In 2017 I was approached by Intel to join their Innovator Programme. After a couple interviews I was inducted as an Intel Innovator in the AI space. The idea of the initiative is to support technologists around the world involved in the community by providing cutting edge hardware, speakership opportunities, and a platform to promote their work and engage with more people. Intel sent me a Movidius Neural Compute Stick. It's a USB stick a little larger than a thumb drive that is specifically designed to train and primarily run neural network graphs, which is particularly useful in running networks for deep learning where learning happened from media such as images and video.

"The long-term goal and true potential of AI is to replicate the complexity of human thinking at the macro level, and then surpass it to solve complex problems--problems both well-documented and currently unimaginable in nature."1 Skin cancer has reached epidemic proportions in much of the world. A simple test is needed to perform initial screening on a wide scale to encourage individuals to seek treatment when necessary. Doctor Hazel, a skin cancer screening service powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that operates in real time, relies on an extensive library of images to distinguish between skin cancer and benign lesions, making it easier for people to seek professional medical advice. Hackathons have proven to be a successful way to channel energy and technical expertise into solving very specific problems and generating bright, new ideas for applied technology.

"Clean water and health care and school and food and tin roofs and cement floors, all of these things should constitute a set of basics that people must have as birthrights."1 Obtaining clean water is a critical problem for much of the world's population. Testing and confirming a clean water source typically requires expensive test equipment and manual analysis of the results. For regions in the world in which access to clean water is a continuing problem, simpler test methods could dramatically help prevent disease and save lives. To apply artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to evaluating the purity of water sources, Peter Ma, an Intel Software Innovator, developed an effective system for identifying bacteria using pattern recognition and machine learning.

Today Intel unveiled "AI: In Production," a new program that makes it easier for developers to bring their artificial intelligence prototypes to market. Since its introduction last July, the Intel Movidius Neural Compute Stick has gained a developer base in the tens of thousands. Intel AI: In Production means we can expect many more innovative AI-centric products coming to market from the diverse and growing segment of technologies utilizing Intel technology for low-power inference at the edge," said Remi El-Ouazzane, Intel vice president and general manager of Intel Movidius. Once developers have a prototype, the next step is to take it into production, which can be challenging and costly for small companies and entrepreneurs. To make it easier, Intel selected AAEON Technologies, a leading manufacturer of advanced industrial and embedded computing platforms, as the first Intel AI: In Production partner. Through the program, AAEON provides two streamlined production paths for developers integrating the low-power Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) into their product designs. The first option is the new AI Core from AAEON's UP Bridge the Gap. It is a mini-PCIe module that features an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 VPU designed to work with a wide range of x86 host platforms. The AI Core delivers the low-power, high-performance capabilities of the Intel Movidius Myriad 2 VPU deep neural networks accelerator. It is also compatible with the Intel Movidius Neural Compute SDK software suite already used by thousands of machine learning developers and companies worldwide. For companies requiring further customization, AAEON offers development and board manufacturing services that will allow companies to move from Neural Compute Stick-based prototypes to custom boards in a streamlined manner. Intel Movidius Myriad 2 technology makes AI Core one of the most powerful and versatile AI hardware accelerators for edge computing," said Fabrizio Del Maffeo, AAEON vice president, managing director of AAEON Technology Europe and founder of UP Bridge the Gap.

Intel started a new initiative to help developers, that are working on Artificial Intelligence-based products, to bring their devices to market. The new program will make the process easy for developers and enable them to launch their prototypes in the market. "Once developers have a prototype, the next step is to take it into production, which can be challenging and costly for small companies and entrepreneurs. To make it easier, Intel selected AAEON Technologies, a leading manufacturer of advanced industrial and embedded computing platforms, as the first Intel AI: In Production partner. Through the program, AAEON provides two streamlined production paths for developers integrating the low-power Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) into their product designs."

Intel today unveiled "Intel AI: In Production," a new program that makes it easier for developers to bring their artificial intelligence prototypes to market. Since its introduction last July, the Intel Movidius Neural Compute Stick (NCS) has gained a developer base in the tens of thousands. Once developers have a prototype, the next step is to take it into production, which can be challenging and costly for small companies and entrepreneurs. To make it easier, Intel selected AAEON Technologies, a leading manufacturer of advanced industrial and embedded computing platforms, as the first Intel AI: In Production partner. Through the program, AAEON provides two streamlined production paths for developers integrating the low-power Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) into their product designs.

Intel unveiled "Intel AI: In Production," a new program that makes it easier for developers to bring prototypes of their artificial intelligence devices to market. Since its introduction last July, the Intel Movidius Neural Compute Stick (NCS) reportedly has gained a developer base in the tens of thousands. Once developers have a prototype, the next step is to take it into production, which can be challenging and costly for small companies and entrepreneurs. To make it easier, Intel selected AAEON Technologies, a leading manufacturer of advanced industrial and embedded computing platforms, as the first Intel AI: In Production partner. Through the program, AAEON provides two streamlined production paths for developers integrating the low-power Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) into their product designs.