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April 21, 2015
Alps Electric and Genial Light Strengthen Business Alliance for Commercializing Physiological Sensor Modules
Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (Ota-ku, Tokyo; President: Toshihiro Kuriyama) and Genial Light Co., Ltd. (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture; President: Ryo Shimokita) are strengthening their business alliance relating to the commercialization of physiological sensor modules.
Extending “healthy life expectancy” to allow people to enjoy good health throughout their lives has become a major challenge for Japan and other advanced nations with aging populations, an important factor being the prevention of illnesses before they occur. Disease prevention necessitates not only a higher level of health consciousness among individuals, but additionally that they notice changes to their own health and promptly seek medical attention at a healthcare center or other facility. They must also be able to instigate preventive or corrective steps on their own.
A crucial element of disease prevention is keeping track of fluctuations in physiological data ascertained through routine and accurate measurement. This is enabled by wearable devices that can be worn at all times. Such devices, especially the physiological sensors inside them, need to be compact, lightweight and perform high-precision measurement wirelessly in order to minimize the burden on the wearer.
Alps Electric and Genial Light have been exploring the potential for designing and developing technology to apply to the creation of ultra-compact, high-precision physiological sensors, specifically through fusion of the high-precision parts processing, high-density parts mounting and production technology built up by Alps Electric over the years with Genial Light's expertise, based on advanced light sensing technology, in developing medical and healthcare devices. The two companies will now strengthen their business alliance and work toward product commercialization. Alps Electric’s global sales and distribution network will then be harnessed to sell the products worldwide.
Technical supervision for the product commercialization is provided by Hideo Eda Ph.D., president of Photonics Innovations Co., Ltd. (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture).
- Activities under the business alliance
1) Planning and development of physiological sensor modules
2) Manufacturing and sale of physiological sensor modules at Alps Electric
- Schedule
2nd half, 2015 Completion of physiological sensor module development
1st half, 2016 Start of physiological sensor module mass production
| Name | Genial Light Co., Ltd. |
| President | Ryo Shimokita |
| Established | November 15, 2006 |
| Capital | \72.95 million (as of Sept. 30, 2014) |
| Headquarters | 1820 Kurematsu-cho, Nishi-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture 431-1202, Japan |
| Business | Development, manufacturing and sale of optical medical and light sensing devices |
| Products | Genial Viewer, GL Mediviewer, measuring equipment |
| Website | http://www.geniallight.co.jp/en/ |
【Profile of Hideo Eda Ph.D.】
President, Photonics Innovations Co., Ltd.
Professor, Graduate School for the Creation of New Photonics Industries (GPI)
Convener, ISO/TC 121/SC 3/JWG 10/Oximeters
Project Leader, IEC/SC62D/JWG 5/fNIRS
About Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
Alps Electric (Tokyo: 6770) is a leading global manufacturer of high-quality electronic components for mobile devices, home electronics, vehicles and industrial equipment. With the philosophy of “Perfecting the Art of Electronics” Alps Electric supplies over 40,000 different components to about 2,000 companies all over the world. For more information, visit http://www.alps.com.