HKTDC Hong Kong Means Business

Hong Kong Means Business Hong Kong Means Business
  • Login / Register

Languages

  • EN
  • 繁
  • 简
SUBSCRIBE
  • EVENTS
  • MY FEED
  • CONTACT HKTDC
  • ABOUT HKTDC
  • hktdc.com

Section Menu

  • multimedia
  • market spotlight
  • first person
  • Venture Hong Kong
  • heads-up
  • inside china
  • life & style
  • hktdc research
  • Login / Register

Languages

  • EN
  • 繁
  • 简
SUBSCRIBE
Hong Kong Means Business

Section Menu

  • multimedia
  • market spotlight
  • first person
  • Venture Hong Kong
  • heads-up
  • inside china
  • life & style
  • hktdc research

https://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/NDY0OTU3Nzg3

hktdc research
SAVE FOR LATER
SHARE / SEND

"Scan QR Code" in WeChat and tap "..." to share.

Hong Kong Companies in the GBA (19): AI-Powered Platform Boosts Eye Disease Detection Efficiency

07 July 2020



Diabetic retinopathy (DR), or diabetic eye disease, is a common complication of diabetes. Patients may not be aware they have it until they experience blurry vision, by which time it may be too late to save their eyesight. Reny Ng, CEO of Hong Kong start-up Visiona MedTech International Ltd, explained how his company’s proprietary web-based diabetic retinopathy screening platform VisionaDR achieves faster and more accurate screening by making use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Ng also discussed the differences between the healthcare markets in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. His views may provide a valuable guide to others in the industry.

AI Improves Screening Efficiency​​​​​​​

According to Department of Health statistics, there are more than 750,000 diabetes patients in Hong Kong. About 40% of diabetes patients develop eye diseases, with 10% ending up with impaired vision. The World Health Organisation recommends that diabetes patients undergo eye screening at least once a year to ensure early discovery and treatment which may save their eyesight.

Traditional diabetic eye screening is done by ophthalmologists or optometrists, who place drops in the patient’s eyes to widen the pupils. This allows them to take a look at the back of the patient’s eyes, or use a fundus camera to take pictures of the retina for manual screening. If pathological changes are found, the case will be passed on to a more senior doctor for further examination. Traditional screening is time-consuming and costly, and the eye drops used to dilate the pupils can blur the patient’s vision for hours.

Ng said his company’s web-based screening platform VisionaDR makes screening cheaper and more efficient by providing a retinal image analysis which can automatically detect diabetic retinopathy. Images captured by the fundus camera are directly uploaded to the cloud, with the result and a screening report made available almost immediately. According to Ng, this AI algorithm was developed by leveraging state-of-the-art deep learning technology. He claims that, because VisionaDR has a database of hundreds of thousands of images, it delivers high accurately results, as well as gradings in line with the diabetic retinopathy screening standards of the International Council of Ophthalmology which show how advanced a given case is.

Photo: AI-powered screening of diabetic retinopathy in progress

AI-powered screening of diabetic retinopathy in progress.

Emphasising that the non-invasive screening process is safe, accurate, convenient and quick, Ng said: “Independent third-party assessment by the school of optometry of a leading university in Hong Kong shows that results obtained by VisionaDR’s AI analysis have an accuracy rate as high as 96.8%, which means the system is safe for diabetic retinopathy screening.”

Promoting Community-Based Screening

Visiona was founded in Hong Kong in 2013. It joined an incubation programme of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation in 2014 and developed its proprietary VisionaDR technology and platform over the next three years. Pointing to the company’s plans for future development, Ng said: “At present, we mainly use this for fast screening of diabetic eye diseases. In future, we hope to be able to screen multiple conditions, such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. We will continue to develop related AI technologies so that a patient’s pathological conditions can be checked through a single fundus imaging.”

In the Hong Kong healthcare market, Visiona focuses on community-based services, providing diabetic retinopathy screening to old people in conjunction with the Hong Kong Housing Society. Ng explained that working with the public sector was important to the company, saying: “The Innovation and Technology Bureau of Hong Kong is also giving us support and help in the form of funding under one of its trial schemes. Support from the government is a great encouragement to us.”

Photo: Community-based diabetic retinopathy screening services for elders

Community-based diabetic retinopathy screening services for elders.

Visiona works with the private sector too, exporting its VisionaDR diabetic retinopathy screening service to private clinics to replace traditional screening. Highlighting the company’s success in this field, Ng said: “VisionaDR won the Bronze Award (Smart Healthcare) in the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2019, a testimony to our ability and potential to gain wider recognition from healthcare institutions.”

GBA Opportunity​​​​​​​

The company is actively looking to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the plan for the development of the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Referring to the setting up of its Shenzhen operation in 2018, Ng said: “We learned about the new policy for the GBA at that time and sensed that our opportunity had arrived. We hope to officially establish our presence on the mainland and tap into the market. The central government’s GBA initiative comes with strong policy support, including preferential rental terms and other subsidies to help our establishment and growth. For example, when we wanted to contact certain institutions, the Futian district government offered help in arranging meetings or making referrals.”

Ng points out that China is a huge market with a potentially massive end-user demand for Visiona’s services, saying: “The GBA has a population of 70 million and diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases, which means there is a great demand for diabetic retinopathy screening. At present, we mainly engage in technology export by co-operating with healthcare institutions on the mainland, including hospitals, clinics and medical examination centres and giving them support on diabetic retinopathy screening services.”

Ng admitted that given the differences in laws and regulations between the mainland and Hong Kong markets, it is necessary to resolve two key issues in order to gain a proper market foothold. The first of these is the acquisition of qualifications and licences. On the mainland, products and services involving drugs and medical equipment and technology must be approved and licensed by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) (formerly the China Food and Drug Administration) before they can be marketed. Explaining that this has delayed Visiona’s entry into the market, Ng said: “The government does not have specific qualifications guidelines for the application of our AI analysis technology in the healthcare field. We are awaiting the issuance of such rules and regulations.”

The other issue is the differences between the two healthcare markets. In Hong Kong, public healthcare involves long waiting times but low fees, while the private healthcare sector has ample resources but is costly. It may take two to three years to see an ophthalmologist as an outpatient at a government clinic. On the mainland, however, public healthcare is dominant. There are many public hospitals with abundant resources and the queues for treatment are short.

Ng outlined how these variations between the two markets have coloured the company’s approach, saying: “The different operation modes in the two places mean we have to take different approaches in seeking partners and designing local marketing strategies. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Even though we are doing technology export and co-operating with healthcare institutions in both places, what works in Hong Kong may not be feasible on the mainland, which is why we are looking for partners with a sound knowledge of the mainland healthcare market to open up the mainland market.”

Photo: Mainland ophthalmologists use Visiona’s technology in fundal checks.

Mainland ophthalmologists use Visiona’s technology in fundal checks.

Cloud Offers Better IP Protection

Since VisionaDR is a web-based SaaS (Software as a Service) platform, clients do not have to pay for the software. Pointing to the advantages of such a platform, Ng said: “Besides being convenient to use, SaaS cloud service also allows for better protection of intellectual property developed by companies. SaaS cloud service will definitely be the way forward with the arrival of the 5G era. It will also have increasingly wider applications.”

Using cloud services in this way is becoming ever more important. As internet technology develops, and broadband connection becomes increasingly common, offline software will become less and less available. Almost everything is now available in an online version, with SaaS cloud services providing software support. Cloud services have two advantages. Firstly, they are not easily copied by others, and secondly, they make it easier for companies developing new technologies to provide speedy maintenance, updates and upgrades.

The application of AI cloud services in the healthcare sector is still at its nascent stage and there are as yet no clear guidelines anywhere in the world for the approval of this kind of product/service. The process by which healthcare products and services are approved and overseen has always been more careful than that in other sectors and special permits are sometimes necessary.

However, Ng indicated that Visiona is optimistic that industry watchdogs like the FDA in the US and China’s SAMR can keep up with the pace of change in the industry, saying: “Since AI services are outside the scope of traditional medical devices, the authorities are still actively studying and drawing up relevant rules to examine and assess this kind of new technology. We hope all markets can keep pace with the development of technology in their laws and regulations so that new products and services can be put to use as quickly as possible to help those in need.”

BACK TO TOP ^
    Topics:
  • Medical & Healthcare Services,
  • Mainland China,
  • Hong Kong,
  • Macau,
  • Diabetic retinopathy,
  • retinal image,
  • non-invasive,
  • Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation,
  • Innovation and Technology Bureau,
  • glaucoma,
  • age-related macular degeneration,
  • deep learning technology
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Medical & Healthcare Services
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
Home

Article Topics

ARTICLE TOPICS

MEDICAL...24718
MAINLAND CHINA35607
HONG KONG36026
MACAU35997
DIABETIC RETINOPATHY143250

ARTICLE TOPICS

MEDICAL & HEALTHCARE SERVICES24718
MAINLAND CHINA35607
HONG KONG36026
MACAU35997
DIABETIC RETINOPATHY143250
RETINAL IMAGE143251
NON-INVASIVE138264
HONG KONG SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PARKS CORPORATION122320
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY BUREAU143252
GLAUCOMA143253
AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION143254
DEEP LEARNING TECHNOLOGY143255

Social Share

FOLLOW US

GET WEEKLY UPDATES

newpaper-img

GET OUR WEEKLY EMAIL UPDATES

banner-img


I acknowledge that the above information may be used by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) for incorporation in all or any of its database for direct marketing or business matching purpose (and may therefore become available to the public within and/or outside of Hong Kong for use by them), and for any other purposes as stated in the Privacy Policy Statement; I confirm that I have the consent and the authority of each individual named in this form to release their personal data for the purposes stated herein.


*For non-EU/EEA customers, please skip this box which is solely for EU/EEA customers as required by the relevant data protection law in the EU.

THANK YOU

Thank you for registering.

interest_article

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

01 December 2020

The Post-Covid New Normal: Telemedicine Poised to Take Off

04 August 2020

Training Courses Help Raise Mainland Medical Service Standards

15 June 2020

Navigating Covid-19: A Health Innovator

27 May 2020

The Greater Bay Area: Injecting a Scientific Boost

Related Events

RELATED EVENTS

10 - 12 March 2021

Fashion HK at China International Fashion Fair, Shanghai, CHIC 2021 (Spring)

10 - 12 March 2021

The 56th China International Beauty Expo (Guangzhou) Spring

12 - 13 August 2021

International Conference of the Modernization of Chinese Medicine & Health Products 2021

13 - 16 October 2021

HKTDC Hong Kong International Medical and Healthcare Fair 2021
FIND AN EVENT

User login

  • Create new account
  • Request new password

Footer Menu

  • hktdc.com
  • ABOUT HKTDC
  • MEDIA ROOM
  • TERMS OF USE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SITEMAP
  • 京ICP备09059244号

Footer Logo

Copyrights

Copyright © 2021 Hong Kong Trade Development Council. All rights reserved.

SHARE THIS STORY

EMAIL
LINKEDIN
WeChat
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
WHATSAPP

ID: HKTDCofficial

Don't have an account?

Create An Account

successfully added on your preferences.