Duggal Events Magazine

World Of Watson

Meet Watson, IBM’s futuristic supercomputer that’s as smart as you – not smarter, because that would make it a robot. Robots lack cognition and the ability to learn; Watson possesses ‘the cognitive framework that humans use to inform their decisions.’ You may have heard of Watson. In 2011, it defeated human contestants on Jeopardy. Since going commercial in January 2014, it has become a game-changing analyst for everything from healthcare to oil refining; financial services to e-commerce. Watson is currently working with 14 U.S. cancer centers to develop personalized cancer treatments based on patients’ genetics. At the same time, it has also published a 231- page cookbook with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. Care for an Austrian chocolate burrito? Watson is everywhere, but for three days in May, the Duggal Greenhouse became the ‘World of Watson.’ IBM hosted thought leaders from 26 industries across 32 countries at the Brooklyn waterfront venue for an interactive forum on our future with Watson. Keynote speakers shared their experiences employing IBM’s groundbreaking technology, while developers and creative geniuses camped out and competed for $25,000 in prizes as part of the first-ever Watson Hackathon. IBM couldn’t have picked a more fitting venue to embody the vision and endless possibilities behind Watson; the Duggal Greenhouse sits at the intersection of art, science and technology. Roughly 800 guests were taken by ferry to and from the IBM conference, which included product rollouts, local food trucks and an outdoor cyber lounge. Duggal’s Mary Lovci and Kimberly Leonard led the Duggal production and installation teams in transforming the Greenhouse into the ‘World of Watson’ with a 50-foot digital screen, framed canvas walls, 15- foot banners, vinyl graphics and signage.