IBM’s $1bn acquisition will give Watson the ability to see
IBM has acquired medical imaging group Merge Healthcare for $1bn – a move that will give supercomputer Watson the ability to see.
Watson ingests and analyses huge volumes of data and is able to interpret and respond to questions asked in natural language.
The acquisition of Merge Healthcare will bolster IBM's strategy to add rich image analytics to the Watson Health platform, which helps health professionals filter through research and data to plan the best course of treatment.
"Medical images are by far the largest and fastest-growing data source in the healthcare industry, and perhaps the world,” said an IBM spokesperson. “IBM researchers estimate that they account for at least 90 per cent of all medical data today - but they also present challenges that need to be addressed."
Some of the 90 million health records on Watson – including lab results, genomic tests and clinical studies – will now be cross referenced with medical images allowing Watson to see how a person changes over time to detect abnormalities.
"Medical images are some of the most complicated data sets imaginable, and there is perhaps no more important area in which researchers can apply machine learning and cognitive computing,” said IBM.