The three most important light sources to impact human life in the 21st century will be sunlight, LEDs and lasers, said Professor Puspendu Das, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Xcel Energy proposed a plan to replace about 100,000 company-owned streetlights with new energy efficient LED lighting. If approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, the plan would help communities reduce their streetlight energy use by about half.

Tata Power and Osram India have formed a LED joint initiative in Mumbai to lower LED tube prices to US $1.62. This is very close to the Indian government’s targeted price of less than US $1 in 2014. A lot of grow light developments in the last two weeks. A Japanese company Spread is planning to start constructing an automated vegetable factory in spring 2016. Meanwhile the U.S. government is financing an innovative lighting research project that aims to use lighting to boost plant immunity. Sharp also announced an innovative LED bulb its developing in partnership with Hiroshima prefecture to keep plants safe from moths.

San’an Opto announced Thursday its subsidiary specializing in integrated circuits (IC) has borrowed RMB 140 million (US $22.04 million) loan that will be paid in 10 year instalments at an interest rate of 1.20%.

A recent ruling made by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated claims of Japanese LED lens manufacturer Enplas patent for a device applied in LCD backlight, which marks a win for rival Seoul Semiconductor, reported Law 360.

Indian government incentives promoting the replacement of conventional lighting with LED bulbs has helped a state union Puducherry save INR 27.1 million (US $420,000) in energy bills, reported The Hindu.

LumiGrow Research, the research division of horticultural LED lighting manufacturer LumiGrow released seven new scientific posters that reveal how crop morphology and productivity can be affected through the application of varied light spectra. LumiGrow research, conducted in partnership with commercial growers and universities, demonstrates breakthrough capabilities that adjustable-spectrum LED lighting now provides growers.

Illumitex, LED innovator and maker of the world’s most optically advanced lighting products for horticulture, today announced it has launched a new division to further its mission of helping indoor growers become more profitable.

Efore Plc's subsidiary, ROAL Electronics has been selected by Quick S.p.A., a leading company in marine equipment, to jointly develop a LED luminaire for marine and industry applications.

LED package manufacturer Unity Opto revenues is expected to rise in fourth quarter, spurred by the launch of a distribution and OEM deal it sealed with Toshiba in March, reported Liberty Times.

Patent wars set the tone for first half of 2015, a long list of lawsuits included Everlight’s long battle with Nichia, and patent disputes between Cree and Feit Electric. These developments alerted Chinese manufacturers to the fact that they had very little influence and power in the world of patents. Moreover, there were still many obstacles for Chinese companies to overcome.

Sharp announced it has teamed up with Japan’s  Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute's Agricultural Center to develop moth repellent LED bulbs to prevent the nocturnal pests from destroying crops, and to suppress the lighting’s impact on crops.

The English town Blackburn, locates approximately 20.9 miles north of Manchester, received LED streetlight replacement about one week ago. The retrofit accidentally led to one local family sleepless for several nights.

According to a latest Bloomberg report, Fairchild Semiconductor International hired Goldman Sachs Group to help it find a potential buyer, potential suitors in the lineup include ON Semiconductor and Infineon.

VTT-originated Flexbright Oy and Russian company NNCRM have agreed on partnership to develop Flexbright's innovative LED foil project. This offers many business opportunities to further innovation and design making use of Internet of Things technology, for example.

Mason LED subsidiary announced Wednesday its subsidiary Rishang has formed a new LED joint venture with Changchun Railway Vehicles Facilities.

Forest Lighting, the USA division of global LED manufacturing leader MLS, announced it has received certification from The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International) covering its T8 LED tube lamps. 

Chip Scale Package (CSP) has been in the LED industry for some time, and many manufacturers have followed in Lumileds footsteps and launched CSP LED products. Even LED package manufacturers are entering the field, but CSP applications are rarely seen in lighting applications.

Silver Spring Networks announced it has been selected to deliver an intelligent LED street lights network in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Silver Spring Networks will be deploying its award-winning smart street lights solution, including its Streetlight.Vision control software, to network 43,000 LED luminaires provided by LED Roadway Lighting, a manufacturer of smart lighting systems. Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia and, with more than 400,000 residents and geographic area covering almost 2,500 square miles, is the largest municipal area in Canada’s maritime province region.

When Sandia National Laboratories electronics engineer Chris Carlen got enthusiastic about flashlights containing high-power light-emitting devices (LEDs), he didn’t expect his hobby to lead to the creation of a new, high-speed LED driver that delivers lighting performance that exceeds that of conventional sources at a fraction of the cost.

OSRAM SYLVANIA has expanded the Hillsboro manufacturing capabilities by adding the first advanced Surface Mount Technology (SMT) production line for manufacturing LED modules in the plant.  OSRAM as the automotive lighting leader is pushing the transition to LED systems by investing in R&D and production capacities, infrastructure and talent to support the technology migration. 

As a part of the restaurant chain's continued commitment to making its restaurants and operations more socially responsible, the SUBWAY® brand has made LED lighting standard for all new and remodeled restaurants.  This important upgrade will provide energy-efficient lighting that, in 2014 with a small percentage of stores participating, saved 21.9 million kilowatt hours – enough energy to power 1,996 households in a single year.

Two years ago, Guangdong Rising Assets Management (GRAM) was a relatively unheard name in China’s LED lighting industry, but recently it has become one of the most recognized companies in the local LED industry, according to a Dazhaoming report. The motives behind the state-owned enterprise’s investments in top Chinese LED players Nationstar and Foshan Lighting reflect the involvement of important government strategies.

Round Rock, a city in Texas, U.S., is one of the first cities to conduct smart LED streetlight tests, according to Round Rock Patch’s report.

Royal Philips  announced that Abhijit Bhattacharya, who is currently CFO of Philips Lighting and project leader for the creation of  Lighting as a standalone company, has succeeded Ron Wirahadiraksa as CFO of Royal Philips, with immediate effect.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have awarded US $1.7 million to study the novel use of light to suppress a broad group of plant pathogens affecting sustainable production of organically grown crops. 

According to recently released TechSci Research report, "United States Visible Light Communication Market Forecast &Opportunities, 2020", Visible Light Communication (VLC) market in the United States is projected to surpass grow at a CAGR of more than 20% during 2015 - 2020. The market is forecast to exhibit exponential growth during the forecast period on account of rising mobile data traffic, growing research & development activities, and increasing government support. Growing adoption of LED lights, coupled with rising awareness of high data transmission rate provided by VLC, is further driving the visible light communication market in the country.

CLEANLIFE® Energy, creators of clean and innovative solutions for commercial, residential and niche markets today announced that CLEANLIFE® has signed a comprehensive, worldwide patent license agreement with Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, for the LED Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs Licensing Program

Low market demands in the past few months has driven Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek to explore innovative LED technologies including forming a partnership that includes teaming up with Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) to develop LED thread and related technology applications

Chinese sapphire maker Aurora announced last week, it would be investing RMB 40 million (US $6.32 million) in a new investment management arm to integrate investments in the sapphire supply chain, according to a report from China Securities Network.