IBM's Watson supercomputer set to run health care in Europe

IBM is pitching its supercomputer Watson to the European health care market.

Watson is an in-memory computer that recently beat top contestants on America's quiz show Jeopardy! by answering numerous general knowledge questions correctly.

"We had to throw serious amounts of horse power at Watson for Jeopardy!, as the domain was endless. There was no limit to how wide it was – it pretty much had to look at all the information and knowledge on the planet," said Steve Mills, senior vice president of software and systems at IBM.

Jeopardy! was much more demanding than health care will be.

"You may not think of health care as a small domain, but it is relatively small compared to what we had to do for Jeopardy!," he added.

One area in which the supercomputer has potential is in matching medicines to individual needs.

Mills described how pharmacies have difficulties serving the public because of the range of complicated medical histories and the variety of medications available.

"Imagine running a pharmacy. The customer poses a serious challenge. You have to have a history of information from their doctor and numerous available drugs. Watson could provide intelligent insight into the best treatment for customers," said Mills.

"Pharmacies and medical departments across Europe and the US are calling us asking for a remodelled Watson as a pharmacy assistant.

"The assistant wouldn't get tired. You can yell at it and it doesn't care. It doesn't get emotional and it won't quit and walk out the door. We all need this."

Mills said that Watson will be available in the health care market globally this year.