Essilor makes Forbes listing

For the fourth year in a row, Essilor has been named among Forbes magazine’s world’s most innovative companies.

The company was ranked 49th overall, alongside names such as Unilever and Amazon. It was the ranked the third most innovative company in France behind Hermés and Illiad.

Essilor said the ranking was recognition of its innovation strategy, which included €150m of annual R&D investment. Products launched less than four years ago accounted for 40 per cent of sales.

‘As the population ages, as vision-related problems such as myopia become more widespread and as blue light emitted by LCD screens and LED bulbs becomes omnipresent, innovation in the ophthalmic optics sector is more than ever essential,’ said Essilor CEO Jean Carrier.