‘Seeing is Believing’ launches the search for eye health innovation

May 31, 2013 | 11:35

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‘Seeing is Believing’, Standard Chartered’s global collaboration with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) on May 29 launched a new $3 million fund to support the development of innovation in eye health.

The fund will be open to not-for-profits, NGOs, research institutes, universities and individual innovators from across the world. Funding will support projects aimed at piloting or scaling up new ideas for delivering eye health in poor and middle-income countries. The innovations could take the form of new products or technology, or alternatively operating models or business models with the potential to provide more effective, less costly and more sustainable approaches to eye health. It is also open to proposals for the development and scale up of technology to enable blind and visually impaired people to be more independent.

“Funders have an important role in supporting the development of new thinking, research and products in the causes they support. Too often charitable funders expect 100 per cent certainty of impact from their funding, stifling innovation. We hope this fund will help create real impact in poor and middle-income countries by reaching out to individuals and organisations who may have new and better solutions for eye health.” Richard Meddings, Group Finance director, Standard Chartered and chairman of ‘Seeing is Believing’.

‘Seeing is Believing’ is a global initiative to tackle avoidable blindness. Together with the World Health Organisation, IAPB launched the ‘Vision 2020 – The Right to Sight’, a global campaign to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020. For more than a decade, ‘Seeing is Believing’ has been supporting project to tackle avoidable blindness and visual impairment. To date, the programme has raised over $58 million, taking it more than halfway towards its target of $100 million by 2020.

By By Hoang Anh

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