As previously announced, Bang & Olufsen a/s ("Bang & Olufsen") initiated a review to identify strategic and structural options to increase scale and further reduce complexity within Bang & Olufsen.

With the industry’s biggest biennial lighting event, Light+Building 2016 running for the whole week at Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Center in Germany, the show hosted by Messe Frankfurt has resulted in a deluge of new lighting product releases. To make things easier for readers, and those who were unable to attend the show, we’ll pick a few highlights.

Heliospectra, a world leader in intelligent lighting technology for crop cultivation and plant research, have together with Gothenburg University and biotech companies CropTailor and OlsAro, successfully grown cereals (oat and barley) in a controlled environment under sole source LED lighting. The report entitled “Growth and development of cereals in a controlled environment with sole source LED lighting” demonstrate the potential to cultivate staple foods in a closed environment anywhere in the world. 

NanoLumens and Navori have revealed a new partnership and the development of a unified strategy to provide digital signage networks to end users and system integrators.

On the biennial Light+Building 2016 organized by Messe Frankfurt, Samsung Electronics (SAMSUNG) and Wellmax Lighting (WELLMAX) jointly showcased their collaboration on LED technologies. The smallest 810lm full-beam-angle LED A50 bulb—the Ultron—is firstly released and gained tremendous attention from visitors worldwide.

Indian city Varansi’s ambitious project to replace old streetlights with LEDs in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency has been delayed, 33,000 streetlight replacements scheduled for completion in September 2015 is long overdue, reported Times of India.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Daintree Networks®—the leader in open networked wireless control, sensing and Enterprise Internet of Things™ solutions for smart buildings—are collaborating on joint solutions involving Samsung’s smart lighting module (SLM). Samsung’s SLM, which will be integrated with LED luminaires from lighting OEMs, enables greater intelligence through device-level processing, as well as enhanced connectivity through multiple embedded communications technologies, including the open standard ZigBee® protocol.  Combining Samsung’s SLM technology with the Daintree Networks ControlScope® networked wireless control solution makes new Internet of Things (IoT) applications possible for smart buildings.

The Fegime Group, the European-wide collaboration of 230 electrical wholesalers, has added the Aurora Group, global manufacturer of energy saving LED lighting solutions, as a preferred supplier of Lighting products in Europe. The agreement will see Aurora Group products being made available to electrical contractors via Fegime’s 1,150 sales points across 27 countries.

Xenics USA, Xenics North and Latin American office covering the full spectral range of Xenics' advanced infrared imagers, cores and cameras, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Laser Components’ North American sales, marketing and distribution office. With this new agreement, Laser Components USA, Inc. will become the partner to sell and market Xenics in-house developed SWIR line-scan imagers with rectangular pixels. This partnership will further extend Xenics position in the North American IR spectroscopy market. The agreement was jointly signed on February 12, 2016 at the Photonics West Trade show held in San Francisco.

Essex County Council in UK projects it will be able to save about GBP 24 million (US$ 34.23 million) over 20 years with new LED streetlight installations, but despite energy savings it still plans to implement its part-night lighting scheme, reported local paper Dealer Offers.

China officially released13th Five-Year Plan, a crucial document that not only underpins China’s development in the following five years, but clearly demonstrates the country’s economic deployment that could create booming investment opportunities. But exactly which market sectors and emerging trends will follow the newly- released plan? Should LED display vendors invest in the right market, their revenues could potentially soar.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that ANSI Accredited Standards Committee C136 revised ANSI C136.15-2015 Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment—Luminaire Field Identification. This standard provides a simple, uniform method for identifying the type and wattage rating of luminaires used for roadway and area lighting. Types include high-intensity discharge, fluorescent, compact fluorescent, light-emitting diode/solid state lighting, induction, and plasma technologies.

Today at Light + Building, the world’s leading trade show for lighting and building services technology, Samsung Electronics and Silver Spring Networks announced a partnership to develop a networked LED street lights solution, helping to cut costs and simplify connected lighting componentry for luminaire manufacturers.  This will accelerate the road to smart cities for municipalities, utilities, transportation departments and other outdoor lighting network operators.  

Philips Lighting, a Royal Philips company and global leader in lighting, is helping to drive the adoption of the smart home by partnering up with Dutch telecoms company KPN, French insurance firm AXA and French energy company ENGIE. With lighting considered to be one of the main interests in the connected home along with energy and security , collaborations such as these not only help drive the adoption of the Internet of Things for homes but also deliver energy savings and peace of mind when away from home.

Qualcomm announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, is working closely with Acuity Brands in the commercial deployment of LED lighting fixtures/services (marketed by Acuity Brands as Bytelight™ Services) that use Qualcomm® Lumicast™ technology to bring indoor positioning capabilities and services to retailers. Unlike RF-based technologies, Lumicast uses visible-light signals transmitted from LED fixtures to deliver indoor positioning. A regular smartphone, using apps enabled by Lumicast software, receives the light signals through the front camera to determine its position and orientation with exceptional precision and speed.

Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, announces its support for advances in color science and the new TM-30 method released by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). TM-30 uses an optimized calculation method to preclude the errors found in the color-rendering index (CRI), the current industry standard.

Leading Taiwanese LED epiwafer manufacturer revenues dropped 12% YoY to NT $1.64 billion (US$ 50.63 million), the lowest revenue reported over the last three years, according to a report from Taiwanese media Money DJ earlier this week.

Arianna Tozzi from The Climate Group  addresses in this article how U.S. mayors are valuing LED lighting replacements in their efforts to reduce city carbon emission and energy consumption.

NICHIA Corporation, the pioneer and the leader in LED technology and Future Lighting Solutions (FLS), the world-class leader and innovator in demand creation, marketing and distribution of solid-state lighting technologies, announced a new distribution agreement covering the Americas and Europe*.  

The Color-Rendering Index (CRI) is a well-established tool used to indicate how accurately a given light source renders color when compared to a "reference" light source. The higher a given light source’s CRI (rated on a 0% to 100% scale), the better its color-rendering ability is assumed to be.

The photonic sensors market has undergone a drastic change based on the research undertaken in the domain of photonic technology in the past. The photonic technology has exhibited increasing application in varied fields. Incessant technological advancements and innovations in the field of fiber optics have driven the adoption of photonic sensors. The photonic industry is now focusing on the development of efficient products. It is now being estimated that over the next few years, eco-friendly and energy saving photonic sensors would be developed and launched into the market.

New  EVG®7200 LA SmartNIL™ system brings high-resolution and low cost-of-ownership advantages to high-end displays, photonics, optics and biotechnology applications.

Sedna Lighting, a British based LED lighting manufacturer and global distributor highlights young engineering talent in partnership with Cardiff University.

Franklin County High School in Brookville, IN has selected Qualite Sports Lighting for the highest quality lighting systems to light Baseball, Softball and Soccer Athletic Fields. Each venue will be illuminated with the Qualite Pro Series Lighting System, with visors for optimum spill/ light control. A total 112, 1650 watt fixtures will ensure an excellent experience for the athletes and fans.

It has been done. A group of British researchers have succeeded in growing laser on silicon substrates, which could pave the way to economic super computers in the future. If this technology leaves the lab, it could overturn the lighting industry.

GCS Holdings, a pure III-V compound semiconductor wafer foundry announced it sealed an acquisition deal with Chinese manufacturer San’an Opto. San’an Opto will purchase 100% of GCS Holdings’ stake for US $226 million.

Honglitronic announced its fiscal performance for the first quarter of 2016 jumped at least 110%.

Philips Lighting will be speeding up R&D in China to compete with established competitors in the next five years, according to a report from China Daily.

Billion Electric, the global leader and developer of enterprise-level ICT and Intelligent Energy Management technologies, is pleased to announce that its LCMS™ (Smart Street Light Control and Management System) has been adopted by the Taipei City Government to complete a freeway Smart LED Street Light project in the city. In the cooperation with the Taiwanese Ministry of Economy, Billion LCMS™ demonstrates the capability to automatically report street light failures and repairing information, advanced scheduling and dimming features, and control intelligence and energy-efficiency.

Monocrystal, a global leader in synthetic sapphire growing and processing, will exhibit world’s first 300 kg KY sapphire crystal at Semicon China 2016 in Shanghai, March 15-17 at booth #2321, together with its traditional products for LED, consumer electronics and optics.