COOC 2026 Ophthalmology Congress

COOC is a long-running professional event built around ophthalmology and optometry practice, clinical exchange and industry collaboration. The organizers position COOC as a specialized congress with an accompanying exhibition that supports day-to-day needs of eye-care providers and related companies, combining scientific sessions, professional networking and a product showcase in one schedule. The event brand traces its history to 1999 and emphasizes national coverage inside China with growing international participation, which makes it relevant not only for clinicians but also for suppliers and service providers who need direct access to decision-makers in hospitals, clinics and optometry centers. For 2026 the event is announced in Shanghai and continues the same “academic congress + promotion exhibition” model, helping visitors evaluate new products, discuss clinical application scenarios and align procurement with real clinical workflows rather than marketing claims.

The COOC agenda is framed around ophthalmology and optometry with a strong applied orientation, including visual science and practical clinical topics that translate into measurable improvements in diagnostics, treatment pathways and patient outcomes. The event positioning highlights continuous innovation and the need to adapt to rapid changes in the broader eye-care ecosystem, where new devices, digital tools and updated clinical protocols reshape everyday practice. Alongside the scientific side, the exhibition component supports sourcing and technical comparison of solutions used by hospitals, private ophthalmic institutions and optometry centers. This structure is useful for teams who must connect clinical requirements to purchasing decisions, because it creates a setting where physicians, researchers and suppliers can discuss evidence, implementation details and service conditions in one place, making supplier qualification and technology selection more efficient.

COOC targets professional audiences across the eye-care value chain, with a core focus on ophthalmologists and optometry specialists, plus researchers, hospital administrators and technical staff involved in diagnostics and treatment operations. The event messaging stresses that COOC has become an important annual meeting point for the sector, attracting professionals not only from multiple provinces across China but also from overseas markets. This profile typically creates high concentration of decision-makers who influence clinical adoption and procurement, which is valuable for exhibitors presenting devices, instruments, consumables or digital solutions. The event also highlights a track record of bringing together clinical practice and industry collaboration, which matters when suppliers must demonstrate real-world applicability, training pathways and post-sales support. For visitors, this audience composition increases the chance to benchmark approaches, compare clinical standards and identify stable partners for long-term supply and service.

The exhibition component is positioned as an industry promotion platform connected to the congress program, so product demonstrations and sourcing discussions are linked to clinical reality and current scientific discourse. In this format, exhibitors typically focus on solutions used in ophthalmology and optometry settings, where purchasing decisions depend on workflow compatibility, reliability, service terms and evidence of clinical value. The COOC model is designed to let visitors move from conference insights to hands-on evaluation, allowing procurement and technical teams to clarify specifications, compare options and discuss implementation conditions directly with suppliers. The show’s growth narrative also underlines increasing scale of the exhibition side in recent years, which signals broader supplier coverage and a larger selection set for buyers. For international visitors, it can function as a concentrated market scan of China’s eye-care ecosystem, including emerging technologies and service models.

COOC 2026 is announced to take place at the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, a venue concept designed to connect exhibition halls and conference areas, which is practical for events that run parallel scientific sessions and product showcases. The venue description emphasizes integrated conference-and-exhibition infrastructure and the capacity to host multiple formats, supporting efficient movement between plenary rooms, meeting areas and exhibition zones. This matters for exhibitors and professional visitors because time on site is typically split between educational content, pre-scheduled negotiations and spontaneous supplier discovery. With both functions connected inside one complex, the event format reduces friction and makes it easier for clinical teams and procurement staff to coordinate their agendas during the show days, especially when multiple sub-forums and business meetings run concurrently.

COOC is presented as a specialized annual event serving China’s ophthalmology and optometry sectors, developed through long-term conference practice and the involvement of academic and professional committees associated with ophthalmology and visual science. The official event identity in 2026 combines several connected programs under the COOC umbrella, including congress activities and a promotion exhibition aligned with hospitals and optometry centers. For participants, the key operational point is that the event is managed through a dedicated COOC organizing structure that supports registration, abstracts, agenda planning and exhibitor coordination through the official site. This centralized approach helps attendees navigate the event as a single integrated platform, rather than scattered standalone meetings, and improves predictability for both visitors and exhibitors when planning participation, communication and documentation.