judging entries based on the following rubric.

Bluemix App Challenge Rubric

Main focus of the evaluation will be around NLP and speech proposal targeting Italian language.

IDEA and Use Case (1/3 of the score)

  • Creativity: How creative or innovative is the idea behind the app? How well does it fit its persona?
  • Viability: How relevant is he app’s use case? Is this going to solve a real market or business problem?

Experience (1/3 of the score)

  • Intuitiveness: How is the user experience? Is the app intuitive to use? Does the flow make sense?
  • Value: How clear is the value of the app? How quickly does the app value become apparent?

Architecture & Implementation (1/3 of the score)

  • Feasibility: Does it actually work? Is the app going to scale as a real solution with multiple users?
  • Uniqueness: How well does this app leverage a variety of different watson and other bluemix services?

Resources

Do you have an existing mobile or web application? Launch it on Bluemix using the catalog of Boilerplates, runtimes and third party services.

New to Bluemix and Watson Services? Check out our documentation for getting started. Read an overview of Bluemix. Learn how to create apps for mobile or web, and take a look at our featured runtimes and services

Where I can find examples of projects that integrates Watson Services? Check out Watson Services …. on Github

Contact: Pietro Leo – pietro_leo[AT]it.ibm.com