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Technology research from the schools -- MIT, University of Texas, University of Southern California (USC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), University at Albany (UAlbany), University of Trento, University of Massachusetts and Carnegie Mellon University -- will help advance Watson's ability to understand all kinds of industries, such as health care, banking, government and more, IBM said.

Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, is programmed to rival the human ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed and accuracy, IBM stated. Watson's software is runs on IBM POWER7 servers optimized to handle the massive number of tasks it must perform at rapid speeds to analyze complex language and deliver correct responses to "Jeopardy!" clues.

"Applying QA technology to the real-time 'Jeopardy!' problem is an important challenge for the field because it requires a system to respond more quickly and with a level of confidence that has not been possible to-date," says Professor Eric Nyberg of CMU in a statement. "'Jeopardy!' requires forms of reasoning that are quite sophisticated, using metaphors, puns, and puzzles that go beyond basic understanding of the language. As a challenge problem, 'Jeopardy!' will stretch the state of the art." (For an interesting look at the engineering behind Watson, check out this .)

According to IBM, the following universities and what they are contributing include: