Watson is the first commercially available cognitive computing technology platform and represents a new era in computing. Watson analyses high volumes of data and processes information more like a human than a computer — by understanding natural language, generating hypotheses based on evidence, and learning as it goes. Since its triumph on the US television quiz show Jeopardy! IBM has advanced Watson’s capabilities and made it available via the cloud. Watson now powers new consumer and enterprise services in the healthcare, financial services, retail and education markets. IBM has also opened the Watson platform to developers and entrepreneurs, enabling them to build and market their own powered by Watson applications for a variety of industries.