Transitions Optical announced that it is cancelling Transitions Academy 2021, scheduled for June 13 – 16, 2021 in Orlando, Fla. The annual meeting is one of the industry’s well-recognized educational events, bringing together independent eyecare professionals, national and regional retailers, educators, optical laboratories, managed vision care companies, and other industry professionals from across North America and around the globe. In lieu of Transitions Academy 2021, Transitions Optical will continue to connect with and support the optical industry through virtual events like Transitions The Pulse, which brought together over 10,000 global attendees, and its Innovation Awards, virtual education and customized training events.
Transitions Optical also announced that Transitions Academy 2022, the company’s 25th Academy event, is scheduled to take place from January 16 – 19, 2022 in Orlando, Fla.
“Transitions Academy is known for its ability to deliver a remarkable, live experience that connects all of those in attendance,” said Patience Cook, director North America marketing, Transitions Optical. “The decision to cancel this year’s event was made to ensure the safety of all of our attendees that join us from around the world to experience that social connectedness. We remain committed to the global eyecare community and will support the optical industry through other activations in the spirit of Transitions Academy. We look forward to making Transitions Academy 2022 an unforgettable experience, in a safe manner for our North America and global attendees.”
The Vision Council is pleased to announce the publication by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) of the 2020 revision of Standard Z80.1, Prescription Ophthalmic Lenses – Recommendations. The standard applies to all prescription dress ophthalmic spectacle lenses in edged or assembled form and serves as a guideline for entities that fabricate, assemble or process dress eyewear or lens components. Furthermore, relevant optical, physical specifications and tolerances of this standard also apply to uncut lenses.
To purchase the 2020 revision of ANSI Z80.1, Prescription Ophthalmic Lenses – Recommendations, click here to access the ANSI webstore.
ANSI Z80.1-2020 supersedes the 2015 Standard and represents five years of work by a team of industry experts, including chairman Dick Whitney, Manager of Global Standards at Carl Zeiss Vision; vice chairman Rick Tinson, Sr. Director of Revenue Management at Hoya Vision Care and secretary Dr. Karl Citek, OD, PhD, representing the American Optometric Association.
The 2020 revision represents the consensus of current industry experts and reflects the result of a thorough study by the ANSI Z80.1 committee on the relevance and applicability of its contents. The committee also reviewed comments and input received from past revisions and sought input from users of the standard.
Key revisions in ANSI Z80.1-2020 include:
• Methods to address claims in the area of Transmittance
• Recommendations on standardizing claims for attenuation at given wavelengths (such as 400nm) and products that selectively attenuate specific wavelengths (such as Blue light)
• New terms and product classifications, including Power Variation lenses and specialized assistive lenses and their tolerances
• Guidance on how to handle localized power errors
• New Annex F to address focimeter capabilities
• New Annex G to address unintended prismatic imbalance
The Vision Council serves as the Secretariat Administrator for Accredited Standards Committee Z80, the group responsible for developing national standards that apply to prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, ophthalmic instruments and medical devices including intraocular lenses and laser systems.
The Vision Council and Reed Exhibitions, organizers of Vision Expo, announced that the Professional Opticians of Florida will join Vision Expo East 2021, taking place June 2–5 in Orlando, Florida, as an official supporter. Established in 1982, the Professional Opticians of Florida, representing more than 4,000 Florida Licensed Opticians, is dedicated to enhancing the competency of opticians, advancing the profession of opticianry, working to resolve the governmental policy issues affecting opticianry and to protecting the health and welfare of the public.
Vision Expo East 2021 will take place at the Orange County Convention Center. The Show’s educational program, together with OptiCon®@Vision Expo, will open Wednesday, June 2 and exhibits will open Thursday, June 3.
“We are excited to partner with Vision Expo in Orlando this June,” said Dee Pace, Executive Director of the Professional Opticians of Florida. “We look forward to offering valuable continuing education courses and participating in the amazing networking and learning opportunities that Vision Expo offers.”
Zeiss, the global optics and optoelectronics technology company, has completed construction of its new R&D, production, sales and customer service site in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bringing together hundreds of Zeiss employees and key functions under one roof, represents a major milestone in the company’s international innovation and growth strategy. “The new Zeiss Innovation Center harnesses our technological, research and customer services strengths in one of the world’s premier technology innovation locations,” said Dr. Christian Müller, Chief Financial Officer of the Zeiss Group. “This long-term commitment to the Bay Area and the North American market, strongly supports the development of exciting innovations that benefit our global customers, alongside new collaboration opportunities with our partners across academia, industry and local communities.”
The Bay Area-based new Zeiss Innovation Center is designed to promote customer, science and employee collaborations. Source: Zeiss
The $180 million investment in the new high-tech site in Dublin, a fast-growing city near San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, is an integral part of the global strategy to expand its presence close to research centers and growth markets. The Zeiss Innovation Center’s R&D efforts will increasingly focus on digital solutions and scientific and industry partnerships spanning disciplines and technologies – key drivers behind the company’s decision to locate the Center in the Bay Area.
An entrepreneurial Ecosystem that cultivates Technology Innovations
TheInnovation Center houses customer experience and demonstration centers showcasing recent innovations, as well as research laboratories, service and production facilities. With engineers, researchers, and sales and service teams from across Zeiss located on the same premises, global customers and partners will be able to more fully benefit from Zeiss’ expertise. The Center also serves as the US headquarters for the medical technology business, bundled under the Frankfurt-listed company Carl Zeiss Meditec AG in which Zeiss holds the majority. Zeiss medical technology develops and distributes cutting-edge solutions for ophthalmology and microsurgery worldwide.
The new site also brings together the X-Ray Microscopy business and the ZEISS Microscopy Customer Center, strengthening initiatives to realize growing market and R&D opportunities in materials research, life sciences and industrial applications. The co-location of the microscopy and ophthalmology businesses offers additional collaborative opportunities, particularly in image processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The ZEISS Process Control Solutions activities for the ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology segment is also based at the Center.
A Workplace Culture Shaped by a Forward-Looking Strategy
The opening of the Innovation Center coincides with the 175th anniversary of the Zeiss Group, which was founded in 1846 in Jena, Germany. Commemoration initiatives will spotlight the company’s long-held commitment to open, unbiased and science-based problem-solving leading to breakthrough technologies that benefit current and future generations. In that spirit, the Innovation Center is designed to foster entrepreneurial ventures among employees, research partners and customers in a state-of-the-art open, team-oriented work environment.
Zeiss has been expanding and modernizing sites in the United States, Germany, Europe and Asia in recent years to fully leverage the potential of those markets. In January 2020, the company began operating the Zeiss Innovation Hub at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany. The Innovation Hub promotes scientific and technology collaborations and start-up ventures. An additional high-tech site is under construction in Jena, Germany.
A High-Tech Building that Reflects a Commitment to Sustainability
In line with its strong technology track record, the Innovation Center in Dublin meets the highest green energy and sustainability standards. The building is powered by solar energy, supported by use-based light and air controls and a heat recovery system. Sophisticated light and insulation technologies help regulate the indoor temperature.
Rainwater collection and retention, along with wetland enhancement and maintenance, are incorporated into the exterior design. To support commutes and help reduce traffic congestion and pollution, employees will have access to electric vehicle chargers, bike storage, and carpool options.
The Center accommodates approximately 700 workspaces and the move-in will be phased over coming months in compliance with COVID-19 precautions and state and federal regulations.
The context-sensitive smart glasses from tooz can support hospital staff in their everyday work by providing medical data in a mobile and digital form at the right time and in the right place. Source: tooz
The Else Kröner Fresenius Center (EKFZ) for Digital Health of the TU Dresden (Germany) and the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus (Germany) is researching the use of context-sensitive data glasses in everyday clinical practice in cooperation with tooz technologies. As part of the research project, a system is to be developed at the Dresden campus that will make medical data available to hospital staff digitally and mobile via smart glasses. The tooz smart glasses integrate the complex optical system almost invisibly into the shape of normal prescription glasses.
Despite the increasing availability of medical data, for example in the form of digital patient records, access to relevant information in everyday clinical practice is often spatially and technically limited. In the future, the use of data glasses in the healthcare sector is expected to increase the quality of care and patient safety as well as to reduce the burden on the people working in this field. Together with the Chair of Software Technology at the TU Dresden and the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, the EKFZ for Digital Health is researching possible applications of smart glasses in daily doctor’s visits. The aim of the research project is to develop a communication platform that provides relevant information about the patient to the carrier at the right time and in the right place. In doing so, the special requirements regarding data protection and other regulatory specifications are taken into account from the very beginning.
Connected via Bluetooth to an information-providing device, such as a tablet, the smart glasses from tooz technologies discreetly deliver content into the wearer’s field of vision. Vision correction, the actual benefit of everyday glasses, is enhanced by this smart feature. The centerpiece of the solution is the optical system with its several refractive and reflective free-form surfaces, a so-called “waveguide”. With the help of these surfaces, the virtual image generated by a display built into the right temple is projected onto the wearer’s retina. Since the optics can be cut and edged into different shapes, a wide variety of frame designs and fits are possible, similar to normal corrective eyewear. The glasses can thus be used not only in the healthcare and B2B sector, but also as a lifestyle product in everyday life.
In the near future, the smart glasses will no longer be available as a prototype, but as a series product with vision correction.
The 20th China (Shanghai) International Optics Fair, scheduled to be held in Shanghai in February, has been relayed to May 6-8, 2021, at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center (SWEECC).
The descision was taken in compliance to China State Council’s ‘guidance to implement joint prevention and control mechanism on the normalization and containment of the new coronavirus epidemic’.
The organizers report that at the latest count, SIOF 2021 has gathered 194 international exhibitors from 23 countries and regions, and that 255 global brands shall be on display. Over 600 Chinese exhibitors will be present. 30 % of of the exhibitors are from the field of visual test equipment and manufacturing and processing machinery.
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