Are Data Divers and Miners Going to Lead Innovation?   The big tech companies are into it. Apple, IBM and Google. Roche is into it. Medtronic, as well. Artificial intelligence has been a big part of innovation in the healthcare space for several years, and its impact is only going to get bigger. "Artificial intelligence-based healthcare technologies have contributed to improved drug discoveries, tumor identification, diagnosis, risk assessments, electronic health records (EHR), and mental health tools, among others," writes Blank Rome attorney Brian Higgins in his Artificial Intelligence and the Law Blog (it's excellent, by the way).  [1] Daniel Faggella of TechEmergence.com writes that machine learning healthcare applications are getting a lot of attention in the press and from the investment community. He adds to the list of machine learning's impact things like treatment queries and suggestions, and even robotic surgery. But optimism for AI's application to drug discovery seems greater than that inspired by other healthcare sectors. One reason for that, Faggella writes, is that compared to other segments where various laws and stakeholder incentives may not align, "drug discovery stands out as a relatively straightforward economic value for machine learning healthcare application creators." He adds that this application also involves "one relatively clear customer who happens to generally have deep pockets: drug companies." [2] Also writing for TechEmergence.com, Kumba Sennaa says [...]