IBM announced on Wednesday it was entering into a partnership with Latin American IT giant GBM Corporation to create a new company designed to apply the unique talents of IBM's cognitive computer Watson to the region's challenges. The new company, named Cognitiva, will be dedicated to addressing complex problems with big data and Watson's incredible capacity for analysis.

Shares in International Business Machines rose nearly three percent after the announcement of the company's expansion of data-driven business, spearheaded by the new company and the advanced AI supercomputer Watson, into Central and Southern America.

Cognitiva is planning to invest tens of millions of dollars over the next two years to expand and build central hubs in 23 Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.

The partnership with GBM Corporation, a leading IT integrations company in Central America, will enable IBM to begin driving the kinds of connections and analysis through Watson that the company believes will transform the region, from businesses to healthcare to spurring startups and innovation in Latin America.

"This strategic partnership with GBM is another important example of IBM's dedication to driving the global adoption of cognitive computing," said David Kenny, the general manager of IBM Watson. "Together, we will empower organizations throughout Latin America to drive innovation and transformation with Watson technologies."

How Watson Can Transform Latin America

So what can IBM's artificial super brain do for the region?

IBM listed several areas of potential impact, but the most immediate is healthcare. Cognitiva and IBM are planning to apply Watson's talents with big data to help healthcare professionals and patients make data-informed, personalized healthcare choices.

For example, IBM looked at the fight against cancer in Latin America. "There are many hospitals with oncology divisions across Latin America -- each of which treat thousands of new cancer patients a year," stated IBM in its release. "By applying cognitive computing, physicians and other healthcare professionals could identify evidence-based treatment options, helping oncologists provide cancer patients with individualized care."

According to Cognitiva CEO Ronaldo Castro, Watson is able to analyze thousands of documents with information on specific illnesses, coming up with personalized treatment recommendations within minutes. The cognitive computer has previously been used to predict when diabetic patients' blood glucose levels will reach dangerous proportions before it happens.

Beyond healthcare, Watson will expand to the region's general economy, empowering startups and established businesses with big data analysis tools that could apply to a wide range of industries. To do this, Cognitiva will build an ecosystem of third-party partner organizations, each with their own tools that take advantage of Watson's cognitive computing abilities, built through the Watson Developer Cloud.

The Watson Developer Cloud is a platform currently used by more than 80,000 developers around the world to design, create and test Watson's cognitive computing solutions as they apply to finance, retail, marketing, education, music, sports and other areas rich with data to be analyzed and solutions to be found.

Why Latin America? Why Now?

Of course, launching Watson into Latin America isn't a charitable initiative, but a savvy business decision -- as evidenced by IBM's rise in market value after it announced the move.

So why did IBM decide the time was right to introduce big data analysis and cognitive computing to Latin America?

The rise in IT and the growing demand for new technologies and solutions in Latin America is forecast to boom this year and continue in the foreseeable future. According global intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC), "Big data will continue to represent a fast-growing, multimillion-dollar opportunity in Latin America for the next five years."

"More importantly, it will transform businesses everywhere," said IDC, "making businesses big data driven in the process."

IDC predicts businesses in Latin America will be investing upwards of $139 billion in IT services this year.

By 2017, IDC believes that a third of CEOs at the largest Latin American companies will be planning to completely transform the core of their companies' strategies by implementing IT services, and by 2018, incorporating cognitive computing and even augmented reality technologies.

IBM wants to put Watson at the core of those coming transformations.

"IBM's leadership in cognitive computing, coupled with GBM's deep regional market knowledge, creates an opportunity for Cognitiva to become a trailblazer in the burgeoning Latin American technology industry," said Castro. "Cognitiva will enable existing businesses and entrepreneurs across the region to use cognitive technologies to drive and inspire the creation of new businesses and industries, and accelerate the speed of the technological revolution."

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