Chinese Multinational Technology Company, HUAWEI, Aligns With Singapore-Based Healthtech Start-up PLANO to Tackle the Global Problem of Myopia

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