Human and Social Development
Research and Development

Visually impaired and blind people (VIABP), neuroscience research community, Hungarian high-tech industry

1. Reforms for a knowledge-based economy are at the heart of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda. While Hungary has a tradition of academic research, the country intends to improve its innovation profile through the further development of key technologies. Among these are technology industries in the fields that are also the focus of the Swiss Contribution Call for Proposals for R&D: life sciences and biotechnology, medical technology, material science and nanotechnology, environmental technology and technology of energy-saving and renewed alternative energy resources. The Swiss Contribution offers an opportunity for Swiss and Hungarian research institutions to cooperate and build partnerships for mutual benefit.
2. According to WHO, about 314 million people are visually impaired worldwide, this includes persons who cannot see anything as well as those who have a residual vision such as the capacity to tell light from dark and the general direction of a light source. Many visually impaired individuals could lead more autonomous lives with appropriate aides and could in the long term profit from fundamental research on retinal blindness.

Hungarian registration number: SH 7/2/8

The project will improve the quality of life for blind people by developing visual recognition tools that help them in every-day life. The project will as well provide the research community with new tools and research methods. In the long run, the project contributes to the research to restore some visual function to the blind.

The project will develop technologies for the visually impaired to gain information about the visual world, namely novel, intelligent, bionic eyeglasses that can be used in connection with a cell-phone-based computer. The project will as well test optogenetic technologies in combination with bionic vision enhancement in animal models. In addition, a novel 3D laser scanning microscope will be developed.

The expected results are:

• a portable cell-phone-based visual recognition device for the blind is developed
• a high speed, random access, 3D, 2-photon laser scanning microscope for neuronal circuit measurements is developed
• optogenetic vision restoration is developed in mice