Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOS6.5.2016
The Fraunhofer’s project EyeFundusScope received an honourable mention in the innovation category from Exame Informática. Organized annualy, the awards ’Os melhores do Portugal Tecnológico’, aim to distinguish people, enterprises and products that shape the country and the world in the technological area. Among hundreds of national projects, the EyeFundusScope caught the jury’s attention and its relevance to science has been awarded in the 2016 edition with an honourable mention. The award ceremony took place in April, at the Edifício Impresa, in Paço de Arcos.
The EyeFundusScope app is a mobile solution that aims to identify early stages of diabetic retinopathy, an eye pathology originated by a physiological dysregulation caused by diabetes, one of the leading causes of blindness globally. The early detection is essential to avoid irreversible changes of the vision, but this is currently a difficult task due to the complete lack of symptoms, that manifest themselves in advanced stages. With EyeFundusScope this identification is possible through an optical adapter connected to a Smartphone, which captures fundus (bottom of the eye) images. These images are processed and some disease indicators are automatically identified, allowing to estimate the patient risk to develop complications. All this process, since the image acquisition to the detection, is integrated in an Android app.
At this year’s edition, 11 awarded categories were announced: innovation, internet, software, evolutionary intelligence lab, environmental sustainability, computer’s manufacturer, product of the year, national brand, international brand and personality.