Journées de Réflexions Ophtalmologiques (JRO) · 2027

Agoris analysis · updated October 2026

Key takeaways

• The JRO, Journées de Réflexions Ophtalmologiques, are a medical ophthalmology congress organised by JBH Santé. The format is that of a training congress: two days of courses, plenary sessions and live surgery, alongside an exhibition of eye-health industry companies. The organiser presents it as “the benchmark international congress in ophthalmology”; its audience is primarily French-speaking.
• Next edition: Friday 19 and Saturday 20 March 2027, at CNIT Forest - Paris La Défense, in Puteaux. Registration for 2027 had not yet opened at the time of writing.
• Organiser: JBH Santé, a Paris-based medical publishing and communications company, which owns the congress. There is no co-organiser: learned societies, unions and associations take part as institutional partners.
• Annual frequency, always in March on the documented editions. The 2026 edition was the 26th; the 2027 edition is announced by the organiser as the 27th.
• Results of the 2026 edition, on 13 and 14 March at CNIT Forest: 50 exhibitors and nearly 200 speakers. The detailed programme lists 44 entries over the two days. The organiser does not publish a number of congress attendees.
• Access is strictly reserved for healthcare professionals, on paid registration.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The exhibition brings together companies that address the ophthalmologist as prescriber and surgeon. The online directory of the 2026 edition gives its make-up: pharmaceutical laboratories, manufacturers of implants, surgical devices and measurement and imaging equipment, contact lens manufacturers and distributors, lens makers and optical retail chains, ophthalmology practice networks, software publishers, but also a wealth management firm dedicated to healthcare professionals and a few associations.

It is a contained exhibition, around fifty exhibitors, where the major ophthalmology groups sit alongside independent French laboratories and young companies. For an industry company, taking part is not limited to the stand: the 2026 programme included six symposiums, the format JBH Santé offers to its industry partners, two of them at lunchtime, and several sessions organised “with the support” of named companies.

Notable exhibitors

The list for the 2027 edition has not yet been published. The Exhibitor search page still displays the 2026 list, and applications go through the form on the Become an exhibitor page.

In 2026, the “major sponsors” thanked by the organiser were Bausch+Lomb, Horus Pharma, Roche, Santen and Théa. The directory for that edition also lists, on the laboratory side, AbbVie, Celltrion Healthcare, Densmore, Kôl, LCA Pharmaceutical, Nordic Pharma, Ursapharm, TRB Chemedica and Trusetal; on the surgery and implants side, Alcon, Johnson & Johnson, Carl Zeiss Meditec, DORC, Glaukos, BVI, Moria, Rayner, Medicontur, Cristalens and Hoya Surgical Optics; on the imaging and equipment side, Optos, Metrovision, Quantel - Lumibird Medical and Visionix. CooperVision and Menicon represented contact lenses, Essilor, Hoya Vision Care, Krys Group and Optic 2000 optics, and Point Vision and Téo the practice networks. Nothing guarantees that these companies will be present in 2027.

Visitor quality

Registration is reserved for healthcare professionals. The price list distinguishes three audiences, doctors, trainees and allied health professionals, and the programme makes room for orthoptists, with orthoptics sessions, and for trainees, with courses dedicated to them according to the Viparis agenda for the 2027 edition; the 2025 editorial announced new sessions aimed at “the younger generations setting up in practice”. The 2026 results mention “more delegates, including more young doctors”.

The organiser publishes no absolute attendance figure for the JRO. The 2025 results report a rise in national attendance of more than 40% and a participant satisfaction rate of 94%, with no quantified basis for comparison. Across its 13 annual congresses, JBH Santé says it brings together 200 to 1,600 healthcare professionals per event, a group-level range that does not give precise information about the JRO. No OJS certification or third-party audit is published.

JBH Santé's legal notice states that the organiser operates visitor identification systems (badge scanning) and that some of the registrants' personal data (company name, surname, first name, address, email, city, speciality, telephone numbers) may be transferred to the congresses' industry partners.

Events & community

Conference programme

The 2027 programme has not yet been published. The 2026 programme gives a measure of the format: 44 entries over two days (an orthoptics course is scheduled in two parts), including 34 course entries, two plenary sessions, six symposiums, one seminar and one international meetings session, spread between the amphitheatre and several rooms running in parallel. The 2026 programme is organised by theme: inflammation, glaucoma, cataract, retina, orthoptics, current techniques (ultrasound), surgery, internal medicine and neuro-ophthalmology, professional life, myopia, paediatric ophthalmology and strabology, cornea and ocular surface, contact lens practice.

The two plenary sessions in 2026 covered biotherapies in ocular inflammation and myopia. Five sessions were flagged as new, among them a “CATARACTE STEP BY STEP” session breaking the procedure down gesture by gesture, “BATTLES CHIRURGICALES” (surgical battles) pitting two techniques against each other on the same problem, and a “COP&S aux JRO” session on the cornea and ocular surface, which takes the name of another of the organiser's congresses.

The description of the 2027 edition published on the agenda of Viparis, the venue operator, announces seven simultaneous conference rooms, more than 50 hours of training, nearly 200 experts, live surgery, two plenary sessions, a visual impairment seminar, two practical contact lens sessions, courses dedicated to trainees and the Franco-Mediterranean meetings. The detail is yet to be released.

Live surgery and Franco-Mediterranean meetings

The congress awards no prize or trophy. Its signature events lie elsewhere. Live surgery, presented in the amphitheatre on Saturday late morning in 2026, was supported by Alcon, Bausch+Lomb, DORC, Glaukos, Johnson & Johnson, Santen and Zeiss. The Franco-Mediterranean meetings, co-chaired in 2026 by practitioners from Algiers and France and supported by Laboratoires Théa, take stock of what has changed in practice over the year.

The visual impairment seminar was held in 2026 with the support of Krys Group, under the aegis of the ORDVI and the ARIBa, on genetic advances. Since 2025, a partnership with ANJO France has involved young ophthalmologists in leading the courses, in a spirit of intergenerational transmission that the 2026 results highlight; several 2026 sessions took place with its support, and one session, “BATTLES CHIRURGICALES”, was “100% ANJO”.

Community & networks

The institutional partners thanked for the 2026 edition are the ANJO, the ARIBa, the CNPO, the SNOF, the ORDVI, the SAFIR, the SFEIO, the SFG and the SFOALC. Several of them support sessions of the programme: the Société Française du Glaucome, the Société Française d'Echographie et d'Imagerie Oculaire and the Société Française des Ophtalmologistes Adaptateurs de Lentilles de Contact, while the CNPO and the Syndicat national des ophtalmologistes de France support the professional news session.

The congress's name is close to that of the journal RéfleXions Ophtalmologiques, published by JBH Santé: the JRO website wrote “Journées de RéfleXions Ophtalmologiques” until 2024, with the same stylised X. The organiser runs a calendar of 13 congresses a year in ophthalmology and rheumatology, including COP&S in Tours.

The JRO are not an optics and eyewear trade show, a sector that has its own Paris event in SILMO. At the JRO, lens makers and retail chains address a medical audience.

On site: what you need to know

The congress takes place at CNIT Forest - Paris La Défense, 2 place de la Défense, in the commune of Puteaux, in the heart of the business district. The venue, operated by Viparis, offers more than 10,000 sqm of modular space, two amphitheatres with 726 and 1,192 seats and 17 conference rooms.

Access is by metro line 1 and RER A (stop La Défense - Grande Arche, exit 4 Parvis Esplanade), tramway T2 and Transilien lines L and U (stop La Défense - Grande Arche), as well as by numerous bus lines. By car, the CNIT car park is at 19 avenue de la Division Leclerc, in Puteaux. From Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, allow 30 minutes by taxi, or take the RER B to Châtelet - Les Halles and then the RER A; from Orly, 40 minutes by taxi, or Orlyval, RER B and RER A.

The 2027 opening hours have not been published. In 2026, the congress was open from 8:00am to 8:00pm on Friday and from 8:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday. The website offers a page of nearby hotels, four four-star establishments located 8 to 12 minutes' walk away in its 2026 version, and an “Invitation letter / Visa” entry in its menu, which offered a visa letter request form in 2025; in 2026 it redirects to the registration closing page.

Only the paper badge is accepted: it is printed from the registration area, and a badge can be issued on site on presentation of an ID document.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

• Get in touch early via the Become an exhibitor page: the participation file is not published on the public pages of the website.
• Examine the visibility formats that JBH Santé mentions for its congresses in addition to the equipped stand: scientific symposiums, sponsorship of sessions and dedicated interventions, workshops and speaking slots. In 2026, six symposiums bore the name of Roche, Théa, Santen (two), Horus or Bausch + Lomb in the programme schedule.
• Ask JBH Santé about retrieving visitor contacts: among the public pages of the website, only the legal notice mentions badge scanning and the transfer of data to industry partners.
• Consider a trade show offer: in 2025, the organiser announced a partnership with industry companies allowing visitors to benefit from “special JRO rates” on equipment.
• Anticipate the steps linked to invitations of healthcare professionals, which are subject to the regulations on benefits granted.

For the healthcare professional visitor

• Watch for the opening of 2027 registration. In 2026, the rates were €460 for doctors, €230 for trainees and €160 for allied health professionals, reduced to €390, €190 and €135 incl. VAT for early registration until 31 December. Registration gave access to all sessions, the exhibition, coffee breaks and the lunchtime cocktail reception.
• Build your schedule in advance with the website's “Mon programme de conférences” (My conference programme) tool: with several rooms running in parallel, choices have to be made beforehand.
• Note the published cancellation rule: full refund up to one month before the congress, no refund afterwards.
• Print your badge before you leave.

CSR policy & initiatives

The JRO website has no section devoted to the environment or CSR, and the congress reports no ISO 20121 certification. JBH Santé does not publish a sustainability policy specific to its events either.

The venue, however, has a documented approach. Viparis, operator of CNIT Forest, states that in 2014 it became the first events player in the world to be ISO 20121 certified across all its sites and activity, and has since 2018 been running a strategy called Better Events, with a 2030 horizon. On the event page, Viparis recommends public transport as part of its CSR approach, a recommendation easy to follow at a site served by the metro, RER, tramway and Transilien.

For CNIT Forest itself, Viparis highlights a design that combines technologies and natural materials, such as wood. These initiatives and this design are those of the venue and its operator, not of the organiser: nothing makes it possible to assess the congress's own footprint.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

The turning point dates from 2025. After three editions at Espace Champerret, over three days from Thursday to Saturday, the JRO moved to CNIT Forest and tightened their programme to Friday and Saturday. The organiser justified this choice by a “more accessible” venue, with an amphitheatre, conference rooms and an exhibition area matching the scientific programme. The format was tightened: in 2024, Thursday, opening at noon, hosted the Franco-Mediterranean meetings, an afternoon of practical contact lens sessions, the visual impairment seminar and live surgery, and the 32 courses were held on Friday and Saturday; since 2025, these events have been folded into a programme concentrated on Friday and Saturday.

The signals published since are positive, but expressed as trends rather than volumes. The 2025 results announce national attendance up by more than 40% and 94% of participants satisfied; the 2026 results mention a larger exhibition, more conferences, more speakers, nearly 200 against around 160 announced for the 2022 to 2024 editions, and more delegates. On the industry side, the online directory goes from 45 listings in 2025 to 51 in 2026, for 50 exhibitors shown in the results. In the absence of an absolute figure for attendees, the exhibitor has to reason on the make-up of the audience more than on its volume.

The pandemic years have left their mark: a 100% online edition in 2021, a hybrid format in 2022 with a return to the usual dates, a refocus on in-person in 2023. The calendar, for its part, has not moved: every documented edition has been held in March, which makes it a stable landmark in ophthalmologists' diaries. The dates of the 2028 edition had not been announced at the time of writing.

All data that does not mention its source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (jro.jbhsante.com).