The New England College of Optometry (NECO) convened more than 100 leaders from education, health care, and industry in Boston Nov. 3-4 for its 2025 Industry Collaborative, a two-day conference examining how technology and cross-sector partnerships are shaping optometric education and patient care.
Keynote speakers included Joseph Aoun, PhD, president of Northeastern University, and Joshua Baker, OD, president and CEO of Midwestern University. Sessions featured panel discussions, technology demonstrations, and Q&A forums centered on topics such as artificial intelligence, clinical decision-making, and innovation in curriculum development.
“The Industry Collaborative is our opportunity to ‘open the hood’ and show what’s really happening inside optometric education,” says Howard Purcell, OD, FAAO, Dipl., president and CEO of NECO and the 2025 Prevent Blindness Person of Vision honoree. “We’re facing rapid changes in technology and patient needs, and our responsibility is to ensure students are ready for both—not just as clinicians, but as innovators.”
“The person who tells you they know how new technology will affect health care or education—that’s a ‘buyer beware’ moment. None of us really knows,” says Dr. Baker. “We must understand both the disruption and the opportunity presented by AI. Our task as educators is to cultivate what I call ‘humanics,’ combining technical literacy with the human skills of empathy, creativity, and critical thinking. Nurturing these skills in our students is at the core of our role as educators.”
Participants represented 48 organizations across academic institutions, professional associations, care-delivery systems, media partners, and vision care companies. The program emphasized that “not all conflict is bad,” encouraging open dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, with attendees invited to examine assumptions and share diverse perspectives.
NECO announced plans to expand the Industry Collaborative into a year-round platform that will include webinars, research initiatives, and student-focused innovation projects.