New cloud computing for developers virtual event

Part of my new role at IBM involves evangelizing about cloud computing: increasing global skills and adoption of IBM cloud technology. Registration is now open for the second in a series of events on cloud computing, this time focusing on partner solutions.

Cloud Computing for Developers: Solutions for application development, a virtual event on June 23rd, 2010, will offer 4 sessions that are prescriptive in nature — outlining specific technical challenges in the cloud and the technologies and techniques to address them.

Social Media Strategies Conference

I know the folks at the Silicon Valley Web Guild and they happen to be putting together the Social Media Strategies Conference in San Francisco, October 29-30. They’ve got quite a line up of social media experts from Jive, Beeline Labs, Intuit, Microsoft and Intel participating in the event and it looks like the list is growing. If you’re wondering how to leverage social media, you’re a strategist, a marketer or a Web professional, this may be worth checking out.

Recruiting techs from emerging markets

Like much of the tech industry, alphaWorks looks to emerging and growth markets to source technology. While many of our strategic techs come from primary labs in the U.S. like Almaden and T.J. Watson Research Centers, we’re also seeing many come from international labs in China, India and one that I have a particular interest in — the Haifa Research Lab.

Outside of the U.S., Israel is a hub of venture capital and investment growth, as well as entrepreneurial activity. Local as well as heavy international VC funds are helping to fuel startup development especially in telecom and wireless technology.

Historically, we’ve showcased innovative projects from Israel including one of our top downloads of all time, the IBM Toolkit for MPEG-4, which was a joint development between Haifa and T.J. Watson.

This year, I’m excited about a SaaS offering from Haifa/Almaden called PHIAD, an on-demand system that enables the public health industry to integrate and share data from public health institutions across proprietary systems and political boundaries. If adopted widely, this service has the potential to impact the management of global health information.

And there’s more in the pipeline from Silicon Wadi.

The open innovation marketplace

I know you’re probably tired of hearing about marketplaces — an overused term right up there with ecosystems — but they’re a popular model, especially those that bring together ‘seekers’ and ‘solvers’ to collaborate on business problems for financial incentives. Apple, American Express and other large companies are already using variations on this model to source development talent and related services.

Innocentive is a good example of an open innovation marketplace with a broad focus on business and not-for-profit goals, allowing individuals and companies to connect on everything from life sciences to business development to game theory. If you’re up for another marketplace, Innocentive is worth a look.

A collaborative approach to Web accessibility

On my last visit to IBM’s Tokyo Research Lab, I had the pleasure of meeting Chieko Asakawa, lead researcher behind many of IBM’s breakthroughs in accessibility technology. She was also inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame a few years ago.

The latest in her string of projects on alphaWorks is the Social Accessibility Project — a service that gathers feedback from the community to make Web pages more accessible to people with disabilities. This project is gaining in popularity and getting a lot of media attention because of its collaborative approach to addressing accessibility using features such as comments, discussions, measurements, and incentives to get the community involved. Definitely worth checking out.

Data on demand — the new Excel?

I recently talked to David Lee, CEO of a Bay area startup called EditGrid, which has products that put a new spin on data access and visualization. David told me about their spreadsheet service which allows on-demand data access online, with added functionality to edit and publish the data as well as collaborate and share spreadsheets. This service is free for end-users to try out.