Vertical farming company Kalera from Florida, USA, has teamed up with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to conduct a study focusing on the effect of LED lighting by the end-of-production period. The results showed that by exposing lettuce to LED lighting before harvest, the nutritive value would increase. The new study, “Effect of End-of-Production High-Energy Radiation on Nutritional Quality of Indoor-Grown Red-Leaf Lettuce,” was published in HortScience on June 1, 2020. The research found that by using ...

Signify has committed to its sustainable goals including reducing carbon emission and achieving circular economy. Last week, the Dutch Company further announced another target to eliminate plastic usage in packaging. Signify announced that it will now start phasing out all plastics from packaging for consumer-related products with the aim to be plastic-free in 2021. By phasing out plastic used for consumer product packaging, Signify will avoid the use of over 2,500 tonnes of plastics per year. This is equal to 125 million PET bottles which, placed in a row, would stretch more t...

U.S. company Orion Lighting posted its FY 2020 financial results ending March 31, 2020. The revenue of FY 2020 grew by 129%YoY to US$150.8 million comparing to US$65.8 million in FY 2019. The gross profit also reached US$37.1 million with an on-year growth of 155%. Net income of the fiscal year came to US$12.5 million or US$0.40 per share. EBITDA came to US$14.7 million. Orion Lighting noted that the revenue increase was mainly driven by a large LED lighting and controls retrofit project of one national account. The company said its business ha...

GE Current, a Daintree company recently named Omnilumen Technical Products and GS Lighting Group as new agents in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Omnilumen Technical products is covering the Greater Toronto Area for luminaires and wired and wireless controls. GS Lighting Group is covering the province of Ontario for the Lamps & Ballast business, on top of continuing to manage the line for the region of Southwest Ontario. These partnerships will bring Current’s expansive portfolio of lighting and digital controls solutions to more businesses throu...

Smart display event Touch Taiwan, originally taking place in August 2020, has been rescheduled to April 2021, after evaluation of the market demands and current scenario. Most of the international technology events in the first half of 2020 have been cancelled or rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many expect that in the second half of the year, as more restrictions lifted, some events will be able to resume. However, Touch Taiwan, which originally to be held in August 26 to 28, 2020, has still been moved to April 21 to 23, 2021. (Image: Touch Taiwan) The...

Advanced LED technology enables innovative automotive lighting including adaptive driving beam (ADB) by which each single LED pixel can be control independently for a wider range of applications. Based on similar concept, Japanese LED maker Stanley proposed an innovative way to combine laser and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) mirror, which allows high precision light and sensing function. (Image: Stanley) Stanly uses blue laser light which can be reflected with MEMS mirror and converted into white light with phosphor to build a headlight system. V...

Breaking the social activity limitation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Samsung launched an online virtual lighting exhibition to fill the need for more consumer-facing product presentations with innovative new strategies. The Virtual Lighting Exhibition now offers a 24/7access to Samsung’s updated lighting solutions for manufacturers, supply chain partners and end users. Samsung said that this online booth provides a platform where virtual visitors can access the most current Samsung LED technologies and products. Users can find segmented product lineups grouped...

Mini LED display technology is on its way to break into the mainstream market with several products including laptops and gaming monitors officially debuted. Apple’s rumored Mini LED-based iPad and Macbook are also expected to show up in the second half of 2020. In addition, leading TV brands are said to launch high-end 8K TVs with Mini LED backlight technology. Epistar, the Taiwan-based LED chip maker, is believed to be benefitted from the increasing demands for Mini LED. Aiming to fulfill the surging Mini LED display applications, Epistar has in...

Do you feel like enjoying the magnificent viewing experience created by Micro LED technology but are not sure if the sky-high price is worthy? There is a way to immerse yourself in the next-generation display technology before the decisions are made: visit the experience zone of “The Wall” opened by Samsung at Gwanggyo Department Store in Suwon, South Korea. (Image: Samsung) Samsung launched the “The Wall” experience zone by installing a 146-inch The Wall display at department store on May 31, 2020. Visitors feel the superior quality of t...

Fluence by OSRAM announced the launch of four additional spectra on its VYPR top light series. From broad white to high red, Fluence’s extended PhysioSpec™ spectra enable growers to optimize lighting strategies for any crop in any growth stage or geographic location. “In our relentless pursuit of innovative lighting solutions for crop cultivation, we’ve conducted in-depth research on plant response under various spectra with a range of crops,” said David Cohen, CEO of Fluence. “One of the biggest challenges for cultivators around t...

LeddarTech announced that it is working with STMicroelectronics to create a LiDAR Evaluation Kit. The evaluation kit will demonstrate technical concepts and offer development capabilities in a functional LiDAR for automotive Tier 1-2 suppliers and industrial system integrators to develop a LiDAR solution based on LeddarEngine™ technology. LeddarTech’s kit will include ST’s MEMS mirror-based laser-beam scanning solutions along with technologies, products, and services from other LeddarTech ecosystem partners. The evaluation kit is being...

The U.S. lighting company Acuity Brands announced its strategic partnership with Ushio America. The two companies entered into an alliance agreement that Ushio will supply Acuity Brands with its Care222® UV disinfection module, which generate far-UVC light which is safe to human skin but capable of inactivating viruses and bacteria on indoor surfaces. Under the agreement, Acuity Brands will have an exclusive right to use Ushio’s far-UVC disinfecting module for general illumination uses throughout North America and non-exclusive right for the worldwide m...

Apple is reportedly preparing the new iPad and MacBook adopting Mini LED technology coming later this year or later while its progress in Micro LED technology has yet enter the next phase. It was said that the Apple Watch Series will feature OLED screen which is similar to the previous model, instead of Micro LED. An anonymous Twitter account who has revealed several Apple products details accurately twitted on May 31 suggesting that Apple will use display from JDI, who supplies OLED panels for Apple Watch. (Image: Apple) Since Apple initiat...

In 2020, people all around the globe are living in ways that we would never have thought because of COVID-19 pandemic. Majority of the world population has spent most of their time at home with lockdown policies and to avoid infection in the past few months. Even now that several areas have lifted up the restriction, people’s lifestyle is likely to change forever. Lighting applications, which highly related to our daily life, reflect the changes of people’s behaviors. LEDinside is thus seeing some rising trends in the lighting industry in response to the impact of ...

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, countless international events across the world have been cancelled or postponed in the past few month. However, in China, where the outbreak first began, LASER World of PHOTONICS will be held as planned in July. (Image:  LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA) Chinese government issued the guidelines of preventing and controlling the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on May 8, 2020 and the emergency response level of major public health emergencies in Shanghai was adjusted to level 3 afterwards. Following the gra...

General Electric (GE) is exiting its century-old lighting business with its announcement on May 27, 2020 that it has signed a definite agreement to sell the lighting unit to Savant System. Financial details of the deal was not revealed by both parties. Based on the agreement, Savant System will continue use the GE brand and keep headquarter in Cleveland, Ohio. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2020 and more than 700 employees will transfer to Savant after the deal completed. GE’s light bulb business has a history of almost 130 years and it was the f...

Micro LED and Mini LED technology bring new hopes for industry players in the field since they have been suffered from price competition with oversupply. Taiwanese LED companies were the first to begin Micro LED and Mini LED development and they have entered mass production phase for Mini LED in the past two years. In 2020, as Apple is rumored to release Mini LED-based products, it is expected that demands for Mini LED display technology will surge. Seeing the trend, LED and display companies in China are also pushing their technology development aim...

Last week, Samsung announced that it is supporting five startups created by Samsung employees under the C-Lab Inside in-house incubation program. One of the new startups, SunnyFive, builds a window look lighting device delivering artificial sunlight. (Image: Samsung) According to Samsung, the window-shaped lighting created by SunnyFive produces full spectrum of light which is similar to natural light, simulating lighting situation including dawn, sunrise, sunset and dusk. Samsung also highlighted that this window-like lighting device can help users synthesize vitamin D...

LED chip supplier Epistar said that it is seeing surging demands for Mini LED display and fine-pitch display. With its mature miniaturized LED technology, the company is expecting to ship about 689.2 billion units of LED chip in 2020. Epistar is reportedly supplying Apple for the coming Mini LED-based iPad Pro and MacBook. The Taiwan-based chip maker has increased its investment for capacity expansion and turned 95% of its blue LED capacity in Taiwan into Mini LED production to meet the demands of Apple products. Despite that Epistar has already pro...

As many countries and cities are lifting the COVID-19 restrictions and reopening business, how to continuously prevent the spread of the virus is a critical challenge for all. LEDinside noticed that many sensor technology developers have created solutions to anonymously monitoring people’s activities in public for controlling social distance and checking health status. LiDAR technology, for example, is now used to support people flow management. Hitachi Vantara, the digital infrastructure and solutions subsidiary of Hitachi, is leveraging its technology to deliver a ...

The British government announced the new tariff regime as it is exiting the EU. The UK Global Tariff (UKGT) was introduced last week to replace the EU’s Common External Tariff on January 1, 2021. With UKGT, LED lamps will be free from tariffs as the new regime aims to support sustainable economy. (Image: Pixabay) According to the UK government, the UKGT is tailored to the needs of the UK economy and will simply nearly 6000 tariff lines to reduce administrative cost. In order to back green economy, tariffs on over 100 items related renewable ...

Rumors of Apple’s smart glasses products have never stopped but now they are even more materialized. Jon Prosser, host of Front Page Tech, unveiled alleged details about the AR glasses that Apple might reveal. It was said that Apple will call its AR glasses “Apple Glass,” which will pair with an iPhone like Apple Watch. There will be displays for both lenses and LiDAR sensors will be adopted to enable gesture interaction. In addition, the glasses will be wireless charged. (Image: screenshot from the video of Front Page Tech) Prosser cl...

Korea’s LiDAR sensor startup company, SOS LAB, announced that it has secured series A+ investment of a total of US$8 million starting from a lead investment from Korea Development Bank (KDB), bringing the company’s total capital raised so far to US$ 14 million. Despite a decline in general economic activities due to COVID-19, SOS LAB successfully attracted the investment and it has now unveiled its plans for the commercialization of LiDAR. (Image: SOS LAB) SOS LAB disclosed ML-1, the product which mounted the aforemention...

LG announced that it will move two of the six production lines in the Gumi factory in South Korea to its Indonesia facility in Cibitung in order to increase efficiency and capacity for TV production. LG said it is expanding the TV business with the aim to “diversify its production footprint and step up capacity,” and moving TV production lines from South Korea to Indonesia is one of the strategies. The Korean company plans to turn its Cibitung facility in Indonesia into a new regional hub and expects the transformation to boost the efficiency of LG&rsqu...

Fluence by OSRAM announced its partnership with Compassionate Cultivation, a medical cannabis provider in Texas, USA. The two companies will collaborate on research studies using Fluence’s LED lighting systems to gather new insights into sustainable cannabis production. Compassionate Cultivation aims to ensure secure supply of high quality medical cannabis and teams up with Fluence to explore potential lighting strategies for optimizing cannabis growth. (Image: Fluence by Osram) Together, Fluence and Compassionate Cultivation will produce and publish...

Apple was reported last week that it has planned to invest US$334 million for the new facility in Taiwan, located in the Longtan section of Hsinchu Science Park. The new factory is believed to focus on Micro LED and Mini LED technologies which Apple aims to apply in its new products. Taiwanese companies Epistar and AUO as well as other companies of the Mini LED and Micro LED supplier chains are reportedly supporting Apple’s products adopting the next-gen display technologies. Apart from getting closer with its partners, another major reason for Ap...

The COVID-19 outbreak has spurred people’s awareness in disinfection and roused demands for related products and applications. UVC LEDs with germicidal function thus become popular among consumers and brands of home appliance. LG Electronics launched a new refrigerator with ice and water purifier using UVC LED technology. A UVC LED is equipped at the outlet of the water purifier of the refrigerator and is able to diminish 99.99% E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus based on the Korea Construction & Living Environment Research Institute (KCL) t...

Seoul Semiconductor has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against an automotive component distributer Onyx Enterprise International. According to Seoul Semiconductor, Onyx distributes various automotive LED lights on its online platform “CARiD.com,” which offers car parts and accessories covering automotive headlamps, tail lights and fog lights. The Korean company claimed that automotive LED products being sold on “CARiD.com” infringe 12 patents – including...

LG is joining the business of LED cinema screen to compete against its rival Samsung, reported by Aju News, a Korea-based media. It was reported in April that LG has registered a trademark for LG LED Cinema on March 31, 2020, to prepare for related business. Under the trademark, LEG plans to release LED signage for theaters. LG reported planned to release its cinema LED products at CinemaCon 2020 in Las Vegas, USA, but the event has been cancelled due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, as a proactively player in the display industry, LG has already i...

Canadian LiDAR technology developer LeddarTech has been working with its investor Osram on the LiDAR platform “PERCEPT.” Osram said that it is developing the first flexible solid state LiDAR focusing on mid to long range sensing and targeting the automotive mass market. (Image: Osram) The PERCEPT LiDAR will comprise Osram’s laser emitters and LeddarTech’s processing software. With these featured components, Osram aims to develop a LiDAR with the measuring approach of ToF. The LiDAR platform will serve long- a...