Google is licensing its smart lens technology to healthcare company Novartis, to transform eye care and produce smart contact lenses that can monitor conditions such as diabetes.
Medical expert Novartis has licensed Google’s smart lens technology to help solve a range of health problems, and improve the quality of life of millions of people. We’re not just talking issues with sight either – this collaboration could be life-changing for sufferers of diabetes and similar diseases.
Google will be working with Novartis’ eye care department, Alcon, to develop a smart wearable contact lens that is fitted with non-invasive sensors and miniature electronics around the perimeter. The potential uses for this technology are quite intriguing, but Google and Alcon will be using the smart lenses for two main purposes at first: helping to correct the vision of presbyopia sufferers, allowing them to focus comfortably on nearby objects; and helping diabetes patients to manage their disease.
The diabetes implication is particularly intriguing, and expands on current solutions that allow users to monitor blood pressure and other health stats. It works by analysing tear fluid via those tiny sensors, continuously keeping track of the body’s glucose levels and sending an alert to the wearer’s smartphone if action is needed.
The possibilities for this tech are quite exciting. After all, you could feasibly attach sensors to pretty much any part of the body, and have them feed back info to your smartphone. Just imagine wannabe mothers receiving a text from their ovaries: “Oi, the egg’s loose, go on, get busy!”
What do you think about Google’s new partnership, and will this kind of tech catch on? Let us know in the comments below.
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