OPTI 2025 organisers say fair concept “taking shape”
- By Editorial Team
- September 16, 2024
OPTI 2025 fair organisers have published a statement in which they have said the concept ideas for opti 2025 have been finalised. After months of intensive research and three roundtables with exhibitors, visitors and association representatives, the ideas for the leading optical trade show for Germany, Austria, Switzerland have now been defined.
In 2025, the trade show programme will once again revolve around the focus topics of eyewear, vision care, eye health, digitalisation, sales & POS, myopia, sustainability and education, knowledge & careers. opti will welcome its visitors in Halls C1 to C4 of the Munich Trade Fair Center.
Hall C3 will be opti‘s informative and communicative centrepiece: The biggest innovation is the concentration of four theme-hubs in a joint hub arena in Hall C3. Hub topics will be: Next Generation, the future of the industry, myopia and sustainability. Also in Hall C3: the opti RUNWAY BAR, which was successfully positioned this January at the request of the industry. The bar is once again a neutral networking touchpoint for all trade show visitors and, together with the Hub Arena, forms the knowledge and networking centrepiece of opti, linking all product areas.
As part of the focus topic of education, knowledge and careers, the opti trade show team will hold a fourth roundtable with trainees and students from the optical sector in autumn to explicitly address their wishes and requirements for opti and the future of the industry. Another sustainability award, which opti will be presenting for the first time, is aimed at the next generation of the industry: the opti SUSTAINABILITY YOUNGSTER AWARD. On the Sunday of the trade show, opti will host a meeting of teachers from vocational optics schools from all over Germany for the first time – a networking event where participants can exchange ideas with each other as well as the exhibiting industry to gain inspiration for their lessons as topics will be drawn from daily teaching practice.
The opti CAMPUS, also in Hall C3, where educational institutions present themselves, makes a visit to the trade show even more attractive for school leavers and opticians who want to continue their professional training in optometry. The opti CAMPUS will be located in the immediate vicinity of the opti RUNWAY BAR.
Two start-up areas demonstrate the industry’s willingness to innovate and take risks. New is opti VISIONARY, the start-up area for the non-frames sector, awaiting visitors in Hall C3. As usual, the opti BOXES in Hall C2 will offer a forum for start-ups producing eyewear.
Cathleen Kabashi, exhibition director of opti said: “It’s wonderful to feel the industry’s backing. This creates an enormous sense of community and motivates my team and me like never before to give more than our best in the planning and preparation of opti. We want to further strengthen this sense of community within the optical industry – also outside the exhibition halls. Prove of this are the roundtables we initiated and at which we asked industry experts, exhibitors and visitors what they would expect from opti. Together, we then defined and concretised their wishes resulting in many great suggestions for the upcoming opti. This is a huge success, above all because the roundtables have shown how much the industry connects with opti, how much the industry wants opti”.
