Tochigi, Shimotsuke City
DeepEyeVision is a startup founded by the Department of Ophthalmology at Jichi Medical University that develops medical device software using AI (deep learning) for ophthalmology. The company is engaged in research and development with the aim of providing accurate diagnostic support services to ophthalmology patients, whose numbers are expected to increase with the aging population.
| Representative |
Hidenori TakahashiProfessor, Cyber Medicine Research Center, University of Tsukuba Associate Professor, Ophthalmology, Jichi Medical University, Doctor of Medicine Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo Member of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society's AI, Big Data, and Telemedicine Strategy Committee Engaged in research into blinding diseases of the fundus at the Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Tokyo and the Department of Ophthalmology, Jichi Medical University. In 2015, he learned that deep learning had surpassed the human ability to distinguish images, and began researching deep learning, and in 2016 he founded DeepEyeVision LLC. Currently based in Tochigi, he diagnoses and treats many blinding diseases as an associate professor of Ophthalmology at Jichi Medical University, while also developing the "DeepEyeVision" system for supporting the reading of fundus photographs during medical checkups. |
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| Main Achievements | 2024: Participated in the ICT Startup League 2024: Selected for the 3rd batch of the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) 2022: Selected for the NEDO STS 2021: Winner of the NTT Data Award, DBJ Award, and JETRO Award at the 2020 Entrepreneur Expo 2020: Winner of the Microsoft Japan Award at HONGO AI 2020 |
| Childhood Dream | I liked collecting insects, and I enjoyed spending hours observing them and discovering behaviors that were not even described in specialist books, so I wanted to become an entomologist. I also became interested in manufacturing while repairing cameras used to photograph insects, and I also became interested in business management after reading a booklet about Konosuke Matsushita that was sent to my house every month. |
| Influential People, Things, and Events | Person: Junichi Nishizawa Thing: PC-8001 Event: My experience of being immersed in both the cultural biology club at high school and the athletic archery club at university |
| Motivation, Goals, and Ideal World | I learned about the history of how organizations that were the first to adopt automation in various industries have taken over the market, and I wanted to do the same thing when I grew up. I was born in 1976, so some of my classmates outside of medical school started their own companies or got jobs at venture companies, and I regretted missing out on the Third Industrial Revolution by staying employed at my alma mater, the University of Tokyo's Department of Ophthalmology. In 2015, I read Professor Yutaka Matsuo's "Will Artificial Intelligence Surpass Humans?" and started researching AI as a new research topic. I struggled night after night with the unstable hardware and software at the time, and built an AI that could diagnose 10,000 fundus photos at the hospital, including the outer parts that were not visible, and filed my first patent application. At that time, I realized that this would lead to some kind of business, so I started my own company. I still provide eye care once a week, and every week I see that a patient's prognosis can change completely depending on which doctor they see. However, because diagnosis and treatment are done by human power, there is a reality that no matter how hard we try to hold study sessions and provide surgical guidance, there is nothing we can do. I want to create a world where AI can be used to provide optimal diagnosis and treatment anywhere. To achieve this, we need to spread diagnostic AI to the world so that any doctor can use AI to make an accurate diagnosis and formulate a treatment plan, even if it is not their specialty. On top of that, if we can use treatment AI and robots to ensure that the results are consistent and beautiful, regardless of who is treating the patient, we believe we can create a world where everyone can live in peace without fear of illness. |
| Company Name | DeepEyeVision Inc. |
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| Representative Name | Hidenori Takahashi |
| Address | 3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke City, Tochigi Prefecture, Jichi Medical University, Department of Ophthalmology |
| Official Site and Social Media |
@deepeyevision | X (Twitter) |
| Founding Date | 2016-05-09T15:00:00.000Z |
| Awards |
2016: Founded as a limited liability company (first certified venture from Jichi Medical University) 2020: Raised seed funding and became a corporation 2021: Obtained certification for Nikon's AI medical device program (DeepEyeVision for RetinaStation) 2022: Selected for NEDO STS grant 2022: Obtained certification for Nikon's AI medical device program (DeepEyeVision for California) 2023: Started joint research with Boehringer Ingelheim (15th in the world pharmaceutical industry) |
