Sydney based Vision Cooperative Research Centre (Vision CRC) has been recognised for an innovative new spectacle lens that has demonstrated an ability to slow the progression of myopia in children.
The spectacle design, released in 2010 as the Myovision lens by industry leader Carl Zeiss Vision, won the 2011 Excellence in Innovation Award announced at the Cooperative Research Centres Association Annual Conference in Brisbane.
There are an estimated 1.45 billion myopes worldwide (3.5 million Australians) and research indicates the prevalence is growing rapidly.
Professor Brien Holden, CEO of Vision CRC, said it was a great honour to receive the award from the CRC association.
“The commercial release of the Myovision lenses, offering treatment to myopic children, is, I believe, a vindication of the importance of the CRC Program to promoting Australian innovations. Without the program it is unlikely that this technology would have been developed,” he said.
The technology brings the peripheral image forward, onto or even in front of the retina, and at the same time independently positions the central image on the retina, giving clear vision. Vision CRC is comprised of Australian and international researchers and was born from the Australian Government’s CRC program, which was established to advance Australia’s
capacity for innovation.
