Transforming Eye Care in Sri Lanka: Dhanushi’s Journey with Ophtha Innovations
For Dhanushi Hettiarachchi, the path to innovation began with a lifelong dream: to become a medical doctor. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, she always aspired to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. After excelling at the national competitive examination, she earned admission to the University of Peradeniya, where she pursued her medical degree. She later practiced as a general practitioner. But her story didn’t stop there.
In 2018, inspired by global MedTech trends, she saw how emerging technologies were transforming healthcare, especially for underserved populations. Motivated by her father’s struggle with diabetic retinopathy, a progressive eye disease that often goes undetected until irreversible damage occurs, Dhanushi set out to explore solutions. She saw firsthand her father’s experience with long, expensive procedures to diagnose and manage the condition. Additionally, the realization that Sri Lanka has only around 100 ophthalmologists for a population of 20 million, highlighted an urgent need. With one in five Sri Lankans affected by diabetes, and both Type 1 and Type 2 patients at risk of diabetic retinopathy, too many people were being missed.
Founding Ophtha Innovations: A Purpose-Driven Startup
In Colombo, Dhanushi co-founded Ophtha Innovations (Pvt) Ltd, a purpose-driven MedTech startup aimed at tackling diabetic retinopathy with AI-powered screening systems. Unlike solutions in Europe, existing software wasn’t compatible with fundoscopes commonly used in Sri Lanka, nor adaptable to the unique challenges of the local healthcare system.
Partnering with a Japanese fundoscope manufacturer, Ophtha developed a tailored solution for Sri Lanka and the wider South Asia region. The startup collects and validates its own data, essential for training the AI system and creating robust datasets – a valuable competitive advantage in the IP landscape.
Ophtha’s goal is ambitious: to screen 95-97% of diabetic patients in Sri Lanka, particularly in rural areas where access to specialists is limited. Their system aims to integrate seamlessly with optician services, referring high-risk patients to ophthalmologists for timely intervention.
The Power of IP: Joining WIPO’s Scale Up Your IP Program
While Dhanushi had a clear idea for her startup, she admits she wasn’t initially familiar with the importance of intellectual property (IP) in protecting innovations. She didn’t realize how valuable IP rights, trademarks and data protection were for a startup like hers.
This changed when she joined WIPO’s Scale Up Your IP program, funded by FIT Japan Industrial Property Global, which offers actionable IP Commercialization training to support deep-tech ventures and spin-offs to maximize value from their IP. Through the program, Dhanushi learned how to protect Ophtha Innovations’ AI system, datasets and brand. “The workshop taught me the basics of IP and inspired me to apply for trademark registration and a patent. It also showed me how to use trade secrets to safeguard our data,” she shares.
Dhanushi is now part of the ITU-WIPO Global Initiative on AI for Health, collaborating with experts from around the world to refine and scale Ophtha Innovations’ technology.
Turning IP Knowledge into Progress
Dhanushi’s engagement with WIPO did not end with the Scale Up Your IP program. Building on that experience, she later participated in the Cross-Regional Forum on IP and Women in Entrepreneurship, another WIPO initiative supported by FIT Japan Industrial Property Global.
For Dhanushi, these Japan-supported opportunities have been particularly valuable as an entrepreneur building an innovation-driven health technology company in Sri Lanka, a developing country. The Forum enabled her to deepen her understanding of IP strategy, while connecting with women entrepreneurs from different regions who were navigating similar challenges in protecting, commercializing and scaling their innovations.
The experience also became part of a broader and continuing IP journey. Dhanushi is now a member of the WIPO IP for Her community, which enables her to remain connected with a global network of women innovators and entrepreneurs. More recently, Ophtha Innovations was selected as one of only 20 startups globally for the WIPO × ITU IP Management Clinic for AI-driven startups and SMEs, in which Dhanushi is currently participating.
Her continued progress demonstrates the longer-term value of the FIT Japan-supported IP capacity-building initiatives. The knowledge, international exposure and networks gained through these programs have helped her move beyond seeing IP simply as a means of protecting an invention and towards using it as an integral part of Ophtha Innovations’ business, commercialization and international growth strategy.
This progress is already becoming visible. Ophtha Innovations has filed patent applications and applied for trademark protection, strengthening the protection of its innovations and brand as the company advances towards wider commercialization and international markets.
Looking Ahead: Ambitions for the Future
Dhanushi’s dream is to expand Ophtha Innovations into the largest MedTech startup in South Asia, screening not just for diabetic retinopathy, but also for other conditions like glaucoma, genetic and age-related eye diseases.
“Our goal is to help as many people as possible, especially in rural areas where access to specialists is limited,” she says.
Her advice to fellow entrepreneurs? “Don’t underestimate the value of intellectual property – it’s what protects your ideas and gives your startup an edge,” Dhanushi says, adding: “Data is power – build strong datasets because they are key to AI systems and have high IP value.”
With Dhanushi at the helm, Ophtha Innovations is not just transforming eye care in Sri Lanka—it’s lighting the way for healthcare innovation across the region.
WIPO’s Scale Up Your IP Program
Scale Up Your IP addresses a critical gap in deep-tech innovation. Most universities and R&D centers produce breakthrough innovations, but intellectual property commercialization remains difficult. Unlike traditional startups, deep-tech ventures operate in a highly complex landscape of long R&D cycles, high capital requirements, and intricate IP considerations. Co-founders from different labs, integration of multiple technologies, and relationships with university grants make IP strategy even more critical.
This flexible program works with university incubators and techno parks to deliver IP commercialization modules directly to their resident ventures and spin-offs. The objective is to equip innovators with the ability to embed IP strategies into their commercialization plans early. This capability facilitates choices that accelerate growth, increases the value of potential spin-offs, and enables cost-effective interactions with lawyers when resources are limited and must be maximized. By connecting cutting-edge research with strategic IP planning, Scale Up Your IP helps transform promising technologies into market-ready solutions that drive economic impact.