Lately, 22 leading European companies and academic institutions have joined force in the "Consumerizing Solid-State Lighting" (CSSL) project.
The CSSL project's goal is to foster technology and application breakthroughs as well as new market approaches in order to accelerate the availability of affordable high-quality LED lamps to replace the ordinary light bulb in the home.
The CSSL project is all about establishing a European 'consumer LED ecosystem' consisting of the entire value chain from LED die and light source through to consumer luminair and lighting controls.
At present, it is focusing on a number of key advances including GaN-on-Si wafer processing, mains-compatible LEDs and electronics, and dimmer-compatible LED lamp and electronics.
In addition, the team is also searching for alternative ways to accelerate the uptake of LED lamps along with technology developments. With the backing of utility companies, the ecosystem will gain end user insights and explore new business models that would further enhance growth.
As a result, the project will assist in maintaining Europe at the forefront of LED lamp development.
The CSSL consortium players including: R&D organizations TNO, M2i, CEA Leti, IMB-CNM (CSIC) & LEITAT as well as research groups at Cambridge University, Catania University & Czech Technical University; semiconductor companies STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductors; equipment manufacturer KLA-Tencor (ICOS); dimmer and controls makers Legrand and Niko; small- and medium-sized enterprises Boschman, Archimede QLT, Inteesa, Best Electronique and Wittenburg. Philips and the utility companies ENEL, Electricité De France and British Gas are also in.