US DARPA, Microsoft interested in French connected contact lens

French researchers at the IMT Atlantique, one of the engineering schools of the Institut Mines-Télécoms, are developing a unique connected contact lens on the market. It targets the applications of augmented reality in the medical, automotive and industry sectors. The project interests Microsoft and American Darpa, Ridha Loukil reports in the French magazine L'Usine Nouvelle.

Connected contact lens under development by the Institut Mines-Télécoms (Picture source: IMT)

"We are on the cusp of a revolution that few people are aware of," says Jean-Louis de Bougrenet de la Tocnaye, director of the optical department at the IMT Atlantique, one of the Mines-Télécoms engineering schools. The smartphone, which today represents the pinnacle of mobility and connectivity, will disappear and, in a few years, it will be replaced by virtual and augmented reality headsets linked to connected implants. It is on this development that all the Gafam position themselves today. "

It is to anticipate this revolution that researchers from the Institut Mines-Télécoms embarked, two and a half years ago, on the development of an oculometer intended to be embedded in a contact lens. The project combines the optical department of IMT Atlantique in Brest and the flexible electronics department of the Microelectronics Center of Provence (Ecole des Mines de Saint-Etienne).