China Solid State Lighting Alliance has played an important part in the development of China’s LED industry. Yet, many are unfamiliar with the organization’s primary responsibilities and its role in the development of China's LED industry. LEDinside has conducted a special interview with Dr Jun Ruan, Deputy Secretary General of China Solid State Lighting Alliance to learn about the positioning of the organization and its actions in China’s LED industry, as well as the progress of the establishment of LED standards in China.
Introduction of China Solid State Lighting Alliance
Founded in 2004, China Solid State Lighting Alliance has two major goals: one is to facilitate cooperation between solid state lighting production and research, the other goal is to cultivate enterprises with brand competitiveness.
During the past five years, 153 members have joined the organization, including companies, universities and graduate institutes;some members were formerly involved in China’s government plans and others have expertise in R&D or in the industry, including all major key LED enterprises in China. The organization is developing rapidly,and more LED companies are expected to join. The core member is the standing committee composed of only 11 executive members, where many decisions are made under common voting. There are 34 director members, which have high growth potential and competiveness. However, there are also 108 small-sized companies with regional characteristics.
A company cannot become a member of the alliance simply through filing an application; it has to be an enterprise of a certain scale, with strong in R&D or other outstanding characteristics. The alliance holds an open attitude and the information is public. International giants like Philips, Osram, Aixtron or Veeco have already joined, while other companies like GE and many Taiwan-based enterprises arealso hoping to become members, in order to share information and understand government policies.
Sources and uses of funds
In regard to sources of funds, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology arranged funding after solid state lighting industry was listed in the 863 plan, and the investment between 2006 and 2010 is estimated at 350 million RMB, according to Ruan. In order to combine objectives of industries, universities and institutes, alliance members will incorporate the 863 plan in their enterprise, and receive government funding to support front-end technologies.
Alliance members or other qualified companies may submit R&D project proposals and then a panel of 863-plan expert, with the assistance of China Solid State Lighting Alliance, will decide which one is to obtain project funding. In this case, the Secretary Office of the alliance will collect opinions and organize experts to evaluate the project so as to determine the amount and time of the investment as well as the project implementation period.
The scope of financial support ranges from the upstream, midstream to downstream businesses in the industry, as well as establishment of patents, standards and strategies, R&D and testing platform, MOCVD, and significant demonstration applications. For example, the alliance organized a group of experts, companies and testing institutes across the country for the LED landscape lighting of the Olympic Water Tube. After the 350 million RMB is used up,the budge for the next five years is still under assessment.
In addition to R&D funds from the Ministry of Science and Technology, other ministries and committees will also inject funds as every government department has funds. For instance, there are LED-related investments from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and local governments. The Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection Division of the National Development and Reform Commission; considering LED lighting subsidies to promote efficient lighting products in the green lighting project.
Development of Standards
The solid state lighting encompasses semiconductor components, lighting and display industries so its standards have widespread applications. Unlike international practices, mainland China designates different departments for each part. In this case, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is in charge of the display, LED wafer, chip and components. China Light Industry Council used to supervise lighting applications with its Lighting Standards Committee, but now the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has taken over related responsibilities. At present, LED industry standards are supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, lighting applications standards by the Technical Committee on Lamps and Related Equipments of Standardization Administration, phosphor by the Technical Committee on Rare Earths of Standardization Administration, signal lights by the Technical Committee on Traffic of Standardization Administration of China, street lights design by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. All in all, LED standards are developed mainly by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Technical Committee on Lamps and Related Equipments of Standardization Administration.
Due to the crossover of the LED industry, the Ministry of Science and Technology coordinates relations between committees and ministries via the alliance. Moreover, the alliance also provides them financial supports, such as China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI), Discrete Semiconductor Device Quality Inspection Center of the 13th Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, which are specialized in standards research, development as well as testing. Funds are also available to the Beijing Lighting Research Institute where the Secretary Office of the Technical Committee on Lamps and Related Equipments of Standardization Administration is located, the National Lighting Test Center (respectively in Shanghai, Beijing).
Furthermore, the alliance has formed a Coordination and Promotion Team for Standardization to gather those who are responsible for the development or supervision of standards to discuss standards and plans, enhancing the labor division and cooperation. As solid state lighting is a novel thing, division of labor based on consensus has led to progress in all aspects. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has drawn up seven standards, not yet approved. The Technical Committee on Lamps and Related Equipments of Standardization Administration has submitted eleven national standards and one industry standard, but none approved. With the rapid technological advancement in solid state lighting and changes in product types, there is more controversy among experts in performance standards.
To promotethe application of the solid state lighting, such as the “Ten Thousand LED lights in Ten Cities” project, the Ministry of Science and Technology asked the alliance to prepare technical specifications, to finalize technical requirements first, and then propose the standards when products are mature and stable. The major task of the alliance is to formulating basic specifications, that is, to organize standards-related institutions and testing agencies,and to communicate between the upstream and downstream industry,. Therefore, there are no standards but specifications developed by the alliance. So far, specifications for street lights, tunnel lights have been completed and indoor lights specification is till in research.
Cross-strait Cooperation on LED industry
China and Taiwan take LED as one of the three pilot programs to bridge both sides, the other two being wireless city and logistics. Approved by Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, National Development and Reform Commission is responsible for the LED program through China Solid State Lighting Alliance. Secretary General Wu Lin is the coordinator of China’s task force, while Zhan Yiren, head of Electronics & Optoelectronics Research Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Institute is the coordinator of Taiwan’stask force. Cross-strait cooperation is expected to span across the whole industry chain rather than a particular sector. Nowadays, LED applications fall into two main categories: LED backlighting and lighting. China hopes to gain comprehensive cooperation in the industrywith Taiwan.
Having efficient channels for conventional lighting, and international influence in lighting are China’s great advantages. The Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance will also grant financial subsidies to selected projects. Many Taiwan enterprises have expressed that they want to implement one or another city’s demonstration application plan. In fact, the cooperation can be based on but not limited to the market. The cross-strait cooperation is expected to create globally influential companies like Osram or Philips.
Insights from LEDinside
On November 25th, 2009, China made a commitment to the world to cut its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40%-45% by 2020 from the 2005 level. As a whole, green energy industry environment is running better, the industry potential will continue to expand. In recent years, China has been working hard on the development of the green energy industry, which will in turn greatly benefit the LED industry.
In the future, cross-strait cooperation in LED will certainly strengthen. Most LED companies in Taiwan have made investments in China. Further cooperation will cover technology and talent exchange, forum co-hosting, development of standards, and establishment of companies. China Solid State Lighting Alliance will be able to play an even more important role in the cross-strait cooperation and exchange, making cross-strait information exchange and communication more effective.
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