Roche launches Ophtha Innovation Challenge (OIC) within Roche Ophthalmology Network; up to 100,000 CHF for translational projects
Roche | What is the Ophtha Innovation Challenge (OIC) & how does it advance retinal care?
What is the Ophtha Innovation Challenge (OIC) & how does it advance retinal care?
Part of series Ophthalmology Network
Are you ready to redefine what is possible in vision care? At Roche, we expand what’s possible in eyecare. We created the Ophtha Innovation Challenge (OIC) to foster creativity and novel solutions that address specific challenges within the field of ophthalmology.
Within the Roche Ophthalmology Network, we focus our healthcare innovation on resolving the respective challenges experienced by every actor in the treatment journey: Fostering creativity and novel solutions and bridging critical information gaps across stakeholders.
The 2026 Ophtha Innovation Challenge (OIC) is launching soon — stay tuned.
What was the 2025 challenge?
The chronic nature and need for continuing, long term management of retinal diseases have resulted in critical information gaps across stakeholders. This challenge specifically aims to bridge critical information gaps in the treatment of chronic Neovascular Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) to enhance patient outcomes and improve overall disease management.
The chronic nature and need for continuing, long-term treatment of retinal diseases like AMD and DME have resulted in critical information gaps across stakeholders.
For patients: Overcoming a lack of knowledge of how to live with and self manage their condition
For caregivers: Addressing the unknowns around how best to care for a loved one.
For physicians: Resolving challenges with accessing real world outcomes and treatment information.
With recent advances in science and technology, Roche’s Ophthalmology Network believes there are opportunities to better address the respective challenges experienced by patient groups, caregivers and physicians, and are committed to improving care through healthcare innovation.
We would like to encourage participation from the following groups:
Healthcare technology and digital health developers
Industry partners (including AI and software development firms)
Projects will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Relevance: Describe how your proposal has a direct and short- to mid-term impact on closing the information gaps from the perspectives of patient groups, caregivers or clinicians to enable a better-informed patient journey.
Readiness for implementation & execution: Clearly describe how your team plans to implement the proposed solution in the real world and how it may address potential pitfalls and challenges.
Technical & innovative merit: Clearly describe your approach for achieving objectives, highlight innovative aspects of the project that will impact physician decisions and patient care, and include examples of innovative tools and measures to be implemented.
Project personnel qualifications: Provide details on the expertise of team members. Can you name any examples of the team executing projects of similar size, scope and complexity?
Patient-centricity: Describe if a diversity and inclusion approach or framework will be incorporated into the project (e.g., patients with risk of poor outcomes, or disparities in healthcare). The potential for the project to help patients and HCPs make more informed healthcare decisions and improve health outcomes will also be considered.
Stakeholder engagement: Describe your plan for engaging relevant stakeholders (e.g., academic centers, healthcare systems, patient advocacy groups or payers).
Measuring impact: Describe and define the criteria for success for the pilot phase and how this may be eventually measured. Future steps for the solution should also be described, and the necessary actions to achieve these goals should be detailed.
Funding for selected initiatives will be distributed across two distinct paths based on the scope and complexity of the project:
Pilot Projects: Up to 25,000 CHF for small, proof of concept items.
Translational Projects: Up to 100,000 CHF for scalable and larger initiatives.
The Ophtha Innovation Challenge will be overseen by a multidisciplinary steering committee composed of leaders in ophthalmology, technology and healthcare innovation.
Associate Professor, Duke NUS Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Academic Clinical Programme, Senior Consultant at the Singapore National Eye Centre & Clinical Director for the SNEC Ocular Reading Centre
Professor of ophthalmology at Paris Cité University and head of the ophthalmology department at the Lariboisière & Saint-Louis University Hospitals, France
Senior Vice President, Global Head of Ophthalmology, Product Development at Genentech
Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
Therapeutic Area Head, Ophthalmology at Roche
Director of Development and Operations for the IAPB
VP, Global Head of Ophthalmology Medical Affairs at Roche
Medical Director & Department Head at Mount St. Peter Eye Clinic, Trier
Researcher, Professor of Ophthalmology and a vitreoretinal surgeon at Cochin Hospital, Paris
Applicants should include the following:
Executive Summary A brief overview of the project, including objectives and expected impact.
Project Plan Detailed methodology, milestones and implementation timelines.
Team Bios Background and qualifications of key project members.
Budget Outline A clear allocation of funds and justifications.
Impact Metrics Defined criteria for measuring project success and scalability.
Stakeholder Engagement A plan for collaboration with relevant groups.
Q1: What types of projects are eligible for funding?
Funding is available for broad types of projects that practically address the stated unmet need regarding communication gaps in AMD and DME, which could include e.g. pilot, proof-of-concept research or larger, translational projects.
These projects may be completely new ideas, or initiatives that are already in progress and require additional support to maximise the impact of the innovation. Roche must not be actively involved in the project already.
The proposed projects may also bring value in other areas of ophthalmology beyond AMD and DME, however, they must be relevant for these two retinal vascular diseases as a minimum requirement.
Shortlisted proposals will go through a robust review process conducted by a panel of Ophthalmology and innovation experts.
We will provide direct funding in the form of a grant, with Roche’s Ophthalmology Network making the final decision on the grant recipients.
Please note that we are not an incubator and want to encourage the intellectual curiosity and passion that led to your transformative innovation.
Q2: How much funding can projects receive?
Applications for the 2026 Ophtha Innovation Challenge (OIC) will open soon. Financial support will be distributed across two distinct paths depending on the project’s complexity and scope, with final budget structures defined upon the official launch announcement:
Pilot Projects: Funding structures will be defined for small, proof of concept items (previously up to 25,000 CHF).
Translational Projects: Funding paths will be tailored for scalable and larger initiatives (previously up to 100,000 CHF)
Q3: Who can apply for the Ophtha Innovation Challenge?
Ophthalmologists, researchers, patient advocacy groups and healthcare technology and industry partners (including AI and software development firms) are all eligible to apply.
Q4: How will proposals be evaluated?
Relevance: Impact on closing the information gaps to enable a better informed patient journey.
Readiness for implementation & execution: Describe how the team plans to implement and address challenges related to their proposed solution in the real world.
Technical & innovative merit: Highlight innovative aspects of the project that will impact physician decisions and patient care.
Project personnel qualifications: Provide details on the expertise of team members.
Patient-centricity: Describe whether a diversity and inclusion approach or framework will be utilized.
Stakeholder engagement: Describe your plan for engaging relevant stakeholders.
Measuring impact: Describe and define the criteria for success for the pilot phase and how it’s measured.
Q5: When does the submission window close?
The submission deadline for the 2025 Challenge was 10th October 2025. Stay tuned for the 2026 Challenge.
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