Delos, IBM join forces to advance healthy indoor environments through improved digital intelligence on the cloud

ARMONK, NY - 13 Dec 2016: IBM (NYSE: IBM ) today announced that it is collaborating with wellness real estate and technology firm Delos ™ to adopt IBM Cloud and cognitive technologies to speed the discovery of new insights in health and wellness and their connections to the design of indoor spaces.

Designed to be a multi-year collaboration, Delos will leverage Watson and data analytics services through IBM Bluemix, IBM’s cloud platform, to create cognitive applications that probe the connections between human health and indoor environments in which we live and work. Watson’s work will draw from the terabytes of research data being generated from Delos Labs, Well Living Lab and Delos Applied Research units.

Through apps, co-developed by IBM, Delos expects to realize insights to not only improve the design, construction and management of indoor space, but to identify the potential return on investment that can be achieved by building healthier living and working environments.

“We spend about 90 percent of our time indoors, which is why it is critically important to ensure that indoor spaces are not only livable, but also healthy,” said Peter Scialla, Chief Operating Officer at Delos. “Delos is generating massive amounts of data to measure the impact of the built environment on occupant health. We were looking for a technology partner to deliver a flexible development platform through the cloud, as well as higher value cognitive services that would provide insights we have yet to fully realize to improve indoor environments.”

“IBM’s extensive technology stack and expertise in areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, and data analytic capabilities, including Watson cognitive computing, made them an ideal cloud partner as all of these areas are critical to the future of Delos,” Scialla continued.

The Well Living Lab, a collaboration between Delos and Mayo Clinic, is a lab that simulates a wide variety of real-world indoor environments – including homes and offices – to enable scientists and researchers to study the many important effects of indoor light, thermal comfort, acoustics, air quality, and more on the health and well-being of building occupants.

In addition to the medical histories of study subjects, researchers capture data from thousands of sensors embedded throughout the Well Living Lab, in the furniture, on the walls and ceilings, as well biometric data from state of the art wearables. In addition, the Lab collects information from numerous surveys and questionnaires from the subjects.

To analyze all this data, Delos and IBM developers, working out of the New York site of IBM’s Bluemix Garage network, are developing cloud apps made possible by the cognitive capabilities of Watson, including Watson Emotion Analysis.

First experiments are under way involving simulations in the built environment that affect stress and productivity for office workers. IBM is working with the Well Living Lab to develop an advanced data analytics platform to parse sensor and IoT data for health and wellness insights. Leveraging this power, Well Living Lab researchers and scientists will have fast access to insights that can be used to create spaces that promote improved human performance and wellness.

“As the healthcare community increasingly recognizes the many factors that impact health, the Well Living Lab is improving our understanding of how indoor environments impact health and wellness,” said Shawn Murray, Worldwide Director, Bluemix Garage, IBM Cloud. “By infusing the Lab with advances in cloud innovation, cognitive computing and the Internet of Things, we believe we can help identify insights that deepen and accelerate this important research.”

About Delos

As the pioneer of Wellness Real Estate™, Delos is transforming our homes, offices, schools, and other indoor environments by placing health and wellness at the center of design and construction decisions. Delos helps create spaces that actively contribute to human health, performance and well-being by marrying the best innovations in technology, health, science, and real estate. The Delos platform includes programming, consulting, research, and an array of innovative, built-in amenities that research suggests may improve occupant well-being.