ALISO VIEJO, Calif., July 11, 2018 – OCTANe, Orange County’s life sciences and technology accelerator, today announced the continued growth of its signature event, Ophthalmology Technology Summit (OTS). The conference was attended by industry leaders, investors and physicians who came to learn about current and future ophthalmology trends as well as to see the latest ophthalmic innovations originating from the Southern California ophthalmic hub.
OTS 2018 saw significant growth this year with over 400 attendees - a 35 percent increase in attendance year-over-year. The purpose of OTS is to create a local forum where leading ophthalmology experts and entrepreneurs can come together to discuss ground-breaking technologies and new business opportunities fueled by the Orange County ophthalmology ecosystem.
OTS was chaired by industry movers and shakers – including, Jim Mazzo, global President of Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., John Hovanesian MD, FACS, Private Practice from Harvard Eye Associates, Elizabeth Yeu MD, Partner at Virginia Eye Consultants and Ehsan Sadri MD, FACS from Atlantis Eye Care. “To see this tremendous growth in innovation during the past five years is exciting. Growth is not only coming from these ophthalmology companies, but also from venture capital and private equity as well as physicians,”said Jim Mazzo, Global President of Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. “But for me, the true highlight at OTS was awarding Gavin Herbert, the Roger Steinert Lifetime Achievement Award. Gavin builtour industry and is a true legend.”
The ophthalmology summit featured an interview with Brent Saunders, CEO of Allergan as well as panels on discussing Innovation and Perspectives in Ophthalmology, The Changing Practice Landscape, and Practice Technologies and Their Impact. The event also featured a humanitarian panel with organizations such as the Foundation for Fighting Blindness, Armenian Eye Care Project and Project Theia.
“OCTANe has created a strong partnership with key physicians, industry leaders and investors to create a unique two-day experience at OTS,” said Bill Carpou, CEO of OCTANe, “I want to thank everyone who attended and specifically our tier one sponsors – Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Alcon, Allergan, J&J Vision, Visionary Ventures and Carl Zeiss.”
In attendance at OTS were the nine companies that Visionary Ventures has invested in to-date – CorneaGen, Equinox, IanTech, Mynosys, Orasis Pharmaceuticals, RxSight, Surface Pharmaceuticals, Tear Film Innovations and TearClear. Visionary Ventures is an important part of OCTANe’s capital access strategy.
This year’s Roger F. Steinert, MD, Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Gavin S. Herbert, Founder of Allergan. This is the second year awarding this honor, which recognizes exceptional leadership and contribution to the ophthalmic industry.
A new addition to OTS this year was featured LaunchPad SBDC presentations. The four LaunchPad companies that presented included: