Earlier this month Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) and Google (Mountain View, California) made headlines with an agreement between Alcon (Hünenberg, Switzerland), the eye care division of Novartis, and Google[x], a team within Google, to in-license Google's smart lens technology for all ocular medical uses. The agreement is aimed at finding new solutions to big global problems by marrying Alcon's expertise in physiology and visual performance of the eye with Google's advances in miniaturized electronics, low power chip design, and micro-fabrication capabilities.