An Evening with IBM Research's Dr. John Kelly

Dr. John E. Kelly III is senior vice president and director of IBM Research. In this position he directs the worldwide operations of IBM Research, with approximately 3,000 scientists and technical employees at 12 laboratories in 10 countries around the world, and helps guide IBM's overall technical strategy.
Dr. Kelly's top priorities as head of IBM Research are to stimulate innovation in key areas of information technology, and quickly bring those innovations into the marketplace to sustain and grow IBM's existing business; to create the new businesses of IBM's future, and to apply these innovations to help IBM clients succeed.
IBM Research breakthroughs have helped to create and shape the world's computing industry, while more recent breakthroughs, including Deep Blue computing systems, breaking the Petaflop barrier, and the introduction of Watson, the deep question answering natural-language computer system, are blazing the computing trails of the future.
Museum CEO John Hollar will moderate a fascinating conversation with Kelly on topics ranging from his background and the path that led him to IBM, the history of research there, IBM's Watson and cognitive computing, to the newest lab in Nairobi, Kenya.  Africa, IBM says, is destined to become an important growth market for the company. "Africa is a complex place," Dr. Kelly said. "But we feel it is on the cusp, at an inflection point. It's going to take off."