SINGAPORE, Aug. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shenzhen,
Guangdong, China, and Singapore – Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
(hereinafter, Huawei) and Plano Pte. Ltd. (hereinafter, Plano)
today announced their partnership to address the global problem of
myopia. Through this partnership, Huawei and Plano will provide
Huawei users with easy-to-use, innovative, and science-based
technological solutions to help keep children and families safe
online and their eyes healthy, with a focus on myopia. The Plano
application, that helps encourage behaviour that is protective for
myopia, is now available on the Huawei AppGallery and Huawei
wearables, including the new HUAWEI WATCH 3.
Plano, founded by Associate Professor Mohamed Dirani, is a Singapore-based healthtech start-up launched
in late 2017. Plano was the first spin-off from the Singapore Eye
Research Institute (SERI) - Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC)
Ophthalmic Technologies Incubator Programme. The key products in
the company's ecosystem include the Plano application, the online
eye health booking system, planoEyecheck, and its global eye health
education-based website. The science-based Plano application,
already patented in Singapore and
Japan, has been adopted by more
than 500,000 parents. In less than 3 years, Plano is considered as
a global leader in the fight against myopia, through its education
and awareness, technological solutions, and research and AI
capabilities. Plano was recently awarded the prestigious prize for
being the World's Most Innovative Healthtech Startup in 2020.
Huawei, a Chinese multinational technology company, have
developed and launched their 1+8+N strategy, an intelligent
ecosystem to provide every person, home, and organization with a
digital experience that can be managed by your smart device or EMUI
(Android-derived mobile operating system). True to Huawei's promise
to create a world where everything works together seamlessly,
intelligently, and effortlessly, it is developing partnerships with
local and international companies to enrich its ecosystem with a
diverse suite of smart products and services. Plano's technologies
will be a part of all facets of Huawei's architecture to provide
users, for the first time, with eye health and responsible device
use behaviour solutions.
Myopia is one of the most common health problems in the world,
affecting about 1 in 3 people (2.6 billion) in the world. The
number of people with myopia is expected to increase to 5 billion
by the year 2050 (half the world's
population).[1] Myopia is highest in East and
Southeast Asian countries and regions, where studies show that
myopia affects 80-90% of teenagers and young adults in Singapore, Hong
Kong, and Taiwan, and 96.5%
of 19-year-old men in South Korea.
However, myopia has also become more common in Europe, Australia, and the
United States where it now affects up to 40% of
people.[2] Direct costs of myopia in Asia alone have been estimated at US$328 billion every year[3], with an
additional US$244 billion in
productivity losses associated with myopia.[4]
Plano's Founding Managing Director, Associate Professor
Mohamed Dirani and the Plano team
have welcomed the alignment with Huawei. "We are humbled by this
partnership. We are excited to be part of Huawei's forward-thinking
ecosystem, with our app now available on its AppGallery and its new
HUAWEI WATCH 3. This is an outstanding start to our partnership. We
are eager to continue our work with the fast moving and friendly
team at Huawei to help tackle the global problem of myopia," said
Associate Professor Dirani.
Sun Pei Yuan, Head of Huawei
Ecosystem Development Singapore said, "We are thrilled to partner
Huawei's smart ecosystem with Plano's innovative solutions against
myopia. Our collaboration marks an important milestone that
addresses the needs of consumers who are increasingly using
technology to track, manage, and improve their health and wellness
for better living. Huawei is committed to providing consumers with
a holistic digital experience and this will be the first of many
more such partnerships to come."
Plano users with Huawei devices can now enjoy exclusive
discounts and prizes to mark this partnership. The Plano ecosystem,
including the Plano app will also be available for Huawei users in
China.
About Plano
Plano was developed with a clear purpose; to save sight and
empower lives. With a culture of disruptive thinking grounded in
real scientific research, Plano promotes the use of innovative
technology to provide a solution to help mitigate the public
health, societal and economic issues posed by excessive device
usage. Plano's Founding Managing Director, Associate Professor
Mohamed Dirani, has dedicated his
life to the study and research of myopia, and is an Adjunct
Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School and an Honorary
Principal Investigator at the Singapore Eye Research Institute
(SERI) and the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA).
www.plano.co
About Huawei Consumer BG
Huawei's products and services are available in more than 170
countries and are used by a third of the world's population.
Fourteen R&D centres have been set up in countries around the
world, including Germany,
Sweden, Russia, India
and China. Huawei Consumer BG is
one of Huawei's three business units and covers smartphones, PC and
tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei's global network
is built on over 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and
is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to
consumers around the world.
For more information please
visit: http://consumer.huawei.com
References
1. Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global Prevalence of
Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050.
Ophthalmology. May
2016;123(5):1036-42. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.01.006
2. Vitale S, Sperduto RD, Ferris FL, 3rd. Increased prevalence
of myopia in the United States
between 1971-1972 and 1999-2004. Arch Ophthalmol.
Dec 2009;127(12):1632-9.
doi:10.1001/archophthalmol.2009.303
3. Institute WHO-BHV. The Impact of Myopia and High
Myopia. 2015.
http://www.who.int/blindness/causes/MyopiaReportforWeb.pdf
4. Naidoo KS, Fricke TR, Frick KD, et al. Potential Lost
Productivity Resulting from the Global Burden of Myopia: Systematic
Review, Meta-analysis, and Modeling. Ophthalmology.
Oct 17
2018;doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2018.10.029