Optica FVM is a high quality, single-track international meeting that attracts a cadre of experts in vision research from around the world. Its single-track nature provides ample opportunity for lively interactions and discussion between attendees at all career levels.

Invited Session: Visual Prosthetics

Amid challenges in commercializing retinal implant technology, scientific efforts are underway to learn from previous obstacles and spearhead the next wave of prosthetic vision innovations. This session will cover the current state and future directions in visual prosthetics, focusing on the creation of implants with large counts of flexible electrodes, and how their design and functionality may be informed by advancements in our understanding of device-neural tissue interactions and artificial intelligence. Insights from current clinical trials will provide a well-rounded view of the progress toward more effective visual prosthetic solutions.

• Dan Adams, Neuralink: The Neuralink implant as a visual prosthesis

• Xing Chen, University of Pittsburgh: Artificial vision via high-channel-count visual cortical stimulation in primates

• Eduardo Fernández, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Spain: Bidirectional communication with the human visual brain: Towards an advanced cortical visual neuroprosthesis for the blind

• Yağmur Güçlütürk, Radboud University: A user-centred design approach for improving object recognition in simulated phosphene vision