Topcon Healthcare, Inc. has introduced the Institute of Digital Health (IDHea™), a data-as-a-service platform designed to accelerate AI research and digital health innovation. IDHea aims to provide secure and rapid access to real-world and clinical trial datasets, facilitating breakthroughs in healthcare applications for both ocular and systemic diseases. This initiative is part of Topcon’s Healthcare from the Eye™ strategy, which applies AI models to imaging data from the eye to enable earlier disease detection and better management.

IDHea transforms clinical data into actionable insights through AI-powered analytics and seamless connectivity. It operates on the FAST principle, ensuring that data access is Fast, Accessible, Safe, and Transparent. The platform provides structured, multilevel-labeled datasets from primary care and eye care screening settings, covering both healthy individuals and a variety of eye conditions.

Julia Coelho, VP of Data and Digital Strategy, stated that IDHea was established to accelerate the development of AI-powered clinical decision support systems and oculomics, the science of analyzing ocular data to identify and manage ocular and systemic diseases. Through the Topcon Healthcare Innovation Center (THINC), researchers gain access to specialized expertise and resources to expedite AI development and reduce time to market. These innovations can be commercialized and scaled through Topcon Healthcare’s global footprint, using the Harmony® digital health information platform.

IDHea offers deeply phenotyped, real-world, and clinical ocular data specifically curated for precision AI development. This includes high-resolution imaging, visual function metrics, and multimodal health data aligned with clinical outcomes. Strategic data partners, including Illinois College of Optometry (ICO), Keplr Vision, New England College of Optometry (NECO), New View Optometric Center (NVOC), and Visionworks, support the initiative.

The platform’s governance framework promotes responsible innovation through ethical, secure, and transparent data practices. An independent data access and governance committee, comprised of experts in medicine, technology, policy, and ethics, oversees every data request to ensure fairness and accountability. Transparent policies provide insight into data decisions, with summaries shared for each request to reinforce trust. Secure computing infrastructure and industry-leading de-identification protocols protect privacy while enabling impactful research.

Anthony Khawaja, PhD, Chair of the independent data access and governance committee, highlighted that Topcon Healthcare’s initiative to facilitate broad access to ocular data is a crucial step towards accelerating data standardization. This effort aims to reduce the limitations imposed by the proprietary formats of ophthalmic data.

With IDHea, Topcon Healthcare envisions a more connected and efficient global healthcare ecosystem, leveraging data to advance ocular and systemic disease research.