In an effort to unify all of the offices and employees around the world, Acolyte LED announces the promotion of Scott Vontobel to Chief Operating Officer of the company effective January 1, 2016. Scott will now be in charge of all global operations of Acolyte Worldwide, United States, Acolyte Asia (China and Hong Kong), Dubai, Australia and New Zealand.

As LED applications gradually shift towards biology, medical, and health related market sectors, LED grow light applications large market potential has been recognized by the industry, according to a report from CALI. Chinese and international companies have entered the LED grow light market, with traditional lighting manufacturers Philips, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Seoul Semiconductor, Everlight, and Showa Denko all contending for market shares. The LED grow light industry is still mainly led by large multinational companies that have sufficient financing, advanced technology, and strong awareness of market deployment strategies.

Yankon Lighting announced on December 29 that the company received subsidies from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) for “Industrial upgrade to smart manufacturing and IoT+ mobile support security project—Secured chip improvement and application.”

HC Semitek announced on Dec. 28, 2015 that the board of directors discussed with local government about large investment valuing RMB $5 billion (US $770 million) in the next three to five years.

A recent report from Navigant Research examines the global market for commercial building lighting controls, including forecasts for unit shipments and revenue, segmented by equipment type, building type, construction type, technology, and region, through 2024.

Brightek Optoeletronic started to develop automotive LED products in 2007, manufacturing high power automotive LEDs in Taiwan and low power ones in Shenzhen, China. The company has developed automotive LEDs for eight years, providing various exterior vehicle lights and attracted attention from the LED market in recent years. Weiming Pai, General Manager of the company spoke to LEDinside in an exclusive interview about their experience in automotive lighting market.

Thailand capital Bangkok’s large city hall LED lighting upgrade project has attracted criticism from netizens, who have questioned city officials’ decision to spend emergency budget on 5 million LED bulbs, reported Thai Visa News.

The oversupply situation in the LED industry this year has urged large Korean LED companies to size down, according to a Money DJ report by citing Korean media ETNews.

Foshan Lighting held its first stakeholder meeting of 2015 on December 25. The meeting approved the election of non-independent directors and other agenda. Among FSL’s six new non- independent director members, five went to members from State- owned asset Supervision and Administration Commission of Guangdong Province and won the election with high votes. In addition, He Yong, with State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guangdong Province background, was selected as chairman of the FSL boards.

Coldwater, a city in the state of Michigan in U.S., is to look brighter soon. Coldwater Board of Public Utilities announced that it will only be supplying LED fixture in outdoor or security illumination.

Siemens has been indiscreet about its dissatisfaction with Osram’s R&D strategy recently. A report from German media Handelsbatt on Monday pointed out the lighting company’s largest shareholder intends to sell its 17% stake to an Asian buyer, just one week after Siemens announced it was unsupportive of Osram new business strategy.

After celebrating its centennial birthday earlier this month, the iconic golden’s Queen’s Necklace on the Marine Drive in Mumbai will be reclaiming its lost glow by bringing back sodium vapor lights, reported Indian media Mid Day.

Without a doubt, color rendition is a key subject of fascination – or lament? – among advanced lighting users. A lot of confusion reigns on this topic, for at least one good reason: it’s complicated! Having been fairly involved in the field over the past few years, I’d like to kick off some thoughts.

The City of Fairborn located in Ohio, U.S. has signed a deal with Miami Valley Lighting to operate and maintain streetlights, after the council approved the plan Monday.

Osram’s largest shareholder Siemens might be considering selling its 17% stake in the company, reported Reuters.Citing a report from leading German newspaper Handelsblatt, a source in the industry revealed Siemens might sell its stake in Osram to an Asian manufacturer. No further details were offered about the potential Asian candidate.

The LED lighting industry outlook for invisible LED business opportunities has been increasingly optimistic, with many international and Taiwanese companies jumping in this new blue sea market. Japanese, Korean, European and American manufacturers are all developing UV LEDs for curing, sterilization, medical, water and air purification systems. Security, retina recognition markets that require IR LED, are also presenting new business and technology opportunities for LED companies specializing in these fields.

Taiwanese OLED manufacturer Wisechip and a research team from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) intend to commercialize long-life economic OLED candle light by 2017, reported Taiwanese media Great News.

Renowned for its famous oranges, Nagpur, a city in India is struggling to install the targeted volume of LED streetlights, according to The Times of India.

Ashland, a city located in Oregon. U.S. has replaced some 33,670 decorative incandescent lights with LEDs in the city hall during this Christmas season, reported Ashland Daily Tidings.

During the Christmas season this year, the Japanese government announced plans of raising LED lighting market penetration as part of its global warming prevention strategies. Siemens announced shortly before the holidays that it had not known about Osram’s plan to invest in white LED chip manufacturing, and was unsupportive of the decision. In the automotive lighting sector, Audi expanded its advanced lighting options. LEDinside has also projected the car lighting market will reach US $2.29 billion by 2020. For further details about industry developments this week please see below.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Unity Opto Technology received orders from the European market and will be shipping in total products valuing US $3 million to US $4 million in a single quarter, the company is targeting US $30 million shipment volume.

Planar Systems, a global leader in display and digital signage technology, announced today that it has closed its sale to Leyard American Corporation, a subsidiary of Leyard Optoelectronic Co., Ltd., which designs, produces, and distributes a range of LED display products and its ancillary systems.

Engineers have successfully married electrons and photons within a single-chip microprocessor, a landmark development that opens the door to ultrafast, low-power data crunching.

LED package manufacturer Unity Opto has formed a close partnership with B&Q in Taiwan, and is an OEM of the home improvement retailer brand’s LED bulbs. B&Q’s “Super Value LED Bulb” costs only NT $99 (US $3), which is less expensive than Philips’ US $5 light bulb launched in summer and nearing the lowest pricing benchmark of US $2.5 per bulb in U.S. The low- priced LED bulbs will ignite fierce competition in Taiwan’s domestic market, reported Economic Daily News (EDN).

In response to partly misleading media reports ‒ most recently in the Mittelbayrische Zeitung under the headline "Siemens knew" ‒ regarding the involvement of Siemens in the planned strategic realignment of Osram AG, Siemens comments as follows:

This recall involves various Holiday Collection Christmas Lights. The Canadian Tire SKU number can be found on the box or receipt and by the CSA file numbers 224823 which can usually be found on the manufacturer's product identification label, which is a tag affixed to the wire of the light string. These CSA file numbers are not embossed on the plug of the light string; the numbers found on the plug relate only to that specific plug component and are not part of this recall.

Indian consumers are embracing the LED replacement wave, and have swapped more than 10 million traditional and CFL bulbs with LEDs within the last month, but some states have been delaying LED streetlight upgrades ahead of the upcoming elections, reported Indian media.

Seven Canadian climate entrepreneurs will be going into 2016 with a significant financial lift from a new grant program being offered by Shell Canada in collaboration with Canadian Geographic. 

Having survived oversupply in the LED industry, and endured a harsh winter, listed LED manufacturers have been leading the way in mergers and acquisitions in 2015. Listed companies mergers grew significantly this year to become a major trend on the market. Listed companies acquisitions and trade value have grown exponentially, reflecting features of listed companies merging with smaller companies. More than 37 merger deals were negotiated as of October 2015, and have continued to grow.

A Canadian startup designed a LED wearable that could be a helpful aid for first-time parents, when it comes to tending their child.