Project description
Seeing the retina more clearly could help reduce vision impairment
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive technology that uses light waves to obtain high-resolution cross-sectional images of tissue structure. Kind of an optical biopsy without incisions or tissue removal, it has emerged as an important technique in biomedical and clinical applications that include diagnoses of retinal disease. It is currently limited in its ability to make full 3D images of the eye as it cannot account for small movements during imaging. ISSO scientists have developed a novel laser source for OCT to overcome this issue at a competitive price. With EU support, they are bringing the technology to market. It could provide a step-change in early diagnosis of eye disease and in biomedical imaging more generally.
Objective
According to the World Health Organization, 50% of all cases of blindness in Europe are preventable and 80% of all vision impairment is considered avoidable. However, early diagnostic requires comprehensive and accurate diagnosis tools. While OCT has emerged over the past two decades as the undisputed gold standard for accurate, high resolution local characterization of ophthalmic tissues, its limitation to provide wide field-of-views (FOV) over the entire eye structures has been vastly acknowledge as a key bottleneck to improve early diagnosis of eye conditions – in particular retinal vascular diseases (e.g. diabetic retinopathy).
OCTLIGHT has developed a disruptive laser source – the heart of the OCT system – enabling a step improvement over competing alternatives in the market, providing the cornerstone towards the next generation of 3-dimensional, wide-field and high-resolution imaging of the eye. Besides its superior performance compared to current competitive technology, OCTL’s swept source delivers these advantages at a competitive price, providing an unmatched value proposition– not only in ophthalmic applications but also in other fields using OCT (e.g. cardiology, dermatology, etc.).
Resonating with the fast expansion of the OCT market - expected to reach $1.8Bn by 2024 and growing at a double-digit rate – there is thus a very significant business opportunity for OCTLIGHT to gain a foothold as the lead (sub-)supplier of top tier OCT components. Hereto, the successful implementation of the present innovation project will represent a significant business opportunity for OCTLIGHT, with significant revenue/profit and job creation to be untapped in the first 5 years of commercialization. In addition, the present project is considered as a vital cornerstone to fuel OCTLIGHT’s growth, while simultaneously providing tailwind to a step performance improvement in next generation OCT systems.
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineangiologyvascular diseases
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinedermatology
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineophthalmologyretinopathy
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
2800 LYNGBY
Denmark
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.