The IBM Watson project is a computer system that’s based on machine learning and natural language processing. You might have seen it beating humans at Jeopardy. The aim is for the computer to keep learning from previous user interactions and experiences, and thus provide better solutions over time.
This year, the firm held the IBM Watson Asia-Pacific New Venture Challenge, looking for startups that use the technology to develop new ideas and applications. The six-week, 25-team competition culminated in an event in Singapore, where the 12 winning teams were announced.
Of the companies that came out ahead in the contest, three of them were the top performers on the strength and execution of their ideas. The 12 winners are invited to join Tag.Pass, a newly-announced “pre-acceleration” program run jointly by IBM and Singapore’s Infocomm Investments. Areas of interest include retail, travel, healthcare, the public sector, and finance. They also get access to IBM’s Watson API and cloud resources, making them part of a worldwide network of developers.
Top teams
Raydar
Singapore-based Raydar is a search engine for stock photos. It uses the Watson tech to get better insights on content and improve its keywords, making its search function more effective.
Snapask
Snapask is a Hong Kong-based, on-demand mobile marketplace connecting students to tutors. It uses Watson to make sense of the students’ and tutors’ behavior on its service in order to be able to offer more personalized content.
Silverlake
Silverlake is a Malaysian company that helps businesses improve customer experience and engagement through big data. Among its software products is WALIC, a lifestyle concierge app powered by Watson that offers customers personalized recommendations.
Runners-up
Cogniant
Singapore-based Cogniant is a mental healthcare service. Its app uses the technology to help mental health patients remember their medication and complete their thoughts in collaboration with their clinicians.
Embodied Sensing
Embodied Sensing is another Singaporean company. It works on speech-to-text and voice recognition. The product, Emotibadge, uses Watson tech to analyze conversations between staff and customers in order to improve customer service.
Konversations
Konversations komes comes from India. It helps prospective students choose universities, student loans, careers, and more, through a chat app. It uses dialogue tech provided by Watson to ensure a natural experience for users.
LocoBuzz
LocoBuzz is based in India and provides an online marketing service that includes big data, social media, and email marketing. It uses Watson to make sense of unstructured data and improve its customer intelligence to enable better targeting for its clients.
mClinica
Back to Singapore with mClinica, a health data and analytics startup for pharmaceutical companies and medical professionals. Watson tech helps it prevent medication dispensing errors and update prescription information in medical libraries in real-time.
MobiCart
Singapore-based MobiCart helps aspiring e-tailers to set up an online storefront on iOS, Android, and HTML5. It also provides an ecosystem of add-ons for merchants, like payment systems.
StockFlock
Singapore’s Stockflock is an online platform for investors, offering company comparisons so that users can make better investment decisions. It uses Watson tech to better personalize its search function and the information it sends to its customers.
Swizzle
Swizzle hails from South Korea. It uses its own tech along with Watson to scour the internet for trends, insights, and influencers. This way, it helps advertisers identify potential customers and better target their campaigns.
Zumata Technologies
Singapore-based Zumata works with travel retailers to offer hotel and travel booking options. Through predictive tech and proprietary APIs, it offers travel sites and agents competitive prices and attractive inventory. Watson tech helps the firm with changing listing information, like hotel descriptions and images.