IP Australia is partnering with IBM to engage the cognitive computing technology Watson, aimed at improving agency efficiencies and enhancing online service offerings for Australia’s innovators.

“Trialling the Watson tool launches IP Australia’s journey into the field of cognitive computing,” said Ms Patricia Kelly, IP Australia Director General.

“It is exciting for IP Australia to explore these opportunities to improve how we deliver efficient, timely and high quality services to the public. By exploring new opportunities, we can lead the global IP economy in a revolutionary digital transformation to develop a world leading IP system that builds prosperity for Australians.

“IP Australia is committed to promoting best practice online solutions for innovators. This initiative builds on recent achievements to the agency’s online accessibility and significant growth in the eServices channel, which receives over 97% of all customer transactions,” Ms Kelly said.

Already in use in the medical research sector, finance and banking, international education and travel and hospitality services, IBM Watson is cutting edge technology that can analyse a broad range of disparate data and provide responses with intelligent reason.

Watson works by consuming vast amounts of information to provide insights to people by answering questions. Watson learns from its interactions with people, creating a profile of the user based on stated, observed and inferred preferences and experiences.

“Watson promises a new era in computing capabilities. During this 12-week engagement different applications in IP Australia will be considered.  We will develop a working prototype of a user scenario to demonstrate how the tool can benefit IP Australia’s working environment in the future”, Ms Kelly said.