Abdul Latif Jameel Health & Holoeyes Inc. announce strategic collaboration bringing 3D virtual reality technology to a potential 2.4m physicians across selected Middle East & African markets & new sectors in Japan

• Holoeyes’ virtual reality platform fuses technology and medicine enabling medical staff to share complex information intuitively and with greater understanding and transparency than conventional 2D imaging techniques
• Remote and secure conferencing technology enables physician to consult, collaborate and share data
• Founded in 2020, Abdul Latif Jameel Health was created as a response to the ongoing global disparity in access to modern medical care, most notably across emerging economies of the developing world. The Jameel Family’s healthcare activities began with the founding of the non-profit Abdul Latif Jameel Rehabilitation Hospital in Jeddah in 1997.

Tokyo, Japan: November 2, 2021

Abdul Latif Jameel Health (through Abdul Latif Jameel General Trading Co., Japan (ALJGT)) has announced a new strategic collaboration with Holoeyes Inc. for the distribution of their innovative 3D virtual reality (VR) technology surgery support system and medical education software to a potential market of over 2.4 million physicians[1] across the selected Middle East and African countries.

This new collaboration aims to contribute to the enhanced efficiency and safety of surgery, improving standards and the quality of medical education through advanced medical imaging technology.

Holoeyes has developed VR software suite that dramatically enhances medical treatments to achive this.  The suite includes:

• Holoeyes XR: a multi-person interface that can be used for conferencing, consulting, surgical training and also to assist in obtaining a patient’s informed consent.
• Holoeyes Edu: specifically tailored for medical and nursing students and medical residents to drive education and training.
• Holoeyes VS: for secure multi-physician remote conferencing (building in Holoeyes MD and XR)
• Holoeyes MD: the core technology application to create the VR models and enable recordings, slicing, layering and annotation including augmented reality markers.

When performing complex medical treatments and surgery, it is important to accurately recognize the position of the problem and its positional relationship with surrounding blood vessels and organs.  Currently, medical images such as CT and MRI are used to understand patients’ anatomical information.

However, understanding the intricate structure of the human body based on two-dimensional imaging requires significant experience and training.

Particularly in the field of surgery, verbal instruction alone for young doctors on advanced surgical skills and know-how is no substitute for 3D experience.

In the midst of the current global pandemic, the demand for high quality online tutoring for medical education has rapidly accelerated.

However, physical medical practice remains indispensable for students to acquire and practice surgical skills and achieving this same level through e-learning alone is a major challenge.  The Holoeyes product suite provides a VR platform to support surgical and medical education to universities and medical institutions both in Japan and overseas.

Holoeyes 3D models are used for preoperative simulations and intraoperative support for understanding anatomical structure around the target problem.  Users can freely move around in the VR space and see the doctor’s movements, procedures, and 3D models from all angles. Users can also record the surgeons’ movements and techniques in three-dimensional space, and relive them later in the Holoeyes’ VR platform, effectively sharing the skills and knowledge from real cases has become possible.

This makes the learning of such clinical skills available anytime, anywhere by VR medical education content that can be simply used on smart devices.

As a part of very exciting initiatives, Abdul Latif Jameel General Trading will together with Holoeyes aim to develop new educational content and training tools using VR technology for the dental industry.

First target is to conduct product trial with dental colleges and clinics locally in Japan.

Ultimately, ALJGT aims to widely promote new educational content and training tools through unique alliance between universities and dentists in Japan and across Middle East and Africa and beyond.

Commenting on the signing of the MoU, Founder and CEO/CTO Naoji TANIGUCHI (谷口 直嗣), said:  “Our Holoeyes platform is a synthesis between leading-edge technology and medicine, designed to enhance understanding amongst those working in the medical and healthcare fields.

We’re proud to partner with Abdul Latif Jameel Health to take this innovation into more territories accelerating access to the most up to date surgical techniques and educating physicians of the future.”

Shigeki ENAMI (榎並滋喜) President, Abdul Latif Jameel General Trading Co., said “This collaboration between Abdul Latif Jameel Health and Holoeyes will not only benefit the Middle East and Africa, but we also aim to jointly develop new deployment markets for the innovative technology here in Japan, beginning with dental – we have an exciting future of possibilities together.”

Akram Bouchenaki, Chief Executive Officer, Abdul Latif Jameel Health further commented: “At Abdul Latif Jameel Health we’re partnering with those innovators sharing our vision for greater healthcare inclusivity in areas of the world with unmet needs and that present a sustainable opportunity – where we can add tangible value to both the community and for our partners.  I’m excited to say that Holoeyes’ technology and ambition is a very clear fit for is both.”

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Notes to Editors 

About Abdul Latif Jameel Health 

Backed by Abdul Latif Jameel, one of the most respected diversified family businesses and investors with a 75-year heritage, deep roots, and established networks alongside a multi-sector presence in 30 countries across six continents, Abdul Latif Jameel Health is uniquely positioned as a trusted partner in realizing major innovations and opportunities in the healthcare world.   

Abdul Latif Jameel Health reflects the Jameel family’s long-established commitment to innovating for a better future through Community Jameel, an international organization supporting science and technology-led solutions to global challenges.  Community Jameel and MIT co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health (Jameel Clinic) in September 2018 – which has rapidly become the very epicenter of AI and healthcare at MIT – and the Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics (Jameel Institute) co-founded with Imperial College London, in October 2019, using novel data analytics to reduce global risk of preventable disease most recently including the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and strengthening health systems in the most fragile settings.

Abdul Latif Jameel Health takes this commitment into the commercial environment addressing tangible real-world needs today, for a better tomorrow.  It is focused on health care inclusion in the global south, accelerating access to modern medical care for those who need it most by opening up/growing new markets for distribution of existing solutions and investing in the future of MedTech.

Abdul Latif Jameel actively invests in innovative, early-stage and breakthrough ventures and technology, aiming to positively shape the future of core industries driving the global economy through its’ investments that span medical and healthcare industries, from pharmaceuticals and vaccines to cutting-edge medical technology, along with emergent technologies across FinTech, InsurTech, electric vehicles and future mobility solutions. 

For further information, visit: https://aljhealth.com and our brand video here.
Media Contact:  Email aljhealth@edelman.com or telephone: +971 54 996 9935 (GMT +4 hours UAE) 

About Abdul Latif Jameel 

Abdul Latif Jameel is a global investor and diversified, private family owned business celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2020.  It is comprised of a number of independent entities across a number of major industry sectors including: passenger vehicles; commercial vehicles and equipment; logistics; engineering and manufacturing; financial services; energy and environmental services, health; land and real estate: consumer products and advertising and media.  Strong trusted networks and long-established relationships make Abdul Latif Jameel a powerful business and investment collaborator across the world.  It currently has a presence in more than 30 countries on six continents and employs more than 11,000 people of over 40 nationalities. 
For further information, visit: https://aljhealth.com. 
For press inquiries, contact media@alj.ae, or call +971 4 448 0906 (GMT +4 hours UAE) 

About Holoeyes Inc.

(headquartered in Minato-ku Tokyo, CEO/CTO and Representative director Naoji TANIGUCHI)

Holoeyes aims to make an information revolution in the medical field using virtual reality (VR).  The business was founded by engineer Naoji Taniguchi and surgeon Maki Sugimoto (Associate Professor, International University of Health & Welfare Graduate School).  The technology will be helpful for the medical world by sharing information of human bodies as 3D VR form.

The medical VR database will be constructed through collection of CT scan data and forming 3D human body models.  If searching for a specific reference term, e.g. ‘male, 60s, prostate cancer’ navigable 3D images of matched cases will be viewable for doctors to utilize for diagnosis references of similar cases or training for surgical procedures.  Holoeyes expects a business model providing VR viewers for hospitals and selling collected data after obtaining patients’ consent to medical colleges or pharmaceutical companies.

For more information, visit: holoeyes.jp/en/

Holoeyes Inc.  #303 Mourin-building, 2-17-3 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku Tokyo, JAPAN

About Abdul Latif Jameel General Trading Co. Ltd.

(headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director: Shigeki ENAMI)

Established in 1996 as HOBI Co. Ltd., an affiliated office of Abdul Latif Jameel Company Ltd, the business focused on exports of vehicles manufactured by the Toyota Group to the Middle East.  Today, as Abdul Latif Jameel General Trading Co. Ltd., we introduce Japanese companies and their products and services worldwide, while maintaining our core businesses centered on the Middle East and Asia.  Learn more: alj-japan.co.jp or contact us here: alj-japan.co.jp/english/contact/

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