A "smarter planet" will be instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent.
People want it. We can do it.
Eight of 10 students want universities to revamp traditional learning environments while over 90 percent want to join or start a Green Advocacy group at their campus. 64 percent of students believe that the world has a chance to reverse carbon emissions by 2025, and 60 percent believe that education and efficient transportation offer the best hope for sustainability of our cities.
These are just a few of the findings of a remarkable crowdsourcing process held by IBM on April 21-24 called the Smarter Planet University Jam. Nearly 2,000 students, faculty, IBM business leaders, technologists, governmental officials, and industry partners from 40 countries around the globe took part in the Jam and demonstrated both enthusiasm and optimism about opportunities to work together to create a Smarter Planet.
The Jam explored important topics such as:
- Innovations needed to protect our environment and conserve our resources
- Interdisciplinary skill requirements for students (and schools) to compete in a smarter world
- How to create smarter healthcare by improving quality, safety and effectiveness — but at an affordable price
- How to create smarter cities by using information technology to build attractive, sustainable urban environments quicker and cheaper
- Innovations needed to transform today's electricity grids into smart grids
Jam insights
As a follow up to the Smarter Planet University Jam event, a team of Jam hosts, facilitators, and subject matter experts analyzed the approximately 2,700 posts contributed by jammers to identify the key insights and ideas for innovation across our five theme areas: smart water management and green planet, smart grid, smarter healthcare, and smart cities.
We invite you to download and review the summary report, "Jamming for a smarter planet", read the press release, and listen to the podcast interviews, which feature the top faculty Jam contributors.
Contributor recognition
Students worldwide contributed enthusiastically during the Jam and we appreciate their active involvement. IBM recognized 20 students around the globe for their insightful and innovative contributions to the Jam discussion. Thanks to all of our participating students, and congratulations to the merit award recipients (listed in the summary report).
Additionally, more than 200 faculty members worldwide jammed with us. IBM continuously seeks opportunities to collaborate with faculty and researchers who are innovating in our smarter planet theme areas. We are pleased to recognize the following contributors:
- Dr. Ismail Ari, assistant professor in Electrical Engineering from Ozyegin University, as our top faculty contributor to the Smarter Planet University Jam.
- Ravi Nemana, executive director of SSME at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at University of California, Berkeley, as an honorable mention.
Both Ismail Ari and Ravi Nemana will receive IBM Faculty Awards to seed further collaborative research in areas of mutual interest.
Invitation to share
Thank you to all of our Smarter Planet University Jam participants!
Faculty, researchers, and students: IBM wants to hear from you! If you or your university is taking action on any ideas that surfaced within this Jam, we encourage you to share with us at univrel@us.ibm.com.
