Baekhee Lee (IME Ph.D. candidate) and Jihyoung Lee (IME M.D. candidate) won the prize in “The 1st Asian Student’s Business Model Competition,” which was held in Tokyo on Sep. 3. Their winning item was a business plan about a perimentry tool for early detection of glaucoma, “I-care.”
They established a venture business EyePia based on the technology of I-care, which was presented first in 2011, they then developed I-care that can satisfy the increasing demands of the market and compensate for the limits of existing perimentry tools. They also created a new business model to promote I-care.
I-care consists of simple equipment, so it allows an easy detection of glaucoma whether the optic nerve is damaged or not. Eyepia asserted their business plan is not about selling I-care, but about improving accessibility by spreading I-care for free to the public health centers, or government offices. Eyepia will produce profits from testing fees. In addition, the victors presented the strategy of adding the glaucoma detector to the national health policy through physical examinations, claiming this would contribute to public eye health.