ARMONK, N.Y. and CLEVELAND, March 30,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleveland Clinic and IBM (NYSE:
IBM) have announced a planned 10-year partnership to establish
the Discovery Accelerator, a joint Cleveland Clinic - IBM center
with the mission of fundamentally advancing the pace of discovery
in healthcare and life sciences through the use of high performance
computing on the hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and
quantum computing technologies.
The collaboration is anticipated to build a robust research and
clinical infrastructure to empower big data medical research in
ethical, privacy preserving ways, discoveries for patient care and
novel approaches to public health threats such as the COVID-19
pandemic. Through the Discovery Accelerator, the researchers
plan to use advanced computational technology to generate and
analyze data to help enhance research in the new Global Center for
Pathogen Research & Human Health, in areas such as:
genomics, single cell transcriptomics, population health, clinical
applications, and chemical and drug discovery.
As part of the collaboration, IBM plans to install its first
private sector, on-premises IBM Quantum System One in the United States, to be located on Cleveland
Clinic's campus in Cleveland.
The company also plans to install the first of IBM's
next-generation 1,000+ qubit quantum systems at a client facility,
also to be located in Cleveland,
in the coming years. This quantum program will be designed to
actively engage with universities, government, industry, startups
and other relevant organizations. It will leverage Cleveland
Clinic's global enterprise to serve as the foundation of a new
quantum ecosystem for life sciences, focused on advancing quantum
skills and the mission of the center.
"Through this innovative collaboration, we have a unique
opportunity to bring the future to life," said Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., CEO and President of
Cleveland Clinic. "These new computing technologies can help
revolutionize discovery in the life sciences. The Discovery
Accelerator will enable our renowned teams to build a
forward-looking digital infrastructure and help transform medicine,
while training the workforce of the future and potentially growing
our economy."
"The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned one of the greatest races in
the history of scientific discovery – one that demands
unprecedented agility and speed," said Arvind Krishna, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of IBM. "At the same time, science is experiencing a change
of its own – with high performance computing, hybrid cloud, data,
AI, and quantum computing, being used in new ways to break through
long-standing bottlenecks in scientific discovery. Our new
collaboration with Cleveland Clinic will combine their
world-renowned expertise in healthcare and life sciences with IBM's
next-generation technologies to make scientific discovery faster,
and the scope of that discovery larger than ever."
"Quantum will make the impossible possible, and when the
Governor and I announced the Cleveland Innovation District earlier
this year, this was the kind of innovative investment I hoped it
would advance," said Ohio Lt. Governor Jon
Husted, Director of InnovateOhio. "A partnership between
these two great institutions will put Cleveland, and Ohio, on the map for advanced medical and
scientific research, providing a unique opportunity to improve
treatment options for patients and solve some of our greatest
healthcare challenges."
The Discovery Accelerator will serve as the technology
foundation for Cleveland Clinic's new Global Center for Pathogen
Research & Human Health, announced last month as part of
the Cleveland Innovation District. The center, supported by a
$500 million investment from the
State of Ohio, Jobs Ohio and
Cleveland Clinic, brings together a research team focused on
broadening understanding of viral pathogens, virus-induced cancers,
genomics, immunology and immunotherapies. It will build upon
Cleveland Clinic's existing programs and expertise, with newly
recruited world leaders in immunology, cancer biology,
immune-oncology and infectious disease research as well as
technology development and education. Researchers will expand
critical work on studying, preparing and protecting against
emerging pathogens and virus-related diseases.
Accelerating Discovery
The pace of progress in science historically has been limited by
bottlenecks. Researchers are increasingly working to overcome these
bottlenecks with the application of AI, quantum computing and
hybrid cloud technologies. New technologies are enabling
accelerated methods of discovery that include deep search, AI and
quantum-enriched simulation, generative models, and cloud-based
AI-driven autonomous labs. Leveraging these combined innovations
will supercharge new generations of information
technology, fuel important advances in science, and IBM will
provide access to a variety of research and commercial
technologies, education and tools to assist Cleveland Clinic in
accelerating discovery in healthcare and life science, including
RoboRXN, a cloud-based platform that combines AI models and
robots to help scientists design and synthesize new molecules
remotely; the IBM Functional Genomics Platform, a
cloud-based repository and research tool, which uses novel
approaches to reveal the molecular features in viral and bacterial
genomes to help accelerate discovery of molecular targets required
for drug design, test development and treatment; Deep
Search, which helps researchers access structured and
unstructured data quickly; and High-Performance Hybrid Cloud
Computing technologies that can enable researchers to "burst"
their workloads into the cloud and access the resources they need
at scale.
IBM Quantum Flagship Program
Quantum computing has the potential to have an immense impact on
key healthcare challenges, such as the discovery of new molecules
that can serve as the basis of new pharmaceutical breakthroughs and
spur the development of new medicines and could help enhance the
ability to derive deep insight from complex data that is at the
heart of some of the largest challenges in
healthcare.
The Discovery Accelerator will leverage IBM's multi-year roadmap
for advancing quantum computing, bringing its revolutionary
capabilities into the hands of scientists and practitioners in
healthcare and life sciences. In addition to an on-premises quantum
system, Cleveland Clinic will also have access to IBM's fleet of
currently more than 20 quantum systems, accessible via the cloud.
IBM is targeting to unveil its first next generation 1,000+ qubit
quantum system in 2023, and Cleveland Clinic is planned to be the
site of the first private-sector on-premises system.
Building Quantum Skills in Ohio
A significant pillar of the program plans to focus on educating
the workforce of the future and creating jobs to grow the economy.
The 10-year collaboration plans to include education and workforce
development opportunities related to quantum computing.
The innovative educational curriculum will be designed for
participants from high school to professional level and offer
training and certification programs in data science and quantum
computing, building the skilled workforce needed for cutting-edge
data science research of the future. Cleveland Clinic and IBM plan
to hold research symposia and workshops with joint sessions by IBM
and academic researchers for academia, industry, government
and the general public.
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic – now in
its centennial year – is a nonprofit multispecialty academic
medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with
research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by
four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding
patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion
and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical
breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the
first face transplant in the United
States. U.S. News & World Report consistently
names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its
annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. Among Cleveland Clinic's
70,800 employees worldwide are more than 4,660 salaried
physicians and researchers, and 18,500 registered nurses and
advanced practice providers, representing 140 medical specialties
and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic is a 6,500-bed health system
that includes a 173-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 19 hospitals, more than 220
outpatient facilities, and locations in southeast Florida; Las Vegas,
Nevada; Toronto, Canada;
Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2020, there were 8.7
million total outpatient visits, 273,000 hospital admissions and
observations, and 217,000 surgical cases throughout Cleveland
Clinic's health system. Patients came for treatment from every
state and 185 countries. Visit us at
clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.
News and resources available
at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.
About IBM
For more information about IBM, visit https://www.ibm.com/
Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are
subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals
and objectives only.
Contact
Alicia Real
Cleveland Clinic
216-408-7444
Realeca@ccf.org
Amanda Carl
IBM Research
570-236-4032
amcarl@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM