When it comes to real world applications of big data ideals, IBM is one of the companies encouraging big data’s use for things like urban traffic planning and smarter energy use.  In a two-day SmartCamp startup competition last wee, IBM chose  SkyFoundry and StreetLight Data as the winners.  The two teams apply analytics to  their respective fields and now that they’ve made it to the global finals, their offerings will be pitted against the winners from Europe, Asia and Latin America.

SkyFoundry offers SkyPark, a software solution that helps infrastructure and facility owners identify opportunities to realize cost-savings. The company says that SkyPark achieves this by analyzing unstructured data from smart devices, detecting patterns and visualizing it all so that the operational personnel on the field can apply this insight to their work.

The second winner is StreetLight, whose offering aims to make it easier for retailers to optimize their investments. The platform processes traffic and behavioral data to find the best spot to open a new store, and it expands on this angle by also providing customer statics and trends.

“Innovation from the startup community is critical to building a Smarter Planet,” said Jim Corgel, general manager IBM. “By helping talented entrepreneurs, like the ones participating at SmartCamp Boston, grow their business, we are providing our clients with innovative new solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges.”

Big data is a big focus for Big Blue – one of the many enterprise vendors that realized analytics is becoming essential if you want to stay competitive. The company’s previous development in this space was announced just yesterday, when it debuted Analytical Decision Management.

The premise is that organizations using the software can add intelligence to areas that they might have been neglecting before.  The Decision platform comes with a tool for social media analytics, another feature that’s dedicated to contextualizing data and a number of other capabilities as well.