IIIT-Delhi and IBM challenge students to improve banking services with IBM Watson

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi in collaboration with IBM and Federal Bank has announced an interactive online hackathon, The 'IBM Challenge' which offers students an opportunity to learn new cognitive computing skills and solve real-life business problems using IBM Watson API’s on the IBM Cloud platform.

The hackathon is a part of Research Showcase 2017 which is an annual event exhibiting the research and development work from premier educational institutions in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) region. In 2016, this event attracted over 500 students.

"This year as part of Research Showcase 2017, IIIT-Delhi in collaboration with IBM and Federal Bank, we are inviting students, practitioners and academicians to demonstrate their talent and put theory to practice via the IBM Challenge. The IBM Challenge is designed to blend hands-on learning with relevant market skill development. The participants will be asked to solve a real-world banking industry business problem and develop relevant technology solutions as part of the challenge." said Dr. A.V. Subramanyam, Chair, Research Showcase 2017, IIIT-Delhi.

The theme of the IBM Challenge is online customer engagement and students will be tested to create a solution that will help banks provide their customers with a superior banking experience. Students will have the unique opportunity to learn how to build an application using a range of Watson Artificial Intelligence technologies such as Watson Conversation, Speech to Text and Text to Speech and more with access to tools via the IBM Cloud platform.

"Federal Bank has always been at the forefront of implementing new technologies for the benefit of its customers and IBM has been our trusted partner in this journey. This collaboration with IBM and Delhi’s premier universities gives our organization an opportunity to support innovation and generate new ideas by tapping into the tremendous talent our students have here in Delhi. This initiative will not only help students develop their capabilities but also help us to identify future banking solutions." said Saran Joseph, Chief Manager, Federal Bank.

"As cognitive computing becomes more embedded in the way we use technology to communicate, we will see new types of jobs emerge and an exponential demand for new skills here in India and across the world. Our association with IIIT-Delhi and Federal Bank will help arm the developers of tomorrow with the latest capabilities and foster the necessary skills to join the workforce and create enterprise-class applications at consumer scale." said Devkant Aggarwal, Manager, University Relations, IBM India.