Video featuring, from IBM: Mike Wing, Andy Stanford-Clark and John Tolva.

Over the past century but accelerating over the past couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data field. The planet itself - natural systems, human systems, physical objects - have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we didnt used to be able to hear it, to see it, to capture it. Now we can because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And its all interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.

Look at that complex set of relationships among all of these complex systems. If we can actually begin to see the patterns in the data, then we have a much better chance of getting our arms around this. Thats where societies become more efficient, thats where more innovation is sparked.

When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two dimensions. One is to be more efficient, be less destructive, to connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more conscience and deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, new forms of social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information, creation and transmission system, and the universe was hearing its information but we werent. But increasingly now we can, early days, baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to us.

 

At Toronto Hospital, IBM helps doctors evaluate data from patient records. Real, volunteered, patient data was used to create the data visualizations depicted in this spot. Through data analysis, doctors can identify danger signs and make intelligent decisions to prevent life-threatening infections.

This is a baby. A baby generating data in a neonatal ward. Every heartbeat. Every breath. Every anomaly. From over a thousand pieces of unique information per second. Helping doctors find new ways to detect life-threatening infections up to 24 hours sooner. On a smarter planet, analyze the data and you can predict what will happen faster. So you can do what they’re doing in Toronto. And build a smarter hospital. Let’s build a smarter planet.

 

A whole new slate of IBM TV advertising has been created that will reinforce the point that data is fundamental to creating a Smarter Planet. The commercials will highlight just a few of the thousands of IBMers whose day jobs are to think about data on a smarter planet.

Following are a few of the ads:

 

By 2050, nearly three quarters of our planet will live in cities. Public safety will be a key factor in determining which city they choose.

Public officials are turning to the same technology advances that businesses have been using—autonomic sense-and-respond capabilities, analytics, visualization and computational modeling—to make our public safety systems smarter, and drive a fundamental shift from responding to events to anticipating and preventing them, when possible.

For all cities and regions competing in the global marketplace for work, investment and talent, safety and security are crucial factors in determining overall quality of life. Which is why smarter public safety isn’t just a responsibility of the state, it’s also a priority for the success of businesses, communities and civil society at large.

Let’s build a smarter planet.

 

The cleverness and intelligence of IBM Software making the planet smarter told through simple narration and illustrations.