IBM CEO Ginni Rometty: "Cognitive Computing Is the Future of Healthcare" Healthcare Informatics Magazine Health IT

In a wide-ranging keynote address that included aspirational statements, updates, and announcements, Ginni Rometty, the chairwoman, president, and CEO of the Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, on Tuesday morning shared her vision of cognitive computing with attendees at the World Health Care Congress, being held this week at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. Telling her audience that "Healthcare has been central to us for a long time," Rometty framed the broad work that IBM is doing in cognitive computing in terms of what she sees as its potential to change the healthcare industry in three fundamental ways: with regard to "how to reinvent discovery," how to "help change how delivery happens," and how to "transform wellness." Indeed, she said, "Cognitive computing is the future of healthcare," and said that IBM's work in that area, embodied in its development of IBM Watson, its cognitive computing entity, which IBM data scientists and technologists are using to transform knowledge in a broad range of areas. Framing IBM's broad strategic thrust around cognitive computing, Rometty told her audience, "Analytics, cloud, mobile--those are all very important to be a part of the digital society and economy. I always think of digital as foundational; I believe it is disruptive… It is the dawn of a new era. Think of digital business and business intelligence put together, and that will give you cognitive," she said.