ASEAN Summit & the New Era of Computing

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This week, President Obama hosted leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – or ASEAN – in Southern California. The meeting was historic; the first-ever stand-alone summit between a U.S. President and the heads of state from all 10 ASEAN countries.

As part of a broader strategic pivot towards Asia, the Obama Administration has focused heavily on strengthening U.S. economic, security and humanitarian ties throughout Asia-Pacific. The ASEAN countries are a crucial pillar of that strategy. Together, they comprise the world’s seventh largest economy. They have a combined population of 632 million people – 65 percent of whom are younger than 35.

And the ASEAN bloc constitutes America’s fourth largest trading partner.

Growing economic prosperity in this dynamic part of the world was a key theme throughout the summit, with much of the discussion focusing on how innovation and entrepreneurship can drive economic growth.

On Monday, the President explored this question during a discussion with a select group of the U.S. tech industry’s most-respected leaders – including IBM Chairman, President and CEO Ginni Rometty. When asked by the President for her view on how data has reshaped the economy and how countries can harness data for innovation and growth, Ginni’s answer was simple and profound: “The world is producing and storing far more data than we can understand.”

Enter cognitive computing.

Ginni shared IBM’s view that the world is entering a fourth era of computing, one where cognitive systems that understand massive amounts of unstructured data, reason with it, and learn from it, can generate life-altering insights and expand the scale of human expertise. As she pointed out, ASEAN is helping lead the world into the cognitive era with a few impressive firsts.

[Forward to 7:40 to see and hear Ginni Rometty’s comments.]

In Thailand, doctors at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital are using IBM Watson for Oncology to enhance and personalize cancer treatment options based on insights extracted from medical journals, clinical trial data and even patient genetic profiles. Cognitive systems also are helping governments improve citizen services. Singapore, for example, is using Watson to help residents quickly find answers to complex tax questions. With April 15^th right around the corner, most Americans would likely welcome that kind of expertise!

But, as Ginni pointed out to the gathered leaders, policymakers must address two priorities to realize the full growth and job-creating potential of cognitive technology. The first is skills. Having technology requires also that you have people with the right know-how and expertise to use it effectively. Governments must put more emphasis on educating people in computer science and engineering, and encourage closer collaboration between businesses and universities to align curricula with the needs of the job market. Focus should be placed on training professionals fluent in analytics, data science and other high-tech disciplines.

Another vital priority should be avoiding policies that would limit the potential of that data by walling it off from the rest of the world. Data is the lifeblood of the global economy.  To fully realize the potential of cognitive systems and cloud platforms, countries must avoid policies that would unduly restrict the flow of data, or mandate where it must be stored. The recent Trans-Pacific Partnership has ground-breaking provisions that protect the flow of data across borders, and Ginni saluted the ASEAN countries who are part of TPP for their leadership and vision in adopting such rules.

To fully appreciate the importance of global data flows, consider this: IBM Watson for Oncology was trained by leading experts at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. If Watson’s accumulated data and expertise could not move across borders, the work underway at Thailand’s Bumrungrad hospital would not be possible. 

At IBM, we are technology optimists. We believe in the power of innovation to help people live healthier, happier and more productive lives, and we see that vision coming to life across ASEAN. With any major technology inflection point, there are questions. Emergence of the cognitive era is no different, and IBM will continue providing expertise and perspective to government leaders as they explore the policy implications of those questions.