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Australian bionic eye researchers say they are likely to start clinical tests of a bionic eye within two years.

As part of the Government's response to last year's 2020 summit, $50 million will go to bionic eye research.

The director of Bionic Vision Australia, Professor Anthony Burkitt, says an implant is likely to be trialled on patients within two years and commercially available in five years.

"We'd imagine that very much like the development of the Cochlear implant it became better and better over time, so that eventually within five to seven years people would be able to read large print, recognise faces, do that sort of thing," he said.

"So that's the sort of - at least in the initial phase - is the sort of quality of vision that we're looking at."

He says the bionic eye will be initially for people who are completely blind or suffering age-related vision loss.

Posted in: Bionics, Health, Medical Specialties, Medicine, Ophthalmology, Research, Visual prosthesis