Eyeworld

EW PROGRAM PREVIEW 48 2018 AAO Annual Meeting • October 27–30, 2018 by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer ents of ophthalmic innovation to help move innovation forward and speed new market development," Dr. Kliman said of the meeting as a whole. "In addition, it has provided networking opportunities among these parties that did not exist prior to the meeting. "Start-ups get great exposure to future partners to help them grow," Dr. Kliman continued. "Strategics see a good selection of new compa- nies as well as get exposed to new markets they may not be focused on; investors get updated on the industry and may see potential investment opportunities; FDA gets a voice to communicate their latest agendas; and clinicians get a unique view of the business side of oph- thalmology, [which was] previously difficult to access." EW Contact information Cunningham: ecunningham@clarusfunds.com Kliman: gkliman@interwest.com Link: blink@versantventures.com surpassed all our expectations," Dr. Kliman said. "We will continue to strive to provide relevant and novel content to make the next 10 years even better." Dr. Kliman added later that he hopes to see OIS "continue to help improve patient care by speeding innovation and market adoption" within the next decade. The main OIS@AAO agenda will include breakfast breakout sessions, which will cover dry eye, microin- vasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), FDA issues, presbyopia, retina, and capitalizing on new ideas. Company showcases will include a variety of new companies, Dr. Kliman said, and there will be a new session on research to prevent blindness. In the afternoon, OIS will host a strategic session on building pipelines and another session on the topic of ar- tificial intelligence and analytics in ophthalmology. There will also be a review of capital markets and public ophthalmology companies, Dr. Kliman said, as well as the signature wrap-up of the meeting, the Masters of Industry panel. "OIS has uniquely brought together startup, strategic, financial, regulatory, and clinical constitu- Link said. "It has brought together in an interactive forum the four constituents required for innova- tion in our field: (1) entrepreneurs, (2) key opinion leading physicians (KOLs), (3) investors/sources of cap- ital, and (4) industry leaders. There is not another forum that uniquely brings together leaders from these four segments." At the meeting, entrepreneurs gain direct exposure to industry leaders and KOLs, and vice versa. Investors learn about a broad range of innovations in the pipeline, and industry leaders are able to receive direct feedback from entrepreneurs and KOLs about the relevance of a particular company or innovation, Dr. Link said. The OIS-X Ophthalmology Innovator Awards Dinner Gala will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 24, as a way to honor innovators who have made recent, significant con- tributions to ophthalmic innova- tion, Dr. Kliman said. "The chairman and organizers are grateful for the broad interest and support from the ophthalmol- ogy community over the past 10 years, and the growth and pop- ularity over the last 10 years has Awards gala joins the program in addition to breakfast breakouts, company showcases, innovation spotlights T he Ophthalmology Innova- tion Summit (OIS) is cele- brating its 10th anniversary ahead of the 2018 AAO Annual Meeting in Chi- cago. OIS@AAO on Thursday, Oct. 25, will feature its usual, day-long meeting that updates and informs attendees about the latest in oph- thalmic innovation, but this year organizers are adding a celebratory OIS-X Ophthalmology Innovator Awards Dinner Gala. William Link, PhD, Versant Ventures, San Francisco, OIS@AAO program co-chair along with Gil Kliman, MD, InterWest Partners, Menlo Park, California, and Em- mett Cunningham Jr., MD, Clarus Funds, Cambridge, Massachusetts, said reaching this 10-year milestone shows how OIS has resonated within the ophthalmic community. "OIS has brought a specific fo- cus on innovation in our field," Dr. OIS celebrates its 10-year anniversary October 2018 2017 OIS@AAO

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