UVLens

Software Company

About

Daniel Xu is the co-founder of UV Lens, a company developing products to help people live healthier outdoor lives.

UV Lens aims to educate by providing digital information and tools to teach people about UV and sun safety. 2 years ago, UV Lens partnered with Banana Boat sunscreen, installing over 100 UV sensors in kindergartens around New Zealand, free of charge, as a trial phase. The sensors measure and wirelessly send data about UV levels to the smartphones of teachers, who can engage children in learning about the risks of spending too much time in the sun.

UV Lens is a mobile app that is fed data from localised ground sensors and other satellite information from around the globe. People with smartphones can easily determine what the UV levels are in their local area, forecast the likely levels over the next two days, and learn what kind of protection certain skin types will typically need at those UV levels. The goal is to allow people to manage their risk of skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in New Zealand.

Prior to developing the mobile app Daniel, along with co-founder Ming Cheuk, led the UV Lens team to win the 2013 NZ Microsoft Imagine Cup with a UVsense product that used a custom-developed wristband sensor to monitor UV exposure and wirelessly communicated that data to a smartphone.

Daniel has also previously been involved in StretchSense Limited, a company that has developed wireless motion sensors for applications in healthcare, sports tracking, motion capture, and human-machine interactions. As a “Technology Evangelist” at StretchSense Limited, Daniel was involved in creating three new patents that have been licensed by the company. A University of Auckland alumnus, Daniel obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (First-Class Honours) in Mechatronics in 2011, before going on to complete his PhD in Bioengineering in 2015.

Daniel is a former 2013 Velocity $100k Challenge finalist and the latest University of Auckland graduate to be accepted into the world renowned Stanford Ignite programme, an academic course dedicated to formulating, developing and commercialising ideas.