IBM partners with universities on Watson projects

Students at seven of the country's top computer science universities will get a chance to try out IBM's famous cognitive computing system of Watson as part of new classes set for next fall, according to AP. The partnership between Armonk, New York-based IBM and the universities, which was set to be announced Wednesday, will let students use the "Jeopardy!" champion to develop new cognitive computing applications for a variety of industries ranging from health care to finance. "If they're interested in these kinds of technologies, when they graduate they're going to have a natural proclivity to designing them," says Michael Rhodin, IBM's senior vice president overseeing Watson. "The logic here is that the next generation of entrepreneurs is in universities today." The move follows IBM Corp.'s January announcement that it was investing more than $1 billion in Watson, including about $100 million in startup companies working on Watson projects. The investment also includes a shiny new headquarters for the division on the edge of New York City's East Village close to New York University, one of the schools taking part in the project.