Markus Riedi studied precision engineering with a focus on optics, mechanics and electronics at Munich University of Applied Sciences. After holding positions at Rodenstock, Steinheil and Phytron and working for many years in the family business, he took on entrepreneurial responsibility at an early stage and developed an international high-tech group of companies in the field of optical systems over many years.
As founder and long-standing Managing Director of Opto GmbH, he built the company into a global manufacturer of digital microscopes and imaging technologies for industrial and scientific applications. The imaging modules developed by OptoGroup are now regarded as compact "machine vision microscopes" and enable automated microscopy in areas such as microfluidics, diagnostics, high-throughput screening and, increasingly, data-driven analysis methods.
Markus Riedi has been Chairman of OptoGroup since January 2026 and is overseeing the company's strategic development, particularly at the interface between optics, computer vision and artificial intelligence. By building up its own AI expertise, OptoGroup is increasingly developing into a technology provider for intelligent image sensors.
He is currently particularly interested in microscopic phenotyping - the automated analysis of biological structures on a microscopic level. This technology is playing an increasingly important role in agricultural technology, for example in the analysis of plant characteristics, cell structures or microbiological processes.
At the AI Vision Day at the AgriTechHUB, Markus Riedi will talk about how the combination of microscopy, machine vision and AI is developing into a new tool for data-driven agricultural systems - and what opportunities this presents for research, start-ups and industry.