Essilor Opens Ophthalmic Optics Research Campus

Essilor has inaugurated the Centre for Innovation and Technologies (CI&T) Europe in Créteil, France, the world’s largest private campus dedicated to research and innovation in the ophthalmic optics industry.

A leading provider of progressive lenses, plastic lenses, anti-reflective and scratch-resistant coatings, as well as organic photochromic lenses the goal of this CI&T is to push the ophthalmic lens’ physical limits to better answer and anticipate consumers’ needs. Consolidating research and engineering teams and expertise at a single site will foster fruitful collaboration, accelerate projects as well as new product and technologies launches, supporting Essilor’s mission to improve lives by improving sight the company said. The new campus will work together with Innovation and Technologies Centres in the United States (Dallas) and Asia (Singapore)

“Vision is our most important sense and plays an essential role in our lives. The new centre, which we are inaugurating today, is a powerful platform for developing tomorrow’s lenses, materials and coatings that will open new perspectives in term of vision correction and protection, and take up the challenge of prevention and visual  health,” said Hubert Sagnières, Chairman and CEO of Essilor.

By building this new research campus in Créteil, Essilor is demonstrating its deep roots in the French industrial fabric and its commitment to continue working on behalf of a quality optical sector in France

Each year, Essilor invests more than €150 million in research and innovation. The group today generates 40% of its revenue from products launched less than four years ago. Its latest innovations include Optifog Smart Textile lenses, Varilux S Series, Crizal UV and the most recent, Crizal Prevencia lenses, which filter out harmful blue-violet light, a factor in the development of AMD.