Swedish lighting experts, Aura Light, welcomes Craig Herriott as its new Northern Regional Sales Manager, as the company continues to expand its UK operation.

David Smart has achieved shareholder status at BioStar Lighting, thanks to his success as Vice President of Sales. David has sold over $4 million dollars in LED lighting retrofits within 2 years. His clients include nationally recognized businesses and large commercial property owners such as Hallmark, UMB Bank, Block Real Estate, DST, MC Realty, Tutera Group and US Toy Co. Smart possesses an entrepreneurial spirit and has been passionate about sustainability from a young age.  Selling and managing energy efficient lighting installations comes naturally to him.  He has set himself apart in the industry by providing customer-focused solutions that include best-in-class products resulting in maximum savings for clients.

Wait…..its Wednesday right? So why are LEDinside editors posting this? Due to the upcoming Chinese Moon Festival, we will not be in office from Sept. 15-16, 2016 and will not be updating our site during this time. So we’d like to wish all our readers Happy Chinese Moon Festival in advance, as we battle against natural elements caused by raging Super Typhoon Mernati in Taiwan.

Osram, a leading global lighting and technology company, has appointed Michael Flieger, 42, as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Americas region. Flieger succeeds Grant Wright, who was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Osram’s Americas region in July 2015, and for the past year has maintained a dual role as CEO and CFO. Flieger will be responsible for the financial oversight and governance of Osram’s business operations in the Americas region.

Fremont, a city located in California, U.S. will be replacing 14,000 streetlights with LEDs in the next few months, as a citywide effort to slash energy costs and make streets safer for pedestrians at night, reported East Bay Times.

Rubicon Technology announced plans to cease all production activities and shut down its Penang, Malaysia facility. Production activities at the Penang facility are expected to cease by Nov. 30, 2016, with the shutdown of the facility to be completed by the end of the year. The Company’s Malaysia facility has been primarily engaged in producing polished and patterned substrates for the LED market and the decision was made in order for the Company to focus on the optical and industrial sapphire market for the foreseeable future.

MLS board recently nominated Guoqing Tang, a seasoned professional in China’s LED industry, as one of the company’s independent director.

Veeco Instruments announced that HC SemiTek Corporation, one of China's leading solid state lighting manufacturers, has ordered multiple TurboDisc® EPIK™ 700 GaN (Gallium Nitride) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) Systems and the TurboDisc K475i™ As/P (Arsenic Phosphide) MOCVD System for production of LEDs.

Seeking to add a leading comprehensive suite of smart city solutions enabled by its ThingSpace internet of things (IoT) platform to help communities increase economic development, drive citizen engagement and enable sustainability, Verizon Communications announced it has signed an agreement to purchase Sensity Systems, a private company based in Sunnyvale, California.

MAC Group is pleased to announce a new U.S. distribution agreement with California-based Light & Motion for their line of Stella Single-Point LED lights and lighting kits.

LCD display manufacturer Japan Display Inc. (JDI) developed an ultra-thin bezel LCD that is merely millimeters thick, which could greatly increase smartphone makers design flexibility, reported Nikkei.

A Xiamen-based Chinese technology company (厦门市钛科创科技有限公司) has alerted LED manufacturers of a U.S. LED T8 tube light patent that companies should avoid infringing on in its LED patent thread on social platform WeChat.

Korean LED manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor has filed a lawsuit against Kmart, claiming the American retail franchise was selling LED products that violated its patents, reported The Korea Herald.

Serenity LED, a leader in the LED lighting industry, has announced that they have hired a new chief executive officer, Anthony Bianco. Bianco, the former president of Supreme Lobster & Seafood, has emerged from retirement to take over business development and day-to-day management of Serenity LED.

A state backed power company NamPower rolled out a city wide project covering the replacement of 1 million incandescent bulbs with LEDs, and to reduce household power consumption in Nambia capital Windhoek, according to a report from Creamer Media’s Engineering News.

Material manufacturer Merck announced it has invested EUR 30 million (US $33.84 million) in an OLED materials plant in Darmstadt, Germany recently to manufacture future displays and lighting.

The U.S. Department of Energy has just published the latest edition of its biannual report,Energy Savings Forecast of Solid-State Lighting in General Illumination Applications, which models the adoption of LEDs in the U.S. general-lighting market, along with associated energy savings, based on the full potential DOE has determined to be technically feasible over time. The new report uses an updated 2016 U.S. lighting-market model and extends the forecast period to 2035 from the 2030 limit that was used in previous editions.

The Qualcomm Smart Campus in San Diego is upping its IQ with the addition of smart, digital sensing technology from Current, powered by GE. GE and Qualcomm Intelligent Solutions, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, today announced that Current’s sensors, microservices and intelligent LED infrastructure will help drive more energy efficiency, operational savings for Qualcomm’s award-winning Smart Campus, all while extending the company’s existing intelligent environments showcase for visiting customers.

Name of Product: ZapBulb mosquito zapper LED light bulbs Hazard: The light bulb's base can separate from the connector, posing an electrical shock hazard. Remedy: Replace

BIOS (Biological Innovation and Optimization Systems) has entered into an academic partnership with Bruce Bugbee, PhD, Professor in the Plants, Soils and Climate Department and Director of the Crop Physiology Laboratory at Utah State University (USU). The partnership will combine Dr.Bugbee’s world-renowned expertise and research in plant physiology and photobiology with the industry-leading LED grow lighting technology development by BIOS.

Power management company Eaton today announced a collaboration with CIMCON Lighting, Inc., a company specializing in intelligent, web-based wireless outdoor lighting management systems. The collaboration combines Eaton’s broad range of outdoor light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires with CIMCON’s intelligent, wireless controls, sensors and software to bring powerful connected lighting solutions for smart cities.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, a leader in advanced LED lighting technology solutions, announced that its divisions, TNT Energy and Tri-State LED, have been named as program contractors within Eversource's Small Business Energy Advantage Program (SBEA). As part of the Energize Connecticut initiative, the program is designed to help small businesses with a peak energy demand of less than 200kW per month save money, identifying and offering cost-effective energy efficiency turnkey solutions.

Chinese companies Leyard, Kingsun Opto and Cnlight announce their latest developments.

To encourage innovative internal and external ideas, Osram has created a captive business accelerator called Fluxunit. In taking this step, Osram has set up a flexible company unit outside its established structures that will promote new and disruptive business ideas. At the same time, Fluxunit will serve as the central point of contact for external and internal start-ups. 

Osram intends to transfer some of the funds it earmarked for a LED chip fab to making IR LEDs for iris-scanning applications as demands from bankers, smartphone makers and VR systems rise, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Xcel Energy has started to roll out a large scale LED streetlight upgrade in Minnesota to cut back energy consumption, reported Startribune.

These days, LEDs are increasingly being used as replacements for traditional lamps and other electronic appliances. This makes sense, since lighting in general is responsible for up to 20% of the world's electricity consumption. As a result, it has become even more crucial to develop advanced LED materials and technology that produce more light while maintaining efficiency and reliability. In many ways, Taiwan is a leader in the LED industry, since it consistently places at the top of global rankings for LED component output value, while continuing to introduce leading-edge technological advancements.

In the green energy sector, solar, wind, and lithium batteries prices all plummeted, which has disrupted markets and transformed existing market orders, leading to new developments.

The last phase of China’s incandescent bulb ban will be effective as of Sept. 30, 2016. China will ban the imports and sales of 15W and above general incandescent bulbs Starting from Oct. 1, 2016, and will make adjustments based on interim evaluation results, reported Yicai Global.

The Supervisory Board of SUSS MicroTec AG has appointed Dr. Franz Richter (61) as a new member of the management board of SUSS MicroTec AG. His contract will run for a period of three years. Richter accepted the appointment to the management board as of today and he will assume his position as new CEO on September 7, 2016. Richter on the one hand stands for continuity in the strategic orientation of the SUSS MicroTec Group and on the other hand for innovation and technological leadership.