This week marked a giant step forward in the world of teeny, tiny wearable electronics. Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced yesterday that they would be licensing Google’s smart contact lens technology, a revolutionary new way to look at eyewear. If all goes according to plan, in just five short years they hope to provide the contact lens market with a product that could not only monitor glucose levels for diabetic patients, but actually take corrective action to restore clear vision to the wearer.

The development of these smart contact lenses will fall into the hands of the companies’ most elite divisions. Heading up Google development will be the team that also brought you Google Glass, Google[x]. This is Google’s uber-secretive lab, whose focus is strictly on areas that are deemed major technological advances. For this particular project, they will be in charge of developing the tiny electronics needed to collect data, as well as the low–power chip designs and fabrication. The Novartis camp has entrusted their contribution to the project to their eye care division, Alcon. Alcon will be spearheading the medical side of research and development, and using their resources to create commercial versions of the smart contact lenses once completed.

The goal, according to this week’s announcement, is to create smart lenses that feature “non-invasive sensors, microchips and other miniaturized electronics”. While that may seem a little vague and far reaching, Google and Novartis have some pretty specific ideas about uses for the lenses. The primary focus is currently on providing a way for diabetic patients to keep track of glucose levels by measuring sugar levels in their tear fluid, the results of which could then be sent to a smartphone or tablet in near-real time. It goes without saying that this should be a highly lucrative endeavor, given the ever-rising potential client base of diabetics in the United States. It is their secondary focus that is even more intriguing to me though. The companies hope to develop the lens in such a manner that it could help regain the eye’s focus on nearby objects; meaning that the lens may actually restore clear vision to those suffering from farsightedness, or presbyopia. Think of it like the “autofocus” on your camera, only for your eyes. This is by far the most exciting news to the visually-impaired since doctors started lasering eyesight right into patients’ eyeballs.

Given that the announcement only came yesterday, it will be a while before we get any actual working prototypes or even an exact date for commercial release. But, according to Novartis CEO Joseph Jiminez, a timeline for commercialization that took more than five years would be a “disappointment” – so that’s promising. If nothing else, it is a giant leap forward for medical technology. Jiminez added “This is a key step for us to go beyond the confines of traditional disease management, starting with the eye”.