A must attend Event -- NextGen Cloud Conference! See you there! #ibm @nextgen @RDelMarzo #cloud

In a time where cloud computing is disrupting organizations more than ever before, now is a good time to learn what your business needs to join in on this exciting movement. That’s why I’m very excited to announce my upcoming “Innovate with The Cloud Built for Cognitive Business,” keynote being held as part of the NexGen Cloud Conference in San Diego December 9-10 with my colleague Nancy Pearson.
The NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo shares in the IBM mission to build leaders and innovators in this fast-moving time of IT innovation and transformation. The conference will bring together you as service-led solution providers and vendor executives for two days of skill development designed to help you succeed.
Because the complexity of solution options available has never been greater for enterprises, decision-makers are seeking out partners like you who have demonstrated that they can build solutions to solve their customer challenges and drive innovation.
In our keynote, we will talk about how your business can unleash the power of cloud-scale to increase cognitive agility, accelerate time to market, and reach new clients faster and with more impact than ever before.
We will also talk about how IBM is aligning with partners like you who combine deep understanding of business challenges with the platforms for delivery that will make clients successful as they scale to the cloud.
Cloud has exploded on the scene and ushered in a tidal wave of disruptive technologies Come learn how you can be one of them in 2016 with IBM and The NextGen Cloud Conference and Expo.
Learn more about IBM and its commitment to entrepreneurs here: www.ibmforentrepreneurs.com.
And use the Promo Code "Carter_guest" at nexencloudcon.com    !!!!

Johannesberg and Madrid SmartCamp Winners Drive Job Creation, Gaming Innovation and Mobile Business Solutions!

I have loved the IBM SmartCamps, which are pitch competitions with incredible talent!
These camps brought a huge talent pool of startups to showcase to judges worldwide, thank you to all the startups who participated! Today we're taking a look at a few exciting innovations coming from Johannesberg and Madrid before announcing our ten finalists, at the end of the week, who will move on to the next stage of IBM SmartCamps.

app smart

Congratulations to M4Jam from Johannesberg and both Jugo and Visualtis from Madrid. All three of these startups very much deserved their winner status for the solutions that they bring to the market.

About the startups:

1. M4Jam (Johannesberg) is a micro jobbing platform. They launched their solution as a platform as a service model taking the concept of EARN to existing communities and enabling people to earn extra cash while going about their daily routine by using apps that they are already using most.

2. Jugo (Madrid) believes that play will become the dominant way of human interaction within the next five years. By bringing game elements into everyday activities of organizations and individuals around the world, Jugo introduces a whole new level of purpose and passion to the workplace.

winner smart

3. Visualtis helps “mobilize ” existing information systems to manage them from a smartphone and further help clients manage any aspect of their business from their smartphone or tablet.

To learn more about these exciting companies, follow them on Twitter: @visualtis, @m4jam and @playjugo.

winner 2

Please continue to follow my blog to read more about the ten startups who will move on to the next stage of IBM SmartCamp 2015!

 


Wow! Check out these Entrepreneurs Changing the World around the Globe!

This week we wrapped up our local SmartCamp events in some major cities and did we see some talent on the stage pitching! Here’s this week’s round up of innovators.

Congratulations to these great startups for advancing to the next stage of IBM SmartCamp 2015. Stay tuned next week for our final IBM SmartCamp blog post. Thanks to everyone who participated thus far!

group pic

Auckland: Eight Wire Limited
Eight Wire's Conductor is a data integration product that is designed to fix the problems that often derail integration projects. https://www.eight-wire.com/

Austin: The Car Force

The care force connects with 162 million highly sophisticated vehicle computers on the road to the internet and enable franchise dealerships to see service opportunities in real time. www.thecarforce.com

Boston: Feelter
Feelter offers a revolutionary approach to social content harvesting, curation and monetization which can either replace or complement the solutions in the marketplace.  www.feelter.com

group pic 2

Berlin: Panatomy and Tripdelta

Panatomy is a breakthrough visual support software for medical imaging specialists, providing the first interactive image-based diagnostic reference system for radiology. www.panatomy.com

Tripdelta is a smart flight search that finds routes and alternative flight options that other flight searches do not find and provides route suggestions. www.tripdelta.com

Cairo: Vidmy and SocialBlink
Vidmy uses Softlayer to manage a site that allows you to choose videos from around the Internet to build a custom video website and make money from Advertisements. http://www.vidmy.com/
SocialBlink analyzes information and sentiments in Arabic and English on social media channels including: Facebook, Twitter & YouTube. http://www.social-blink.com/

Melbourne: Localz
Localz enables enterprises to use the latest in location technology to enhance customer’s in-store experience, improve asset and inventory tracking and provide frictionless mobile payments, at scale. www.localz.com

Milan: Horus Technology
Horus is a wearable personal assistant for blind and visually impaired people. Worn on the user’s head, it observes the scene through a vision system and describes it to the user through a bone conduction device. It can read texts, recognize people and objects and detect obstacles and road signs.  http://horus.tech/it/

group pic 3
Montevideo: Bquate and Tizkka
Bquate created a talent platform for the music and video industries in South America. Their dashboard allows industry professionals to make educated talent decisions based on transparency and real data. www.bquate.com

TiZKKA is the first fashion app that connects users with their favorite fashion bloggers to purchase the same products worn by the fashion bloggers seamlessly in an app. http://www.tizkka.com/

Raleigh: Plum Print and Akilis Software

Plum Print takes artwork that children create, transforms them into digital archives and prints elegant custom coffee-table books and keepsakes. www.plumprint.com

Akili Software's Savii Care is a workflow management platform that streamlines agency tasks and allows end-users to complete those tasks in a fraction of the time.

Silicon Valley: Kukun
Kukun is a SaaS driven marketplace for home renovation that brings together home owners, buyers and sellers. www.mykukun.com


Colorado SmartCamp Winner Works to Bring Attorney-Client Relationship Online!

Colorado held their SmartCamp event September 10th at accelerator partner Galvanize in Boulder and finished the evening by awarding an innovative legal advice technology startup the winner!

Congratulations to Congo for creating the first online free market solution for the legal industry. Clients can schedule an appointment with an attorney in less than 60 seconds (think Zocdoc for attorneys ).

COmBvkKU8AA5hAH

How does Congo work? With three simple steps Congo takes away the pain of searching for a lawyer by streamlining the search process, delivering the information and credibility needed to make an informed decision. Attorneys are licensed, vetted and have no history of malpractice. When I say simple, I mean simple.

Step 1. go to www.congo.io  - find an attorney for DUI, Criminal Law, or Business Law

Step 2. Book an appointment

Step 3. Connect by phone or video

Congo was originally a school project that started in a CU-Boulder Entrepreneurial class in the Spring semester of 2013. . Their long-term vision is to bring the entire attorney-client relationship online.

Congo leverages IBM Softlayer in their solution and is learning more about how Bluemix can benefit their mission.

Congratulations again to Congo. Follow their story on Twitter at congo_io.

For a complete look at application deadlines and public SmartCamp events, click here: http://www.smartcamp2015.com/cities/. Stay tuned for more SmartCamp stories in your city.

 


San Francisco SmartCamp Winner Revolutionizes Farming!

I loved seeing the San Francisco Smart Camp live!   First I got to see Jason and then I got to see amazing solutions on style, live streaming, farmers, and more!

san fran winner

For farmers, understanding farm conditions can be quite cumbersome, that's why we're excited about San Francsico's SmartCamp winner FarmHub who has just made it that much easier!

In the city of tech, winning this stage of SmartCamps is no small feat, congratulations to FarmHub for their innovative solution that makes monitoring agricultural fields easy and efficient.

How does it work? With FarmHub's weather stations and web solutions, you can connect dozens of field sensors to the cloud without the hassles of cumbersome technology. Gaining remote access to real-time conditions across the farm is as simple as turning it on.

FarmHub measures conditions like: air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, rainfall, solar radition and UV Index, visible light intensity and soil moisture. The hardware even provides camera snapshots of crop fields.

san fran smart camp

Let's hear from the founder.

"The IBM mentorship was really top notch. Very seasoned investors who listened and looked at what we had done. The review team cut to the chase with very targeted, constructive criticism that we are immediately taking action on at FarmHub. We are excited to go to the next stage and continue to gain benefit from the IBM Smart Camp program." Louis Thiery

Congratulations again to FarmHub. Follow their story on Twitter at @farm_hub.

Louis_Thiery-FarmHub_large

For a complete look at application deadlines and public SmartCamp events, click here: http://www.smartcamp2015.com/cities/. Stay tuned for more SmartCamp stories in your city.


Reimagining Optometry in Chicago! Smart Camp Winner!

Just when you thought getting an appointment with your optometrist was going to take months, a new healthcare startup comes along and completely reinvents eye-care from the comfort of your own home!

Congratulations to Opternative, the winner of this year's SmartCamp kick-off event held in Chicago on August 26th!

opt 1

The Opternative team has created the first-to-market eye exam and prescription company that costs less than a traditional refractive eye exam. In just twenty-five minutes or less, you can get a quick eye exam with nothing but a smart phone and a computer. A digital eye glasses prescription is provided in less than twenty-four hours, and you can then shop for glasses or contacts anywhere.

Opternative is registered with the FDA and has undergone studies that have proved it just as accurate as an in-office eye exam.

opt 2

What does Opternative have to say?

"Eye exams for glasses and contact prescriptions are just the beginning. We envision a world where technology allows patients to connect with doctors to make all aspects of vision care more convenient, accessible, and even fun!" (https://www.opternative.com/about)

Thanks for participating in Chicago's SmartCamp event Opternative!

Follow Opternative's story on Twitter at @opternative. For a complete look at application deadlines and public SmartCamp events, click here: http://www.smartcamp2015.com/cities/. Stay tuned for more SmartCamp stories in your city.


IBM proudly supports the next generation of Technology Professionals

Grand Central Tech (GCT) had their inaugural Innovation Night following their new successful 6 weeks internship program. The innovative program is meant to facilitate technology education by offering high school and college students real work experience at real startups. The startups were from GCT's second year class, which has already raised 7 million USD in venture funding. NYC currently has 300,000 technology positions and in the next 5 years, it is estimated the US will have 1 million open tech jobs, so training the next generation of technology professionals will be critical to continued growth. With these dynamics in mind, Eddie Cullen (previously at Fordham University's accelerator), set out to design the GCT internship program.

GCT for Sandys blog

On Innovation night, the Goldman Sachs auditorium was packed with interns, startups, and proud family. Interns were matched up with GCT startups based on skills and interests. The intern's backgrounds ranged from high school students with interests in technology, to college computer science majors. Students created projects that spanned from non-profit shoe donations, IoT data stream (IOBeam), payment platforms (Arthur) to 3D printing projects (Source3). However, the real outcome of these 19 startups and 33 students were the indelible memories and valuable real life work experience.

Words like creativity, perseverance, innovation, and great code were used to describe the outcomes of the program. Nurturing the next generation of tech entrepreneurs benefits NYC, the economy and creates better lives for all. Most of the students started the program with fledgling technical skills. However at the event most interns prided themselves to have learned HTML, CSS and JavaScript, creating web forms and simple mobile applications. A few students even went above and beyond, chasing leads and customer, successfully demonstrating mastery of advanced tech skills, and thriving in the fast paced reality of a genuine startup.

IBM is a corporate sponsor of GCT. IBM Cloud Ecosystem Development makes available business and technical support to GCT startups and offers Bluemix for cloud apps and services. IBM is also part of Digital.NYC initiative, a unique public/private partnership between the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Gust, and over a dozen leading NYC-based technology and media companies..

 


Are you the next CitiMobile Challenge Champion? Registration is open now!

Can you help to transform banking as we know it?  The answer is YES and here's how...

IBM is proud to be a strategic sponsor of the Citi® Mobile Challenge - a quest to find developers and designers to create new and innovative FinTech solutions with Citi's digital platforms.  After successful events in the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Citi® Mobile Challenge is now starting in Asia Pacific and is hosting Demo Days in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangalore and Sydney - and registration is open now!

Using Bluemix, you can apply your skills to develop, design and impress in two categories:
Consumer solutions:  create innovations which give consumers personalized, intuitive products and services that transform how they think about banking.
Business solutions:  develop new financial technology tools and services to meet the needs of small businesses, large corporations, institutions, organizations or governments.

Developers using Bluemix will be ahead of the game with a platform as a service (PaaS) that gives them simplicity, speed, agility and critical tools - all without the overhead of setting up the underlying architecture.  And, as strategic sponsor, IBM is there each step of the way, giving Challenge participants a wide spectrum of face-to-face and virtual product education, consulting and coding assistance by top experts - throughout the competition.

Finalists will compete for an opportunity to take their technologies into production with Citi’s support, plus a share of USD $100,000 in cash awards and a suite of services from Citi Mobile Challenge sponsors.  Selected participants will showcase their concepts at live Demo Day events.

So, be a part of the banking transformation!  Go to http://www.citimobilechallenge.com/ to register for the Citi Mobile Challenge (registration closes September 2, 2015).  Rally your team and get everyone registered to use Bluemix here:  https://ibm.biz/IBMCMCAP15
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------