Vegas Innovator Series: Who are the Vision Innovation Challenge Winners at Vision Expo?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Power Hour Optometry

Episode: Vegas Innovator Series: Who are the Vision Innovation Challenge Winners at Vision Expo?
Date: September 25, 2025
Host: Eugene Schottzman (The Power Practice)
Guests: Ashley Mills (Vision Council), Will Flanagan (VSP), Jeff Poe (Sanitas Advisors, Judge), Alessandro Grillini (Challenge Winner), Jeremy Steven (Vitazzi AI), Yousef Alimam (Muse AI)

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Overview: Main Theme and Purpose

This special episode, recorded live at Vision Expo West, dives into the heart of the VSP Innovation Challenge—a major event spotlighting new ideas and technologies driving transformation in optometry. Host Eugene Schottzman brings listeners front row to interviews with organizers, judges, and winners of the challenge, exploring emerging industry trends, the expanding role of optometrists, and innovations that are shaping the future of patient care and the optometric experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Vision Expo as an Innovation Hub

(00:00–06:25)

• Ashley Mills (Vision Council CEO) highlights that Vision Expo attracts attendees seeking the latest technological advancements, positioning optometry as the gateway to broader healthcare journeys.

  “It completely places the optometrist at the center of the entire healthcare journey.” — Ashley Mills (00:13)

• Will Flanagan explains the VSP Innovation Challenge’s mission to connect startups with industry leaders. This year, applications nearly doubled from the previous, with over 50 entrants and six finalists. The challenge sources innovations enhancing both the eye care experience and clinical capabilities.

  “We look out into the healthcare vision care ecosystems to identify new models, technology startups... One way to do that is through this Innovation Challenge.” — Will Flanagan (05:12)

2. Trends in Optometric Innovation

(06:26–15:40)

• Diverse technologies showcased: From AI-enabled diagnosis (“oculomics”) to smart eyewear for both diagnostics and wellness (e.g., sleep, anxiety, vision therapy).
• Noted trends:
  • Optometrists moving beyond refraction and vision correction to broader health roles.
  • Tech is both complementary and practice-enabling, rather than disruptive for its own sake.
  • Hardware (like smart eyewear) remains a vital innovation area alongside digital health.
  • AI is now embedded in virtually every area—“an enabler of all things.”

  “It's tech that's being designed to be complementary, to be augmented, to expand the scope of care... AI is everywhere.” — Will Flanagan (13:03) “...still so much on the floor here and even on the stage that was centered on the comfort of the patient or the willingness of the patient to do the test.” — Ashley Mills (14:29)

3. Judge’s Perspective: What’s Next for Optometry

(15:42–26:13)

• Jeff Poe (Sanitas Advisors) underscores both evolutionary and revolutionary aspects of innovation:
  • Evolutionary: incremental practice enhancements (e.g., AI scribes).
  • Revolutionary: entirely new diagnostic paradigms, such as using eye data for systemic health screening.
  • Access and equity are crucial—these technologies can bring advanced diagnostics to more patients.

  “Innovation is often revolutionary... but it's also evolutionary... those opportunities are phenomenal for the practice, for the doctor, and... most importantly for my patients.” — Jeff Poe (22:46) “Having access becomes really important... they're having access to better tools for that diagnostic component I think is going to be huge and it will ultimately elevate their stature in the medical community.” — Jeff Poe (25:18)

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Vision Innovation Challenge Winners: Interviews & Innovations

Alessandro Grillini (Late Stage Winner) — Eye Tracking for Glaucoma & Neuro Assessments

(16:18–29:48)

• Developed a screening system for glaucoma, neurodegenerative, and retinal diseases using objective, non-invasive eye tracking. The system is designed for use beyond hospitals, offering fast, intuitive screening via lightweight wearable hardware.

  • Algorithmic innovation: Focuses on explainable, neurophysiology-centric machine learning, not black-box AI.
  • Clinical impact: Already validated for glaucoma, with proof of concept in Parkinson’s, acquired brain injury, MS, and CNS tumors. The company is working on regulatory approval for Europe (within 8 weeks) and aims for US entry in 2026.

  “What we have developed is a screening system for glaucoma and other degenerative retinopathies but also neurodegenerative conditions that uses eye tracking technology. So it's very objective, fast, intuitive and absolutely non invasive.” — Alessandro Grillini (16:18) “You can kind of create a Google of neurovisual disorder... a company that has such an in depth understanding of how the data can shake the diagnosis of these conditions and to have a more proactive approach to diagnosis...” — Alessandro Grillini (26:30)

• Big picture: Envisions optometrists providing proactive “checkups from the neck up,” fundamentally transforming their role in healthcare.

  “Imagine doing a checkup from the NIC up. Literally.” — Jeff Poe (30:00)

Jeremy Steven (Early Stage Winner, Vitazzi AI) — AI-Powered Retinal Systemic Disease Screening

(31:59–38:35)

• Jeremy Steven, an ER physician, explains how Vitazzi AI leverages retinal photography and AI analysis to predict systemic diseases (cardiovascular, neurodegenerative) in the optometric clinic.
  • Integrates AI with a “back-end telehealth network,” ensuring findings are actionable and connect eye care with appropriate medical specialists.
  • Sees the future of preventive medicine running through optometric offices.

  “We're unlocking the retina and the power that it has to predict systemic disease... empowering and elevating the practice of an optometrist, putting them in the center of the preventive healthcare journey.” — Jeremy Steven (31:59) “We want to essentially create preventive healthcare. That's it. I mean, we do not have preventive healthcare. When you walk into the ER, it's already advanced.” — Jeremy Steven (34:26)

Yousef Alimam (Audience Choice Winner, Muse AI) — AI-Enhanced Eyewear Personalization

(31:41–44:26)

• Muse AI uses computer vision and conversational intelligence to assist users in choosing eyewear that best suits their personality, style, and face.
  • The system analyzes face structure, color, and user reactions, then makes intelligent recommendations, incorporating AI-driven understanding of subjective style preferences.
  • Application flexibility: in-office style consultations, pre-shopping, client reactivation, and e-commerce.
  • Learns and adapts to optimize for owner-defined outcomes (e.g., maximizing close rates, sunglasses sales).

  “Glasses are masks, and they have different shapes and colors and proportions, which deeply communicate different voices and emotions on your face. And for it to be reduced into a piece of plastic with two holes in it with glasses—just really, really reductive.” — Yousef Alimam (38:49) “If you're a user of Muse, it takes a picture of your face and... looks at the available inventory and it says, how do these two groups communicate with each other?... it listens for how you react.” — Yousef Alimam (40:37)

Notable Quotes from Segment

On Innovation Scope and Speed

“Innovation is just escalating and escalating and so we're going at a pace of change that I think is remarkable.” — Jeff Poe (20:16)

On the Emerging Role of Optometrists

“Too many people think of their eye doctor as what their new prescription is going to be. And we're radically changing that through innovation like this.” — Jeff Poe (21:39)

On the Impact of Technology

“The reality is that the more problems we can solve, the more we can grow as an industry.” — Eugene Schottzman (15:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–01:00 — Ashley Mills, Vision Expo as a driver of innovation and optometrist’s centrality.
• 05:10–06:25 — Will Flanagan describes the Innovation Challenge and its growing relevance.
• 07:56–09:43 — Industry trends: AI diagnostics, wellness through eyewear, and hardware-focused innovation.
• 16:18–18:22 — Alessandro Grillini explains his eye-tracking technology for screening and its scientific roots.
• 21:39–22:46 — Jeff Poe on redefining public perception of eye care and the revolution of diagnostics.
• 26:30–29:48 — Alessandro Grillini details market readiness and future goals.
• 31:41–34:44 — Quick introductions of Jeremy Steven (Vitazzi AI) and Yousef Alimam (Muse AI).
• 34:44–38:35 — Vitazzi’s approach to preventive detection using retina and telehealth.
• 38:49–44:26 — Muse AI’s technology for personalized, human-like eyewear recommendations.
• 45:46–46:43 — Winners reflect on trends: the rise of oculomics, the convergence of fashion and medical innovation.

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Memorable Moments

• “Imagine doing a checkup from the NIC up. Literally.” — Jeff Poe (30:00)
• “I like the idea of a style consultation.” — Eugene Schottzman (43:22)
• “It's fantastic. Well, thank you guys for all your innovation, for everything that you do for the industry...” — Eugene Schottzman (46:43)

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Conclusion

This episode encapsulates the accelerating momentum of optometric innovation, highlighting how AI, telehealth, neuro-ophthalmic diagnostics, and patient-centric tools are fundamentally transforming the possibilities in eye care. The stories of the Innovation Challenge winners illuminate the diverse directions—from clinical breakthroughs to retail experience enhancements—that are empowering optometrists and reshaping the industry’s role in overall healthcare. For anyone interested in the future of optometry, the Power Hour’s Vegas Innovator Series is both a preview and a call to embrace the rapidly approaching change.

Transcript

[Ashley Mills]

We know from every survey we've done across every attendee segment that people come to Vision Expo because they want to see what is new. They want to see the latest in technology, they want to see what's next and how it's going to impact their businesses, how they treat patients. What, you know, really sticks out for me is that it completely places the optometrist at the center of the entire healthcare journey.

[Eugene Schottzman]

What are some of the most impressive trends that you're seeing?

[Will Flanagan]

There is disruption out there within the majority of our applications. It's tech that's being designed to be complementary, to be augmented, to expand the scope of care. It's really focused on the optometrists, on the practice. So I think the trend we're seeing.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Is.

[Jeff Poe]

Too many people think of their eye doctor as what their new prescription is going to be.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Right?

[Jeff Poe]

And we're radically changing that through innovation like this. Bringing in new concepts, new technology, physics, to health from the eye or through the eye is expanding the whole component of, of what's going on in optometry.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Alessandro, I'm curious, when you are working on your innovation, what kind of impact do you think that the technology that you've developed can make?

[Alessandro Grillini]

Well, I think it can go in multiple directions.

[Jeff Poe]

And I would say for the optometrists that are out there, many if not all, have diagnosed a disease state that was not eye specific. And they have had to move people into an ambulance or recommend that they go to their primary care or cardiology, et cetera. And they're doing that without some of the tools that are here right now. They're having access to better tools for that diagnostic component I think is going to be huge and it will ultimately elevate their stature in the medical community.

[Eugene Schottzman]

I'm curious, you know, what trends would you really want people to be aware of?

[Jeff Poe]

First thing I would say is.

[Will Flanagan]

Welcome.

[Eugene Schottzman]

To the Power Hour, Optometry's biggest and longest running show. I'm your host, Eugene Schottzman, and if you've been listening for a while, you know that I love bringing you conversations about where our industry is headed. Not just where we are today, but where we're headed. And this episode does exactly that. So I got a front row seat at the VSP Innovation Challenge at Vision Expo West. This is a live competition, it's co hosted by the Vision Council, VSP's innovation division, matter. And over 50 companies enter this challenge and then six finalists get on the main stage. And in the end, three winners walk away with top honors. Now, I Then get to go on stage and interview some of the organizers and one of the judges as well as the three winners for you. So in this episode, first I sit down with Ashley Mills, the CEO of the Vision Council, and Will Flanagan from bsp, and they talk about kind of how the challenge came together, what patterns of innovation they're seeing in the industry. And then we go to one of the winners and one of the judges, Jeff Poe from Sanitas Advisors is one of the judges who was right in the middle of evaluating these innovators and identifying some of the trends as well. So we get his take. And then Alessandro Grillini, who is the late stage winner. Really interesting, fascinating technology. I'll let him tell you about it himself. And then Jeremy Steven from Vitazzi AI, who is the early stage winner. And then Yousef Alimam from Muse AI, who is the audience choice winner. Really interesting technology on both of their sides as well. So we get to kind of put you right in the middle of exactly what happened. And these three innovators are really talking about interesting breakthroughs and really more about where the industry is headed, which categories are attracting the most energy, and how these ideas altogether might reshape the role of eye care in general. Not just little things that make the types of things that we do better every single day, but. But overall, what are the things that we as an industry are responsible for? And what's the role of the optometrist or the eye exam? So, again, I don't think that the innovations you're going to hear about are things you can kind of go out and buy or subscribe to tomorrow. But they do give us a sneak peek into what's coming for our practices and our patients and for the industry altogether. So I think you'll find this episode inspiring, interesting, practical, and see where the smartest innovators are investing their energy. And so before we jump in, quick reminder, do respond. If you reach out, you can always connect with me directly@eugene shotsman.com or on the Power Hour website with questions, ideas, feedback. So make sure you're subscribed on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts wherever you listen, so you never miss an episode. And now let's get into the show.

All right, welcome to the Power Hour Vegas Innovator series. And we're literally on the innovation stage, right? To some extent, because we just finished off the Innovation Challenge. So why don't you guys talk about the Innovation Challenge? Will, you spoke on stage about some of the key reasons why you guys did this, and let's talk a little bit about it.

[Will Flanagan]

Yeah, I'd be happy to. Thank you so much for having me. So I'm Will Flanagan, oversee programs and partnerships for the VSP Global Innovation Center. We are the innovation arm within VSP Vision, really tasked with being the enterprise's lens into the future. We have an outside in model. We look out into the healthcare vision Care ecosystems to identify new models, technology startups that we can build a bridge into the business. And one way to do that is through this Innovation Challenge, an open call for startups that to source, spur and support early stage, late stage vision care technologies. Enhancing the eye care experience. We could do it by kind of knocking on doors and then we realized if we just put out an open call, let's see who comes in. The first year we had about 35 applications. This year we nearly doubled it. And it's been really amazing to see how the vision care tech ecosystem is really evolving and growing with the industry.

[Eugene Schottzman]

And this is a big part of the theme at Vision Expo this year. Over the place. Right? You've got these innovators everywhere. So Ashley, talk a little bit about how Vision Expo is transforming into this kind of innovation headquarters for the industry. In many ways.

[Ashley Mills]

I'd love to. And I'll start by thanking VSP for bringing the global innovation challenge to Vision Expo. This is tremendous for us and we really value your partnership and really making this the home for innovation for vision. Eugene, we know from every survey we've done across every, every attendee segment that people come to Vision Expo because they want to see what is new. They want to see the latest in technology, they want to see what's next and how it's going to impact their businesses, how they treat patients. And what we saw today and continue to see here at the show is that there is nothing but potential for vision to be health care, perhaps even the first stage of health care, and, and a health care intervention for things that have implications far beyond what we're currently seeing.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah, and I think it's really important to identify some of the trends. So you said you guys got 50 or more applicants this time around. And what we saw today at the show was the top six that presented all their innovations a little bit Shark Tank style. They got their seven minutes, a pitch or some questions. What was really interesting was some of the themes, as you were kind of alluding to. Ashley, let's talk about the themes of what we didn't see. So Will, maybe you can comment on where did these innovators come from and what kind of technologies innovations were they showcasing at the 50 that or 50 or more that applied.

[Will Flanagan]

Absolutely. So one of the things we really want to achieve with the VSP Vision Innovation Challenge is we know entrepreneurs are really good at building and they're going to build with or without us. So we want to make sure that the industry is involved in that build and those perspectives and questions and feedback can be brought in. So that's really why we wanted to bring the innovation challenge in these startups to this expo and the six that were on stage today. We were really thoughtful about selecting a cohort that is representative of some key trends we're seeing across the industry and we're really represented in the volume of applicants. We saw a number of AI enabled diagnostic startups who are looking at leveraging the eye to extract net new health insights and use that to expand the scope of care within optometry and elevate the role the eye is playing in the broader health care continuum. So that's a really exciting trend we've been tracking. The Tazi, one of the finalists that fits that oculomics category, has a built in referral network to allow for when those net new insights are introduced, they can go somewhere. So that was a differentiator that really stuck out to us. But we saw a number of these companies that were really interesting. We also saw companies using eyewear as a really compelling form factor for wellness, whether it's on vision therapy or even sleep and anxiety. And we wanted to kind of bring some of that hardware on stage as well. I think a lot of times innovation can be positioned as this exclusiveness on digital health. What's unique about this industry is there's inherently a physical component. So we wanted to make sure that it wasn't just digital that you were seeing that hardware here too.

[Yousef Alimam]

Yeah.

[Eugene Schottzman]

And I think, Ashley, how does that fit with the rest of the show? Because some of the things that the innovators are working on is also some of the things that are innovative components of the other technologies that are, you know, from really well established companies in the industry too, right?

[Ashley Mills]

Absolutely. I think what you know really sticks out for me and how it impacts and tracks with the rest of the show is that it, it completely places the optometrist at the center of the entire health care journey. And that's what you're seeing across the show floor from the product side, the fashion side, the lifestyle side, but also the diagnostic side and quality of life. And I think that's really what we've got lightning in A bottle here. It's something we've always known. We've always said for years that the eyes are really the gateway and now we're seeing it in practice.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah. I think the technology is exploding so quickly and these diagnostic devices that are literally built into eyewear and there's so much smart eyewear on the show floor that's just, you know, even a year ago you didn't see some of the capabilities that you see today. And some of the roadmaps are really exciting as well. Now, will, going back to some of the innovators that you guys went through, how were these six selected and what maybe comment on the overall breadth of technology that wasn't necessarily featured, but also the stuff that was featured.

[Will Flanagan]

Yes, absolutely. So we saw again a lot of companies that were in and around the leveraging VR for streamlining practice efficiencies. We saw a lot on the oculomics, the AI enabled diagnostic side, but we saw a lot of amazing one offs. We saw a company that was focused on smart eyewear for the agriculture industry. We saw it's not just about density of solutions. We saw a lot of one off kind of instances. And to us it's an opportunity to begin conversations not just with the finalists, but all kind of categories of innovations. The stuff I really responded to that we didn't have on stage this time, but we did in our first year was really on the assistant device side and leveraging some of the smart eyewear applications for low vision. There's a lot happening there, we saw a lot even more. One thing we know about technology is every year it's going to get smaller and the battery is going to get better. And what that can mean for smart eyewear, especially on the assistive device side, is really exciting.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah. And I think that's part of the whole excitement here today, is that we're bringing a whole bunch of innovations to the forefront, big and small. And you know, as you're looking at all of the problems that are being solved by this, some of it is problems, Ashley, as you talked about, that necessarily haven't necessarily been in the optometrist's hands before. Right. General care diagnostics, for example. But some of these problems were just finding better solutions. So for each of you, what are the kinds of things that have truly impressed you, both from the innovation side, but also maybe from some of the exhibitors here at the show, what are some of the most impressive trends that you're seeing?

[Will Flanagan]

I can start one of the things and it really helped inform a Lot of our thinking around selection is there is disruption out there, there is companies that are looking at taking a disruptive approach. And what we wanted to showcase, the challenge, there are even more in. Tech can kind of be that scary boogeyman. Right? That's outside. But if you can see it on stage and within the majority of our applications, it's tech that's being designed to be complementary, to be augmented, to expand the scope of care. It's really focused on the optometrist, on the practice, unlocking those efficiencies, elevating patient and provider experiences. So I think the trend we're seeing and we're tracking at the Global Innovation center is technologists that are kind of understanding how to navigate optometry and to really focus on that value add piece. So that trend has been exciting. It's also AI everywhere. And I think, you know, the pieces in which AI is no longer, you know, a thing, it's enabled, it's an enabler of all of the things. Right. It can't be something that you, you have a standalone conversation about. It is embedded in every conversation. And I think we're seeing a maturity around the role AI, what it can play in vision care, really evolve.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Fascinating. Ashley.

[Ashley Mills]

Yeah, I would just build on that a little bit. On the patient experience side, I think with. You've mentioned it beautifully. Like with such a lean in on digital and tech and AI, I still see so much on the floor here and even on the stage that was centered on the comfort of the patient or the willingness of the patient to do the test. And that's still such an important part. We're a patient centered industry at the end of the day. And that's still very much a leading trend.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah. And I think the solving problems for patients kind of seems to be the key part of the big driver for a lot of these innovations. And also, I mean, the reality is that the more problems we can solve, the more we can grow as an industry. So congratulations to both of you for a showcase, for creating a stage, really, literally, quite literally, where people can show off these innovations and make it accessible to the general market to see where the industry is headed. I think now we're going to talk to some of the innovators and some of the winners, and congratulations to both of you and really to the entire Expo for being able to create this type of environment.

[Ashley Mills]

Thank you.

[Will Flanagan]

Thank you so much.

[Eugene Schottzman]

All right, so now we're talking to Jeff Poe. So you are one of the judges. Correct. And I think it would be really Interesting to get your perspective momentarily about why and how this whole thing came to be and really what some of the trends were with some of the innovators that you guys got to look at. But really we're also talking with the winner of the late stage innovation, Alessandro. So talk a little bit about what your innovation is and how you even brought it to the marketplace and how you ended up here in the first place.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Well, it's quite a long journey how you bring any kind of innovation, really, from the laboratory to the market and the way it started. First of all, let's say what it is so that people understand. What we have developed is a screening system for glaucoma and other degenerative retinopathies, but also neurodegenerative conditions that uses eye tracking technology. So it's very objective, fast, intuitive and absolutely non invasive. And the way it came to be, it was actually like an idea that I had during my PhD in the Netherlands when I was seeing everyone struggling with a standard alternative carimetry, which requires very low concentration times, active participation from the patient, multiple pattern pressing, stable fixations, all things that effectively limit the adoption in well outside the hospital context. So that's where I had the first idea of introducing eye tracking as a way to automatize this process. But really the innovation is how we use eye tracking data beyond just perimetry and to leverage the richness of this data also beyond icare to both.

[Eugene Schottzman]

So just make it simple for everybody listening. What is it that you're. Because you guys are both a hardware and a software. Correct. But I heard you say on the stage that really the magic is in the algorithm. So just explain what it is and how it works.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Okay. It's very simple. It's a single docs that appears on a screen that moves smoothly and continuously. So it's a continual psychophysics approach, which is a novel framework that came out only a few years ago. And instead of demanding the patient to do trials, repeated trials, it continuously measures the eye movement response to this stimulus that moves continuously. And what the algorithm effectively does is a comparison of the ocular velocity, so how fast the eye moves and how fast the stimulus moves compared to also the spatial precision and the temporal precision. So you have a spatial temporal integration of all these properties, and what we compute are different metrics. And then you can train different machine learning algorithms to recognize these patterns that emerges from these properties.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay. And you have a device that's basically like a pair of glasses. Yes.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Lightweight frame. Yes.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Perfect. And then you can one test how long does the test take?

[Alessandro Grillini]

So the longest version that we have is two meters.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay, so one test, but it can also give you information about how many different conditions.

[Alessandro Grillini]

So the conditions. Right now the only certified one is glaucoma, but we have proof of concept. The exact same test is applicable to the Parkinson acquired brain injury. So could be a concussion, could be stroke. We also have proof of concept in multiple sclerosis in central nervous system tumors. And we're starting now the dimensional sign.

[Eugene Schottzman]

So vacation is a. And this is very similar to what Will and Ashley were just talking about. With the role of eye care becoming such an elevated role where I could go to my eye care provider and really get information about so much more than just my eyes. And what was the premise behind developing it that way?

[Alessandro Grillini]

Yeah, the premise is you have to understand the neurophysiology of what you are targeting. You really have to dive deep, not only into technology, but into the clinical side. And that's also a bit behind what's behind our innovation. It's really grounded into neuroscience more than optometrist. I'm a neuroscientist by background, not an optometrist. And if you know what to look for in the data, if you really know, then you can develop specifically tailor made algorithms for that. I'm not like a strong believer of AI black boxes. That's not an approach that we have. All algorithms that we are using are neurophysiologically plausible and most importantly, are explainable.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Right. Okay, so Jeff, I want you to weigh in. How does this innovation impact the broader scope of optometry? And really some of the things that we see here at the show at Vision Expo.

[Jeff Poe]

So I think first off, innovation is just escalating and escalating and so we're going at a pace of change that I think is remarkable. And Alessandro was talking about neurophysiology, not a normal concept that we would see or be discussing on the floor of Expo. Right. So bringing in new concepts, new technology, physics, to health from the eye or through the eye, I think is expanding the whole component of what's going on in optometry and really elevating what they do every single day. But it's not necessarily known to the layperson and to, frankly, some of the folks that are out here. So I think that's where we get a nuanced approach to innovation, is that it's really actually elevating the patient care in my personal wellness or for the both of you. And that's an important component that we're not always talking about when we're listening to somebody that might be on the stage bringing up another talk.

[Eugene Schottzman]

I think the importance of an eye exam really takes on a whole different meaning. Correct. When you think about the fact that I can go to the eye doctor and I can get early detection for so many diseases, because the we know scientifically that the earlier you can detect many of the conditions that Alessandro just mentioned, the better the care and the greater the quality of life for that particular individual.

[Jeff Poe]

Too many people think of their eye doctor as what their new prescription is going to be.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Right.

[Jeff Poe]

And we're radically changing that through innovation like this, and the other six innovators that we saw and the 49 that applied on top of that. And that's where the power of innovation is really coming in and elevating the eye exam and literally helping us understand our personal health and wellness. And so we're going to change how the community begins to think about their eye doctor at a new level.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah, so you're talking to the thousands of people who are listening, and many of them are at Expo, but many of them are not. And I think for that perspective, from your perspective, as a judge of some of the most innovative technologies and somebody who hosts a whole conference, I know you guys host a whole conference on innovation in the space. I'm curious, you know, what trends would you really want people to be aware of outside of this concept of using the eye as a diagnostic, as a diagnostic gateway for a whole bunch of other things?

[Jeff Poe]

Innovation is often revolutionary. What you're doing and what you're bringing is exceptional. And it's going to take a little bit for our community to adopt that, but it's also evolutionary. And I think that when we think about innovation, you know, we can think about an electronic health record bringing out new tools, and we brought up AI, but if they start layering in an AI component that really helps doctors and they have an access to a scribe or something like that, that has never previously been there. That level of innovation, while maybe not revolutionary, is evolutionary inside the practice, inside the exam lane. And those opportunities are phenomenal for the practice, for the doctor, and often maybe for the medical records, what is actually captured. So that when I come back as a patient or as a consumer, I've got access to things that maybe I didn't in in prior times, but I do think on the revolutionary component of this one, we need to be exposed to it, because it may not be perfect today, but it means it's coming real product. Right? Here right now that will have a transformative component. It may not be transformative by November of this year. Right. But it's going to be here in the future. And I think that as the listeners to this podcast and whatnot are thinking about it, it's these things are actually coming and they will have an impact on my practice. Do I choose to ignore them or do I choose to lean into them and create some benefit potentially for my staff and for my own practice, but definitely for my patients. And so it's your approach to innovation, I think, that becomes an important part. And just as a quick ad lib, the fact that VSP is leaning hard into this one, I think is tremendous. And the fact that the Vision Council is also leaning into innovation just shows that our industry collectively wants more of it and needs to continue to this embrace as we move forward.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah, Jeff, to take that one step further, let's make people a little bit uncomfortable. We heard about the six innovators who were on the stage today. We're going to talk to all the winners in that group that didn't make it to the stage. I'm sure there was something that was extremely disruptive to the industry. You don't have to name the company. But think of some of the innovations that you've seen that are going to be, if they come to fruition, that are going to change the way that we have to think about the way that we have our clinics operate every single day.

[Jeff Poe]

First thing I would say is America has a truly amazing health care system, but it is selective. Not everybody has access to the same levels of care. So having access becomes really important. And that is almost a revolutionary component to it. But for the optometrists that are out there, many, if not all, have diagnosed a disease state that was not ICE specific. And they have had to move people into an ambulance or recommend that they go to their primary care or cardiology, et cetera. And they're doing that without some of the tools that are here right now that were on the stage today and were part of the other 40 plus applicants. They're having access to better tools for that diagnostic component, I think is going to be huge and it will ultimately elevate their stature in the medical community.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Right.

[Jeff Poe]

And that's important. And these innovators are bringing that.

[Eugene Schottzman]

I think that's great. Now back to you, Alessandro. I'm curious, when you are working on your innovation, what's your big picture vision? What kind of impact do you think that the technology that you've developed can Make?

[Alessandro Grillini]

Well, I think it can go in multiple directions and I would say if we're dreaming big in 10 to 20 years, I see two options for it. One, I would like to see it as a new standard for glaucoma screening also because it provides a complementary aspect that right now is a bit underdeveloped in out of the hospital testing, which is functional assessment. It's very structural heavy, the assessment that you do in the optometric practice, especially like fundus tonometry and oct. So, yeah, we like to build a new understanding of why otofunctional testing is important. But then if one really wants to dream big, I would say you can kind of create a Google of neurovisual disorder. So like a company that has such an in depth understanding of how the data can shake the diagnosis of these conditions and to have a more proactive approach to diagnosis so that you don't wait until the damage already occurred, but rather you can, while you're checking your prescription or buying new sunglasses, you can get like a full, well, as full as possible health check right to your optometrist. So that will be really like the vision that I hope for the future.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah. And I think, you know, again, I want to make this really clear to the audience that at least what I heard when you were presenting, your innovation was that a person is essentially following a dot.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Yes.

[Eugene Schottzman]

And from them following a dot with their eyes for a few minutes, you get the information, or you can get information about a whole variety of things that are going on at the brain that ultimately can help diagnose things before the patient even knows they have them.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Absolutely, that is correct. But you can also imagine that with the hardware that we have, we don't collect only inusions. We also collect the pupil dilation, which can also be very, very relevant in neurologic conditions, but also head movement and then the synchronization between head an eye movement for testicular conditions. So the possibilities are really endless once you have the right type of sensors that are most importantly usable and accessible.

[Eugene Schottzman]

So how market ready is your innovation?

[Alessandro Grillini]

So the glaucoma product is ready and validated. We're just waiting now for the final steps of the mdr. So we're starting in Europe first and it's going to be ready in eight weeks. Unless there are hiccups, as the years are for the fda, we will have to wait a bit longer. We're targeting for entering the American market by the end of next year, most likely in the second half of 2026.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Again, with a glaucoma certified.

[Eugene Schottzman]

But what about the big picture, when I can screen for Alzheimer's, other things in the optometric office.

[Alessandro Grillini]

So we already published studies in neurophthalmic visual impairment, so more like optic neuritis and in Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis. And I think one is coming up with spinocerebellar ataxia and another one in central nervous system tumors. So those are all published studies or about to be published studies. Commercially is a different story, though, because there's a massive difference between doing research with a device in the lab and actually bring it to market. So a product is not the same thing as a validated piece of research. So for that, the timeline is a bit longer, and we're looking at the time horizon of, I would say three to five years.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay. And I think, you know, it's interesting, as the. As the industry continues to evolve, hopefully there is technology that can facilitate the speed of evolution there as well.

[Jeff Poe]

Eugene, imagine doing a checkup from the NIC up. Literally. I mean, so that's ears, it's eyes, it's cognition, it's. All of these pieces are coming together and being able to then understand our systemic disease. That it is, kind of. And so as we look, many companies are, you know, we're wrapping up 2025 here pretty quickly, and so they're making their projections for 2030. So as we look into the year 2030, could these things be available to us, our patients, our friends and family? That's the exciting part. We need to lean into innovation and help them get there.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah. And I think that's really, really interesting is that you think of the role of the eye care clinic shifting from the eye care component to its whole checkup from the neck up. I think I like how you said that. That's really neat. All right, well, Alessandro, congratulations on your win. Thanks for. Excited to see you here and excited to see what's to come. Jeff, thank you for all that you did and your fellow judges in putting together this amazing group of people who presented the day and continue the innovation.

[Alessandro Grillini]

Thank you so much.

[Jeff Poe]

Eugene. Thank you.

[Eugene Schottzman]

All right, and I'm here with two more winners from the. From this innovation conference. And so as we're talking about all of the different patterns that are happening, you guys are right at the center of it, but you have two very different innovations. So we've got an audience that's listening. Tell them who you are, what your company is, and what your specialty is, but don't lean in Too hard because we want to come back and ask you a bunch of questions. So, Yousef, you go first.

[Yousef Alimam]

Sure. So my name is Yousef. We're Amuse AI and we want to change the way that people go about buying glasses right now. There's several different ways to go about it, and we feel like there's a lot of disconnects in the process that makes something that's actually really beautiful difficult.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay, it's great. We'll come back to that in a second. Jeremy.

[Jeremy Steven]

Hey, I'm Jeremy. Steven. I'm the founder and CEO of Atazi AI. And we're unlocking the retina and the power that it has to predict systemic disease. And we're doing it in a way that's particularly unique in that we empower and elevate the practice of an optometrist, putting them in the center of the preventive healthcare journey.

[Eugene Schottzman]

And you're an emergency room doc, right?

[Jeremy Steven]

Yeah, I am.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay, so let's start with what you just said. And we're going to come back to you, Yousef, in a moment. So when you're talking about leveraging the retina, tell me about the big picture vision. Yeah, I think this is a somewhat of a common innovation to some of the folks who are going to be listening because we've heard diagnostic imaging companies talk about, you know, leveraging retinal imaging for other types of diagnostics. But you've got a new twist on this, and it's also really important to think about what your perspective is coming into this. So talk a little bit about that, Jeremy.

[Jeremy Steven]

Yeah, well, I mean, one of the big things we don't do very well in healthcare, as everyone knows, is preventive care. And unfortunately, for various different reasons, we miss out on that opportunity when we could have met somebody earlier in the process of their disease. And when it's too far down the road, it's too late. A lot of times it's just you can't go back. So we need a good tool that allows us to detect disease early, and then that gets the patients over to the people that can help them. Whether it's an intervention of, say, a pharmaceutical or whether there's some other intervention like a stress test or a catheterization, whatever the case may be, we need to find these patients early in the course. So one of the most interesting and compelling places to look for disease is actually in the retina. And we've known about this forever. It's in every medical textbook. Look in the retina for disease. But we're not very good at doing that. And historically we really haven't had great tools up until just recently. The last 15 to 20 years, we've seen non medriatic cameras that don't require dilation start to really emerge as important in the marketplace. What this does is it unlocks a new data set. And when we have that data set now, we can apply that artificial intelligence. Now what's unique at Vitazi is we're using that AI to actually unlock the metrics of the retina to present it to the user. In this case the eye care provider. We see that as perhaps the best place to prevent disease.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Okay, and how are. So let's talk about the really big picture. What impact are you trying to make on the optometric space or really on the healthcare space in general?

[Jeremy Steven]

Yeah, great question. I mean we, we want to essentially create preventive healthcare. That's it. I mean we do not have preventive healthcare. When you walk into the er, it's already advanced. We don't prevent virtually much. So what we really want to do is we want to lessen the burden of disease so that people can live a healthier, better quality of life.

[Eugene Schottzman]

And Atazi is a piece of software.

[Jeremy Steven]

Atazi is a combination of a couple of different things. One is it's software. So the software is powered by artificial intelligence and it unlocks those insights that we can now see in the retina. Think of it like an EKG in the er. You walk in, you have symptoms, we unlock the possibility of the EKG to tell us what's going on. The second thing is we have a back end or a built in telehealth network. All of that's going to require coordination with our specialists. But once we unlock the potential of the retina, we don't want to leave the optometrist hanging. We want to be able to connect them with a specialist that then can help guide the patient on the next best steps for your.

[Eugene Schottzman]

So so is your vision that a patient walks into an optometrist's office, they do their standard fundus photo or whatever, whatever is going on in the pre test room and then what happens?

[Jeremy Steven]

Yeah, great question. So patient walks in and today about 65% of our eye care professionals are doing a fundoscopic image. It doesn't have to be just a fundoscopic image. It could be an oct. There's some imaging that's being done on the patient's retina. Now there's a unique new opportunity for that eye care professional to discuss what he or she has seen on the image. That opportunity then is met with a preventive health plan based on what they're discovering. And then on the back end, you're connecting that patient asynchronously to a health telehealth health provider who can help. Talk about, well, what's going on here? Are we seeing evidence, for example, of cardiovascular risk? Are we seeing evidence of neurodegenerative risk? Okay, what would be the next best step for that patient? So we're effectively bypassing what was not a very effective preventive health journey and creating a new preventive health journey around the eye care profession.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Now, I think I heard you say this, and I realized. I guess I didn't really realize this because I think I don't work with a lot of ER docs, but I heard you say, as an ER doc, you're constantly pitching to the specialists, and you're saying something like this would bypass that. Having to pitch.

[Jeremy Steven]

Yeah, well, you need to still pitch, but you're going to be pitching in the sense that you're going to have context and data from the patient, and that would then be automatically connected with a telehealth provider that can help the patient. So there's. What we don't want to do is we don't want to create net new insights into patient care that then are not actionable, because that doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help the patient, and certainly doesn't help the eye care provider to now be stuck with this patient that they don't know what to do with. That's the danger. A lot of these automated AI tools that we're seeing on the market, the challenge there is they're not going to be valid for a lot of our allopathic providers. They're not going to see that as a valid red, yellow, green. We think there may be some condition here. What Vitazzi does is it unlocks those metrics. For example, the tortuosity of coefficient, which is a net new number for an optometrist that then they can pass along to a cardiologist or neurologist as to what the next best steps are.

[Eugene Schottzman]

And so which disease states do you think would be most likely to be detected? And how does this impact overall patient care?

[Jeremy Steven]

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, there's obviously the ophthalmic diseases, so things for example, like diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, that if it's detectable through fundoscopic, if you have an OCT or a tone, you know, tonometry Obviously, even better. But then you have systemic diseases, so that really falls into the cardiovascular space and the neurodegenerative spaces. Those are the two hot areas. Things like multiple sclerosis, things like, you know, coronary artery disease that do correlate with retinal disease. We've known about this since the Framingham days. We just haven't had great tools to be able to unlock that. So this is really exciting technology.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah, that's really interesting. So we'll come back to you momentarily. Youssef, I want to turn over to something you said, which was that you're trying to make the process of buying glasses beautiful. Elaborate on that, please.

[Yousef Alimam]

Sure. So I've bought, you know, 10 to 15 different pairs of glasses in my life, and each experience has been wildly different. And in one or two of those experiences, I'm wearing my contacts right now. But the way that I was spoken to is almost like someone was looking at me as for who I am, but in a way that it crosses over into how I look and how glasses make me look. Sort of personality, they communicate. And I've actually been thrown into this world of eyewear. But glasses are masks, and they have different shapes and colors and proportions, which deeply communicate different voices and emotions on your face. And for it to be reduced into a piece of plastic with two holes in it with glasses, just really, really reductive. And as I started to rub shoulders with more boutique practices who take this craft very seriously, I was like, whoa, this is something way more than I thought it was. And some people get lucky and they find a pair of glasses that really resonates with them. And that's not an impossibility. That's something everyone can have. And to kind of jump into why AI. AI is very good at taking something and copying it. More about more. Less about the originality and more about the reproducibility. And then it can take that and mass produce it. Right. So if you can start from something that works with people, then you can try to train AI to do something very similar. And then it won't always be the same exact thing, but more people can have it. And we don't like the whole man versus AI narrative. We're like, we're going to get you closer to where a very good person would get you, and then we'll let a human being finish the process, and it'll make it much easier for them, if that makes sense.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah. So what does Muse actually do? Describe it.

[Yousef Alimam]

Sure. So if you're a user of Muse, it takes a picture of your face and it tries to understand it. It looks at your eye color, your face structure, what the different components of your face mean when they're put together. And then it looks at the available inventory and it says, how do these two groups communicate with each other? And then it selects and the next part is it shows you these things and it listens for how you react. So if you dislike you, like we're testing a feature right now, or you speak and you say, I think those look too old fashioned, I think those are a little bit wonky, or I like how that makes me look sophisticated. A little bit more about the subjective element of the pair than the objective. This is a round pair of glasses.

[Eugene Schottzman]

I'll talk about some of the things I saw when I watched your demo. It's interesting that the AI and we all know this, if we've talked to ChatGPT, because we will say something to ChatGPT and say, oh, that's a great insight. So I think your tool was great at complimenting the person, identifying features about their face or about their look that you can compliment. Oh, you look like a sophisticated person because you're wearing a suit or, hey, the, you know, the fine features of your face or the dark, whatever of your eyes really needs something to stand out. So it seems like the tool is making a recommendation not just randomly, but objectively using some sort of intelligence. Right? Which is what you want it to, what you want the user to feel, but intelligence based off of some of the features that you might like about yourself or you may be like, oh, I never realized that I have great eyes. So I thought that was a really interesting way that you can take what a great optician would do, a great salesperson would do, which is to find something they really like about the person who's sitting in front of them and try to leverage that for a really good conversation and try to do that ahead of the sale. Because that's really how Muse is supposed to be used, right?

[Yousef Alimam]

Spot on. One thing about that very last part, Muse is becoming something a little bit more flexible than we imagined, where the experience of talking to a person and walking them through the purchase, of selecting product actually fits in more than one place. Like I mentioned earlier, one person is using it, one of our pilots is using it for client reactivation. So, hey, I haven't talked to you in three years. How about a freestyle consultation? We'll take a look at you and we'll find some frames that really resonate with you. Right? Some people are using it for pre shopping. Then we're starting to talk to e commerce players and they love this because if you think of a store page, it's just 2 by 2, 10 by 10 grid of pictures. Then now there's somebody on the page. It's like a store representative almost. So you have like an empty website and now there's a voice talking to you and it's looking at you and it's complimenting you. It's almost mind boggling.

[Eugene Schottzman]

I like the idea of a style consultation. So what is the the big picture vision? Talk about how you think this will make an impact on the optometric space.

[Yousef Alimam]

Several big pictures for the optometric space actually should say this a little bit more. I listened to a lot of you and I'll even throw it back to the golden elevator nugget. I don't know if I'm going back to an episode, but you have this approach where you objectively pick out signals that demonstrate this is working, this is growing. And there's a very old technique in artificial intelligence called reinforcement learning. It's actually very old where you train and track behaviors you want to reward. And if we can start to get news, and we're working on it currently to go through a cycle of communicating with customers and then seeing a lot more purchases and sniffing out what behaviors tend to do that and we can actually build something that learns to almost learn from whoever's employing it. So if you're like, hey, I want to get as many close rates as possible, I want to sell as many sunglasses as possible, so then it starts to recommend sunglasses that people really like.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Interesting. So the flexibility of the tool is something that's truly unique. And you know, one of the things, if you've listened to my show at all, you know that I am a big fan of anything that reduces exam onlys. And if a patient walks in because they've had this virtual style consultation, which it really does become, rather than just a vto, it really becomes a style consultation, then they're more likely to potentially buy eyewear during the sale, during the visit, but they're also more likely to have an interesting and I think more meaningful relationship with that eye care provider. And so shifting back to you, Jeremy, when you think about the big picture of what an eye exam really looks like, right, we're talking to Youssef who's saying, well, we can make you look good, right? We can really give you a fashion consultation and we can do this in a truly effective way with new emerging technology. And you're saying, and we can do a much deeper diagnostic process when you're walking in and what you guys are both trying to do is elevate the industry in a way that really, truly only innovation can. So final question for you guys. Out of all of the innovations that you've seen and all the innovations that you see on the show floor, what impresses you? Jeremy, you go first. Yeah.

[Jeremy Steven]

I mean, there's so much here to be impressed with. There are so many folks that are tackling some of the big problems here in healthcare, I think. You know, obviously, as an md, you know, interested in the emergency space, I'm really, really excited by how much is going on in oculomics. I felt at times like people haven't spoken the oculomics language. I heard a lot of oculomics talk so far at the conference, and that gets me pretty jazzed. I feel good about it. I feel like we're finally starting to talk about the opportunity that it represents.

[Eugene Schottzman]

Yeah, that's great. What about you, Yousef?

[Yousef Alimam]

I mean, looking right now in front of us at all the different stands, the eyewear or the things to do with the eyes feel is so unique because you can kind of see it in its different forms. You see like the medical adjacent products, you see the fashion only products and everything in between.

[Will Flanagan]

Right.

[Yousef Alimam]

It's very mature, it's very deep. And now you see this emergence of, like, different products, like MedTech AI. So, like, if you every single time you go to a vision expo, you see the field itself, like, learning, like, it's learning to crawl, it's learning to walk in different directions. It's like a person almost.

[Eugene Schottzman]

It's fantastic. Well, thank you guys for all your innovation, for everything that you do for the industry, and congratulations to both of you for your success in this conference.

[Jeremy Steven]

Thank you.

[Yousef Alimam]

Many thanks to you.