August 19, 2020
Plano Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based health technology startup, and YOOZOO, one of the world’s leading providers of interactive entertainment, have inked a Memorandum of Understanding to address the global burden of myopia in Singapore, the region and beyond.
Myopia is one of the biggest public health challenges of our time and is one of the most common health problems in the world, affecting an estimated two billion people today and projected to increase to five billion (half of the world’s population) by 2050.1 In Singapore, which is often labeled as the myopia capital of the world, almost 80% of young adults have myopia upon completing college education.2
While YOOZOO is best known for its work in global development and publishing, in recent years it has built upon its expertise in games to develop an AI Innovation Lab, focusing on health care, wellness and education.
Plano is a health technology company that specializes in myopia management through education, awareness and science-based technological interventions, which include the planoApp and planoEyecheck, an online optometry booking platform. In less than three years since its inception, Plano is considered as one of the world leaders in raising awareness and educating the public on myopia, its risk factors and management strategies.
Through this partnership, YOOZOO and Plano aim to address and combat the myopia epidemic by sharing both companies’ technical and professional expertise with the common vision of improving the quality of life and providing a myopia-safe environment for families worldwide.
“It is truly encouraging to see YOOZOO, a world-renowned gaming company, taking notice and action to address the global problem of myopia in children and teenagers. I strongly believe that this partnership will set an example and create a strong foundation upon which future novel interventions for myopia will be developed,” said Mohamed Dirani, Plano’s founding managing director.
Chi-Keong Goh, YOOZOO’s AI technical director, said, “We firmly believe in the power of AI to improve the quality of lives, and this partnership with Plano will allow us to do so by tackling an emerging medical problem. We are very excited about what we can achieve with this partnership.”
References:
- Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology 2016;123(5):1036-42.
- Seet B, Tien Yin W, Tan DTH, et al. Myopia in Singapore: Taking a public health approach. British Journal of Ophthalmology 2001;85(5):521-6.
