Carrefour Pathologie · 2026

Agoris analysis · updated September 2026

Key takeaways

• Carrefour Pathologie is the national congress of anatomical and cytological pathology, held every autumn in Paris by the Société Française de Pathologie (SFP). Three days of scientific sessions, alongside an exhibition bringing together companies from pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, imaging and digital pathology.
• Next edition: from Wednesday 18 to Friday 20 November 2026, at CNIT Forest - Paris La Défense. Open from 8:00am to 6:00pm on all three days, exhibition in the Baobab hall.
• Organiser: the Société Française de Pathologie, an association under the 1901 law recognised as a public-interest body. Event secretariat, exhibition, registration and accommodation are handled by K.I.T. Group France.
• Annual frequency. The congress was held at the Palais des Congrès de Paris until 2022, in digital format in 2020, and at CNIT Forest since 2023.
• Results published by the organiser for the 2025 edition: 1,521 participants, 53 sessions, 9 symposia and mini-symposia, 241 abstracts, 84 ePosters and 46 oral presentations.
• Congress format: this is not an open trade show, every participant must be registered and wear a badge. An exhibition-only pass exists for those not attending the scientific programme.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The exhibition brings together what an anatomical and cytological pathology laboratory needs, and those who fund oncology research. Four families dominate the 2026 list: pharmaceutical companies, present around biomarkers and targeted therapies; makers of instruments, reagents and automated systems; digital pathology and artificial intelligence vendors; laboratory information system vendors.

The organiser's newsletter no. 6 sums up the appeal for visitors: seeing new automated systems and new AI platforms at work, and gathering information to improve laboratory working conditions and performance.

Notable exhibitors

The official list of exhibitors and sponsors for the 2026 edition counted 53 companies as of 27 September 2026, seven weeks before opening; it may still change.

On the pharmaceutical side: AbbVie, the AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo alliance, MSD, Regeneron, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Astellas, BeOne Medicines and Recordati Rare Diseases. On the instruments and diagnostics side: Roche Diagnostics France, Leica Microsystems, Agilent, Hologic, Sakura Finetek, Evident, Nikon, ZEISS and Hamamatsu Photonics. Digital pathology and AI are represented by Aiforia Technologies, aetherAI, DiaDeep, Tribun Health, RainPath, Sectra and Argos Slide Scanner Systems; laboratory information systems by Clinisys, Technidata, Dedalus HealthCare, SCC Soft Computer, Softway Medical Imaging and Telemis. Genomics and molecular diagnostics players are also present, including 10x Genomics, Element Biosciences, Biocartis and Exact Sciences.

Among them, five partners are highlighted on the Partners 2026 page: at Platinum level, the Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca alliance, MSD, Regeneron and AbbVie; at Silver level, Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Visitor quality

The audience is that of a medical specialty: pathologists across all types of practice, private, hospital or teaching hospital, along with residents, assistants and laboratory technicians. The congress serves the French-speaking anatomical pathology community: abstracts are submitted in French, and the 2026 programme includes one English-language lecture.

To gauge the audience, the SFP counts 1,152 members as of 31 December 2024, while the 2025 edition drew 1,521 participants. SFP member residents register free of charge at the preferential rate (€100 at the standard rate), and two clinical-technical sessions are eligible for funding for technicians under the Qualiopi scheme: for an exhibitor, the visitor base mixes prescribers, day-to-day equipment users and future practitioners.

No OJS certification or third-party audit of attendance is published: the figures are those disclosed by the organiser after each edition.

Programme & community

Conference programme

The 2026 programme has been published. It includes three histoseminars, on reactive lymph nodes, developments in non-tumoural oeso-gastric pathology, and tumoural kidney pathology; SFP conferences on artificial intelligence applied to diagnosis, expert witness work, and the new WHO classification in gynaecological pathology; symposia on pancreatic and biliary tract cytology, environmental responsibility in care, and network accreditation.

These are joined by an interactive session on ENT pathology biopsies, a new "Controverse" session on remote working in anapath, sessions from the Société Française de Cytologie Clinique, an AFAQAP session on medical error, INSERM conferences on organoids and xenografts, "Flash" sessions, two clinical-technical mornings and, on the Friday, the AIP day devoted to neuroendocrine tumours. The English-language lecture, on Thursday 19 November from 11:00am to 11:30am in the Epicéa auditorium, will be given by a professor from the University of Dresden on AI-based pathology biomarkers.

Fifteen specialty clubs are due to meet from Wednesday to Friday, including a new foetopathology club. Lunchtime symposia are scheduled around midday meals.

The Agora and awards

The Agora is an open exchange space, set up in the exhibition hall. In 2026, it is due to give the floor to AFIAP (Association Française des Internes et Assistants en Anatomie pathologique), TEAP (Transition Écologique en Anatomie Pathologique), CoPath (Collège des Pathologistes) and AFPC (Association Française de Pathologie Computationnelle). Also announced: the QuPath Challenge 2026, an update on the ACP bill, the presentation of the InnoPath platform, and oral presentations of the best ePosters.

Submitted work is presented as oral communications or ePosters, and the best communications are rewarded at the SFP's general assembly, held during the congress. The 2026 call for abstracts, which closed on 2 June, also accepted industrial ePosters.

Community & networks

The congress is the flagship event of the discipline's learned society. The SFP, founded in 1803 as the Société Anatomique de Paris, maintains collaborations with INCa, AFAQAP, CoPath, the French division of the International Academy of Pathology, the Société Française de Cytologie Clinique and the European Society of Pathology, several of which run sessions in the programme.

On Thursday evening, the gala evening, the Pathology Party, leaves the Théâtre du Renard after three years for the Bulle Elysée, on the top floor of the Maison de l'Alsace, on the Champs-Élysées. Places are limited and must be booked at registration.

The congress is active on LinkedIn, Facebook and X, under the hashtag #CP2026.

On site: what you need to know

The congress occupies two levels of CNIT Forest - Paris La Défense, 2 place de la Défense in Puteaux: check-in takes place on level A (Acacia), the exhibition is on level B, in the Baobab hall. The conference rooms are named Acacia, Baobab and Epicéa. Lunch is offered every day by the SFP to registered participants, as buffets in the Baobab space, right next to the stands.

Access is via La Défense - Grande Arche station, exit 6 Coupole, served by metro line 1, RER A, tramway T2 and Transilien lines L and U. The official website recommends taking the train from the provinces: about 1 hour from Lille, 2 hours from Lyon, 3 hours from Marseille. A carpooling platform is offered, and the nearest Vélib station is Arche - Léonard de Vinci.

K.I.T. Group France manages a hotel block at negotiated rates, including the Renaissance Paris La Défense 600 metres away, at €226.15 a night for a single room in 2026. Sessions are available after the congress, for registered participants, as podcasts.

Since 15 September 2026, the standard rate applies: €270 for an SFP member, €570 for a non-member, €120 for a one-day exhibition pass and €270 for a three-day exhibition pass, all taxes included. Bank transfers and purchase orders are accepted until 26 October 2026.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

• Request the partnership pack from the Exhibition and Partnership department, c/o K.I.T. Group France (partenariat-cp@kit-group.org): it sets out stand locations, partnership levels and symposia in detail.
• Aim for a lunchtime symposium: lunch, offered to all registered participants in the Baobab space, is designed by the organiser to make the most of the lunchtime symposia and the exhibition stands.
• Plan a working demonstration: participants come to compare scanners, automated systems and algorithms, not brochures.
• Follow the call for abstracts for the next edition: the industrial ePoster format is a way into the scientific programme.

For the decision-making visitor

• Register early: the 2026 preferential rate ended on 14 September, and places at Thursday evening's event are limited.
• Consider the exhibition-only pass if you are only interested in laboratory equipment.
• Spot the digital pathology and AI sessions on the online programme, then head straight to the stands of the vendors concerned.
• For technicians, check funding eligibility for the Qualiopi-certified clinical-technical sessions, which follow a specific registration process.

CSR policy & initiatives

The SFP sets out an environmental responsibility approach for the 2026 edition, on a dedicated "Our commitments" page. The actions announced: a caterer offering local, seasonal produce, sized for the event, with association-run solutions against food waste and minimal use of plastic; reusable furniture, tableware and structures, with a limited amount of carpet; printing kept to a minimum in favour of digital formats; sorting and recycling of waste.

The ISO 20121 certification displayed is that of the operator, K.I.T. Group France, not a certification specific to the congress. A good-practice guide invites participants to favour low-carbon transport, a vegetarian diet, their own water bottle and returning their badge. Water fountains are set up around the congress space; participants are invited to bring their own bottle.

The venue brings its own guarantee: Viparis, which operates CNIT Forest, presents itself as the world's first events player to be certified ISO 20121 across all its sites and its entire activity, as part of its Better Events strategy for 2030.

The topic also runs through the content: a symposium on environmental responsibility in care and TEAP's presence on the Agora. No carbon assessment of the event is published.

How the congress has evolved

Trajectory analysis

Attendance has settled at around 1,500 participants. The key figures published by the organiser show 1,300 participants in 2021, the first in-person edition after the 2020 digital format, then 1,536 in 2022, 1,463 in 2023, 1,486 in 2024 and 1,521 in 2025. The SFP itself speaks of more than 1,200 participants each autumn. Volume is stable, which is consistent with the size of a medical specialty.

The format has tightened and moved address. From 2016 to 2019, the congress ran over four days, from Monday to Thursday, at the Palais des Congrès de Paris; since 2021 it has run over three days, from Wednesday to Friday, and moved to CNIT Forest in 2023, a venue whose consistency with its environmental commitment the SFP highlights.

The exhibition, meanwhile, keeps a steady size, between 49 and 57 companies in the official lists from 2023 to 2025. Its composition mirrors the profession's evolution: the 2026 list counts more than a dozen digital pathology, AI and laboratory information players alongside pharmaceutical companies and instrument makers, echoing a programme where artificial intelligence recurs in the SFP conferences, the English-language lecture and the clinical-technical sessions.

Dates for the 2027 edition had not been announced at the time of writing.

All data not attributed to a source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (carrefour-pathologie.org).