RetinaScope BV

RetinaScope BV is a Dutch start-up company and spin-out of the Dutch value added distribution company IDCP BV. The start and the development of RetinaScope BV are enabled by research organisations, government grants and financial institutions. RetinaScope BV is founded in 2018. The shareholders are the IDCP Group BV (80%) and TNO technology Transfer Holding BV (20%). The founder and CEO of RetinaScope BV is Jan Boers, the owner of the IDCP Group.

Motivation

At least two billion people are living with vision impairment or blindness and more than one billion people have vision impairment that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. Global eye care needs are projected to increase substantially, with half the global population expected to be living with a vision impairment by 2050.

In July 2021 the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted the resolution: “Vision for Everyone: accelerating action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.” This resolution was unanimously passed by the 193 countries of the United Nations and makes clear that eye health is a priority development and human rights issue. About 90% of preventable vision loss occurs in low-and-middle income countries, of which 55% affects women and girls. The UN resolution recognizes the inequalities in the access to eye care services, expectations for change, and how intertwined eye health is with meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the Agenda by 2030. The roadmap how to get there is now in sight.

One of the main roads to achieve these goals is the availability of low cost and easy to use equipment for retina screening in order to upscale preventive testing.

Vision

The only way to prevent hundreds of millions of people in the world from suffering of vision impairment and blindness, is to scale up early detection by eye screening. The availability of a low cost and easy to use handheld camera is a crucial condition for the upscaling of early analysis and diagnosis of eye diseases. The RetinaScope will be an integral part of an ecosystem and will therefore be seamlessly interconnected with all partners such as general practitioners, optometrists, ophthalmologists, hospitals, health care service providers and insurance companies.

Mission

To develop and bring to market medical devices and related software, solutions and services for advanced retinal screening and other applications in the field of imaging, screening & sensoring. RetinaScope BV will play a major role in the development, production, development, marketing and sales of teleophthalmology products, solutions and services. The first products for retinal screening will be launched in 2022. RetinaScope BV is committed to develop more innovative camera based products and to cooperate with international partners in developing innovative solutions and services for the teleophthalmology market.

Partners

RetinaScope BV works closely together with several partners from the Netherlands, Italy, Scotland and Taiwan.

RetinaScope BV is setting up and participating in international consortia to run pilots with all parties involved in the provision of innovative and enhanced tele-ophthalmology services in developed and developing countries. RetinaScope BV is paying a lot of attention to the integration of the RetinaScope camera in existing and developing tele-healthcare services. The goal is to keep the operational and administrative burden for the client and the clinician as small as possible.

ANMO ELECTRONICS (TAIWAN) - CAMERA TECHNOLOGY

AnMo Electronics Corp. from Taiwan is the manufacturer of the Dino-Lite microscope, the camera component of the RetinaScope. AnMo is the pioneer in digital microscopes and has been well-known in the field for over ten years known for its quality products. AnMo constantly upgrades the technology and performs highly professional research to pursue new ideas and breakthroughs in the imaging field.

Since 2006 IDCP BV has been the sole distributor of Dino-Lite microscopes in Europe and a strategic partner of AnMo.

TNO (THE NETHERLANDS) - OPTICAL/MECHANICAL DEVELOPMENT

TNO is the largest research institute in the Netherlands with 3,200 professionals. RetinaScope BV is working together with the expertise group Optics, which is part of the department Industry, one of the focus areas of TNO. This expertise group is specialised in nanophotonic bio-sensing, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, multispectral tissue imaging, fibreoptic sensors and retinal imaging.

IDCP SCOTLAND (UNITED KINGDOM) UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE

The University of Strathclyde is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first technological university in the United Kingdom. Taking its name from the historic Kingdom of Strathclyde, it is Scotland's third-largest university by number of students, with students and staff from over 100 countries.

RetinaScope BV works closely together with Mario Giardini, the senior lecturer Biomedical Engineering of the Bioengineering Department of the University.

VISTA TECHNOLOGIES (ITALY) - SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Vista Tecnologies is a Italian company in Ravenna, specialized in software development for control software, database technology and user interfaces.

QAID (THE NETHERLANDS) - CERTIFICATION

QAid is a Dutch company that provides consultancy on regulatory affairs (i.e. CE-marking), quality systems (ISO-13485), product development and project management to companies in the medical device and in vitro diagnostics industry. QAid is responsible for the certification documentation applying to Medical Device Regulation.

Team

RetinaScope BV was established in 2018 as a spin-out of the Dutch Value Added Distribution company IDCP BV by its founder, Jan Boers. In early 2020, TNO became a shareholder, and the Innovation Fund North Holland provided a convertible loan.