ARMONK, N.Y. & BURLINGTON, Mass. – 17 Feb
2011: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Nuance
Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced a research
agreement to explore, develop and commercialize the Watson
computing system’s advanced analytics capabilities in the
healthcare industry.
The research and technology initiative will combine IBM’s
Deep Question Answering (QA), Natural Language Processing, and
Machine Learning capabilities with Nuance’s speech recognition and
Clinical Language Understanding (CLU) solutions for the diagnosis
and treatment of patients that provide hospitals, physicians and
payers access to critical and timely information. The two
companies expect the first commercial offerings from the
collaboration to be available in 18-24 months.
Additionally, Columbia University Medical Center and the
University of Maryland School of Medicine are contributing their
medical expertise and research to the collaborative effort. For
example, physicians at Columbia University are helping identify
critical issues in the practice of medicine where the Watson
technology may be able to contribute, and physicians at the
University of Maryland are working to identify the best way that a
technology like Watson could interact with medical practitioners to
provide the maximum assistance.
Watson’s
ability to analyze the meaning and context of human language, and
quickly process information to find precise answers can assist
decision makers, such as physicians and nurses, unlock important
knowledge and facts buried within huge volumes of information, and
offer answers they may not have considered to help validate their
own ideas or hypotheses.
“Combining our analytics expertise with the experience and
technology of Nuance, we can transform the way that healthcare
professionals accomplish everyday tasks by enabling them to work
smarter and more efficiently,” said Dr. John E. Kelly III,
senior vice president and director of IBM Research. “This
initiative demonstrates how we plan to apply Watson’s capabilities
into new areas, such as
healthcare with Nuance.”
For example, a doctor considering a patient’s diagnosis could
use Watson’s analytics technology, in conjunction with
Nuance’s voice and clinical language understanding solutions,
to rapidly consider all the related texts, reference materials,
prior cases, and latest knowledge in journals and medical
literature to gain evidence from many more potential sources than
previously possible. This could help medical professionals
confidently determine the most likely diagnosis and treatment
options.
“The combination of Nuance’s speech recognition and
existing Clinical Language Understanding solutions with the power
of IBM’s Watson technology will introduce unmatched clinical
information and analytic technological advancements for
healthcare,” said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of
Nuance. “The initiative represents a logical step in
Nuance’s evolution, one that expands our capabilities from
recognizing what was said to understanding the intent and providing
guidance. The solutions we are developing with IBM will
transform the capture, flow and use of clinical data, empowering
healthcare organizations to drive smarter, more efficient clinical
and business decisions.”
“We are excited at the prospect of applying the Watson
analytics technology to help create the next generation of
electronic medical record systems and the next generation of
computer diagnostic and decision support tools,” said Dr.
Eliot Siegel, Director of the Maryland Imaging Research
Technologies Laboratory (MIRTL) University of Maryland School of
Medicine. “We believe that this has the potential to
usher in a new era of computer assisted personalized medicine into
healthcare to improve diagnostic accuracy, efficiency, and patient
safety.”
“Watson has the potential to help doctors reduce the time
needed to evaluate and determine the correct diagnosis for a
patient,” said Dr. Herbert Chase, professor of Clinical
Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“We also believe that Watson also has the ability to help
doctors provide personalized treatment options that are tailored to
an individual patient’s needs.”
Under the agreement, IBM and Nuance will jointly invest in a
multi-year research initiative targeted to the applications of the
Watson technology to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of
patients in combination with Nuance’s voice and clinical
language solutions. In addition, IBM has licensed access to the
Watson technology to Nuance. IBM and Nuance are currently
engaged in a five-year joint-research initiative designed to
advance next-generation natural language speech technologies, the
results of which will be commercialized by Nuance. IBM also named
Nuance its Preferred Business Partner for speech technologies and
related professional services, aimed at complementing IBM’s
Industry Solutions portfolio.
For more information about the Watson computing system and the
Jeopardy! challenge, please visit: https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/27297.wss