Dubai's $40 million deep tech lab edges closer to next-generation contact lenses

Prototype contact lens with micro-LED display could cut screen time

Deep inside the $40 million project to develop next-generation bionic contact lenses, scientists have developed a new material primed to transfer information from a mobile phone directly on to eyeballs.

How humans engage with media could be about to change. As more is understood about the damage of excessive screen time on phones and laptops, biometric solutions are under development to limit the time spent staring at an LED screen.

While a brain-computer interface built by Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp takes the idea to the extreme – by surgically attaching a neural interface to deliver actions through thought – a simpler biometric device could soon enter the mainstream.

The race is on to build and approve the first working contact lens that could replace most functions of a mobile phone. At Dubai Internet City in the shadow of tech giants Google, Dell and Huawei, the three-year-old start-up Xpanceo is looking to steal a march on its global competitors.

The company is working on developing its own invisible, weightless contact lens. With several prototypes already developed, the company’s latest contact lens is edging closer to human clinical trials within 18 months, which they hope will lead to eventual medical approval.

Its developers promise enhanced ocular powers like night vision, telescopic sight, health monitoring and a real-time media interface, once linked remotely to a small portable device. The company’s founder and managing partner Roman Axelrod said artificial intelligence is allowing tech companies to accelerate product development.

“We are not just a gadget company, we are also a deep tech company,” he said. “And, in order to create a gadget, we don't have anything left but to create our own, new materials. Previously, the components of those materials were selected manually by humans.

"We’ve trained a special AI algorithm that helps our scientists speed up that process.”

Materials of the future

An algorithm tells scientists the exact mix of materials required and in what quantities to allow conductivity through a silicon-like substance. It speeds up the process dramatically, saving what would probably be years of hard work to keep Xpanceo ahead of the curve.

Xpanceo founders Valentyn Volkov and Roman Axelrod are working on developing bionic contact lenses. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“I would define the current state of the market as the dark ages of XR gadgets,” said Mr Axelrod, referring to devices using augmented and virtual reality. “We all know the next generation of computing is something that appears around you, it is spatial, operated by your eyes, voice or by gestures – and probably later by your mind.”

Tiny, micro-LED displays are the future of vision gadgets that bring high-resolution images with low power consumption, dramatically improving what we can view on wearable devices. It is a global $160 billion industry that is at the crossroads of disruption due to the rapid rate of AI-boosted development.

A key challenge facing scientists is how to create a bright display inside a micro-LED, due to the high current required. The US firm Mojo Vision was one of the first to develop a working "smart contact lens", with Xpanceo close to launching its own model to be tested on humans.

Dr Valentyn Volkov, co-founder of Xpanceo and scientific partner, said the key to success for any future product is in the materials used. “We use a laser-based technology to produce unique, very small nanoparticles that are about a thousand times thinner than a human hair,” he said.

"Those small materials are developed to be introduced into a wearable device in the form of a contact lens. Once we have this new material, we try to create a real working prototype of this tiny device to integrate inside the contact lens.”

A prototype of the contact lens. Chris Whiteoak / The National

A small order

Multiple prototypes have already been developed at the Dubai laboratory, to integrate microscopic technology into wearable lenses that will retain their use for sight correction. The material used is flexible but transparent, and small enough to contain electronic components.

“Once we feed it with an electromagnetic field, you can see it start to deliver images on to a small display integrated in the lens,” said Dr Volkov. “When the wearer is looking through the lens, they are simultaneously getting access to extended reality visual information.”

Device costs are yet to be determined, but Xpanceo expects them to be comparable to that of a phone for an annual supply of replaceable smart lenses. According to market analysts at Precedence Research, the global contact lens market was worth around $16.28 billion in 2023, and forecast to grow significantly to $26.51bn by 2033.

There are only currently only two kinds of smart lenses approved by the FDA, which slow myopia progression in children and darken automatically in sunlight, to reduce glare. Another expert was not convinced the smart lenses would not have a harmful effect on eyesight.

Dr Shaza Aljbaei, an ophthalmologist at Zulekha Hospital, said an over-reliance on smart lenses, if they become available, could pose problems for eye health.

“These futuristic contact lenses with a built-in visual display, or anything that produces display anywhere in the eye's vision, is still some way from being ready for consumers,” she said. “We already know that any prolonged use of contact lenses beyond treatment purposes is not preferred as it could cause multiple issues related to the cornea.”

Eye health

Although technology and gadgets have vastly improved capacity for learning and entertainment, they are taking a physical toll on health. Increased screen time in young people has resulted in a global surge in cases of myopia, a form of eye strain that leads to macular degeneration.

According to a report published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, projected global incidences of myopia are expected to exceed 740 million by 2050, with demand for optical enhancements also increasing. From eye conditions to sleep disruption and myofascial pain that can appear in muscle and shoulder tightness or tension headaches, reliance on visual technologies takes a toll on physical health.

Wearable devices in the form of glasses or contact lenses could help alleviate those issues, said one expert. “There's a lot of potential in this,” said Dr Borja Salvador, a consultant ophthalmologist at Barraquer Eye Hospital in the UAE.

Smart contact lens on display at Gitex. Pawan Singh / The National

“Smart lenses have been used in research to measure the intraocular pressure in the eye, or to try to measure the blood sugar levels. This sounds like science fiction, but we are developing technology that will probably allow us to have some kind of smart contact lenses that can give us a lot of information on other parts of our life.

“We need to limit the number of hours that we're spending on the computer, the screen, or the phone, because this will definitely induce an increase in myopia. Contact lenses are not in general recommended for young ages, unless there's a medical reason, and if so should always be under the guidance of an ophthalmologist or optometrist to avoid problems."