AI innovation could transform eye health service access

Anders Kofod-Petersen and Ståle Fredlund Husby, Founders of OptikosPrime

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Denmark-based AI startup OptikosPrime is partnering with international development organisation Sightsavers and eye health stakeholders in Africa and Asia to enhance smartphone-based vision testing technology. This innovation could help transform eye health services in remote areas, allowing anyone with a phone to access vision testing.

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An estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide have an untreated or preventable vision impairment, primarily due to a lack of access to basic eye care services. A simple vision test can be life-changing, offering individuals a pathway to inclusion, education, and economic opportunity.

However, a big challenge in low to middle-income countries, particularly in remote areas, is the limited availability of trained eye health personnel and diagnostic equipment, which restricts capacity to reach more people. To overcome this, Denmark-based AI startup OptikosPrime is collaborating with eye health partners to develop an innovative technology that uses smartphone images to assess vision needs accurately. This solution mimics the evaluations typically performed by an optometrist, refractionist or optician, allowing anyone with a smartphone, including general health workers, to assess vision correction needs.

This promises to be a game-changer in bringing accessible, high-quality eye care to remote areas. It will equip individuals with the tools they need to understand and address vision correction needs-reducing the burden on in-demand trained eye health personnel and the need for specialised equipment.

To ensure the technology’s reliability and precision for use in low-resource settings, Sightsavers is supporting OptikosPrime by facilitating connections with in-country eye health partners that it works with across Africa and Asia. These partnerships will allow OptikosPrime to optimise the tool’s performance, adapting it to varied environments and further enhancing its capacity to deliver accurate, accessible vision testing for those in need.

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Anders Kofod-Petersen, co-founder, professor in AI, and CEO of OptikosPrime, states: “The core challenge with technologies like ours is that they are only as effective as the data they’re trained on. This collaboration with in-country eye health partners, thanks to support and connections from Sightsavers, will allow us to refine our tool with real-world data from the regions we aim to serve. Our goal is to make vision testing accessible to everyone with a smartphone, and this partnership marks a crucial step towards realising that mission.”

Sumrana Yasmin, Deputy Technical Director, Eye Health and URE, at Sightsavers comments:

“Everyone should have access to the eye health services they need, yet the availability of eye health services varies across and within countries. More than 85% of people with visual impairment live in low to middle income countries, and eye health services are often less accessible in rural and remote locations.”

“We are supporting OptikosPrime to connect with in-country eye health partners across Africa and Asia to test and enhance the technology, as we see the value in its development.

It has the potential to improve access to eye health services and make it more cost-effective and efficient, which will benefit the health sector and the people requiring eye health services and vision correction.”

Ståle Fredlund Husby, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of OptikosPrime, states:

“The primary reason small companies fail is a lack of access to markets and users. When organisations like Sightsavers proactively engage in R&D collaborations with emerging technologies, they set a powerful example for larger organisations. These partnerships and the connections they facilitate are essential for fueling new technology development and are the backbone of driving industries forward.”

OptikosPrime

Collinsgade 4, st

2100 København Ø

Denmark

Press contacts, OptikosPrime:

Anders Kofod-Pedersen. Co-founder and CEO: +45 41 15 12 48

Ståle Fredlund Husby, Co-founder and COO: +45 22 51 27 61

OptikosPrime:

Founded in 2021, OptikosPrime is a Danish AI-driven startup dedicated to making vision care more accessible through innovative, phone-based testing. Combining artificial intelligence with optics and eye physiology expertise, OptikosPrime enables convenient, fast and accurate vision testing that brings quality eye care to underserved communities and remote areas-requiring only a phone.

This release was published on openPR.