For over 60 years, IBM Research has been the innovation engine of the
IBM corporation. From helping the Apollo space missions land on the
moon to creating a technology that can find answers in unstructured data
more effectively than standard search technology (aka Watson).
Following on from the signing of a Research and Development
Collaboration Agreement last year, the first IBM researchers have moved
into their new offices at Sci-TechDaresbury. Working alongside colleagues from the Hartree Centre, and those at other IBM Research labs in Yorktown Heights,
Dublin and Zurich, they will help develop new tools, algorithms and
approaches to big data that will help UK industry take greater advantage
of the wealth of insights hidden in that data.
This move will make Daresbury one of only two UK locations with an IBM Research base, alongside Hursley, Winchester.
The initial areas of co-working and collaboration include projects on
molecular modelling, genomics, multi-physics and multi-scale modelling,
the Internet of Things and uncertainty quantification.
Professor
Chris Thompson, Technical Lead of the IBM Daresbury team, said: “We’re
delighted that already we have seven researchers working at Daresbury,
with the headcount due to grow significantly in 2016 and beyond. The
collaboration between IBM and the Hartree Centre is a rare opportunity to make a
significant impact on the UK industrial eco-system and I can’t wait to
see the IBM/Hartree Centre team grow and engage in this challenge.”
