A Japanese consortium held its inaugural meeting in Tokyo, aiming to bring smart contact lenses into practical use around 2030. Led by Yasuhiro Takaki, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the group seeks to integrate electronic components for displaying images and promote medical applications. It intends to lead the technology's spread from Japan worldwide, unlike foreign dominance in smartphones and smart glasses.
The Smart Contact Lens Consortium, comprising Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Waseda University, and contact lens maker Seed, held its first meeting in Tokyo. Yasuhiro Takaki, the head and a professor at the university, stated, "While foreign information technology giants have led the development of smartphones and smart glasses, we want to spread smart contact lenses from Japan to the rest of the world."
The group plans to integrate minute electronic components into contact lenses to display data, including images, in the user's field of view. It will advance research commissioned by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, under the internal affairs ministry, while promoting medical applications. Smart contact lens development started overseas around 2008, with intraocular pressure-measuring lenses as the only current product available in Japan and abroad.
Waseda University professor Takeo Miyake noted that measuring intraocular pressure helps monitor glaucoma, Japan's leading cause of blindness. Such lenses could also track hyperglycemia linked to diabetic retinopathy. The components will wirelessly transmit data to a peripheral device worn around the head or neck, which connects to smartphones.
Takaki highlighted challenges in ensuring comfortable lens use and eye safety. The consortium aims to address these for practical deployment around 2030.
