A Project with a Japanese Startup called “Village in Focus” Wins IDB Innovation Award

WASHINGTON D.C. - On November 12, 2024, the IDB revealed the winners of the 2024 Innovation Team Awards, with the experimentation category honoring IDB Lab project "Aldeia em Foco," in which the Japanese startup OUI Inc. participated as one of the principal solution providers.

Diagnoses with Smart Eye Camera (SEC) technology

The project, implemented by the local NGO, Instituto Suel Abujamra, aims to create a remote eye diagnosis model for Indigenous communities in Brazil, enabling early detection of visual disorders like cataracts, which affect over 1 billion people worldwide. OUI Inc., a startup from the Keio University School of Medicine, contributes AI-powered technology and the "Smart Eye Camera (SEC)," a smartphone-compatible medical device. This innovation brings diagnostic capabilities, previously dependent on large and costly equipment in specialist hospitals, to underserved areas, including remote Indigenous settlements. Additionally, local ophthalmologists and medical staff conduct diagnoses and provide free glasses to patients with myopia and hyperopia.

Ophthalmologists and medical staff provide diagnoses for Indigenous communities in Brazil

In June 2022, the project received support from the IDB's Japanese Trust Fund and began developing an ophthalmology medical protocol tailored to patients' geographical and socioeconomic conditions. Encouraged by initial results, the team successfully applied for the Innovation Team Award. By the end of 2025, the project’s effectiveness will be assessed to evaluate its potential for expansion to other regions. Initially selected in 2021 through an IDB Lab open innovation challenge seeking solutions for aging in Latin America and the Caribbean, the project is now a key example of the IDB Group’s aging-focused Silver Economy initiative.

IDB President Ilan Goldfajn (2^nd from the right) and the project team during the IDB Innovation Team Award

In response to the award, IDB Lab CEO Irene Arias stated, “This project is a powerful example of how innovative solutions from advanced entrepreneurial ecosystems, such as Japan, can address critical development challenges like healthcare in remote areas. I sincerely thank Japan for supporting this initiative and the broader work with the IDB Group. I look forward to further collaborations like this one that leverage innovation to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Dr. Eisuke Shimizu, Ophthalmologist and CEO of OUI Inc. commented, “It is our great honor to participate in this great project. For us ophthalmologists, saving the vision of the patients has almost the same importance as saving their lives. We would like to continue our maximum effort to overcome preventable and treatable world blindness and visual impairment with our technology, collaborating with IDB Lab, Instituto Suel Abujamra and other partners all over the world.”