Sensor Electronic Technology (SETi) has announced that it has acquired the commercial operations of UV LED developer and manufacturer, Nitek, strengthening its position as global leaders in the UV LED marketplace.

Philips announced it will be closing down its lighting plant in Burgaw, Pender County in North Carolina, U.S. recently, according to a report byTriangle Business Journal.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, a leader in advanced LED lighting technology solutions, today announced that its distributor Brightness LLC has provided more than 3,500 RVLT LED Thin Panel and Vapor Tight fixtures for installation at Galeno Group's newest medical facility, Trinidad Ramos Mejia Hospital, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

MLS and Epistar share their outlook for 2016 and their current market strategies with LEDinside in recent interviews. The influence of COP21 meeting in Paris, France has raised governments and manufacturers awareness onto certain issues. Seoul Viosys announces its UV LEDs are close to 100% capable of eliminating hepatitis C virus.

Certain LED manufacturers have turned their attention to niche lighting market applications in the wake of declining LED profits, but MLS is ambitiously vying the IC semiconductor industry and emerging markets to boost its profitability in the future.

On December 10th, SEOUL VIOSYS (President Jaejo Kim,www.seoulviosys.com ), a global leading company in UV LED solutions, announced that they provided the Violeds, a space station cleaning technology, to Professor Soon-Bong Hwang, Korea’s leading expert in Hepatitis C research, and his research team (National Research Laboratory for Hepatitis C virus (NRL)) at Ilsong Institute of Life Sciences of Hallym University and the research team found that 99.9% of Hepatitis C virus was eliminated after a 5 minute-long exposure to the UV LED package with the application of the Violeds technology from the results of experiments that measured the effect of sterilization of Hepatitis C virus.

A research team headed by Ivy Hsu, Professor at Department of Bioscience Technology of Chung Yuan Christian University is betting on using LEDs to replace expensive laser lights in cancer surgery, reported CTimes.

Light and electricity dance a complicated tango in devices like LEDs, solar cells and sensors. A new anti-reflection coating developed by engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, lets light through without hampering the flow of electricity, a step that could increase efficiency in such devices.

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, together with Xiaomi, an internet-driven smartphone company, launches Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp - designed to deliver optimal eye comfort as you read or work¹. By collecting ‘light signals’ through the Xiaomi smartphone, Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp is able to automatically adjust the high quality connected light from Philips, ensuring your eyes have the right light for the task at hand.

Xicato, a leading manufacturer of intelligent light sources, has seen continued growth of over 35% annually, which has led to the expansion of its management team and increase of leadership in North America. The company is pleased to announce the promotion of several people on its leadership team: Willem Sillevis Smitt to Vice President of Sales and Marketing Worldwide, Peter Tseng to Vice President of Engineering, and Mike Peanasky to Vice President of Manufacturing.

In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, MLS General Manager Lawrence Lin discussed in-depth the company’s ongoing talks with German LED company Osram to acquire its lighting business at Taipei Building Show organized by Dollar International Industry earlier today.

Havells India, a manufacturer of lighting and electrical products, plans to sell most of its stake in European lighting system and fixtures company Sylvania. Sylvania is one of the four leading lighting brands in Europe and Latin America.

Philips, the global leader in lighting and Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT, today announce a global strategic alliance that will create new value in energy savings, building efficiency and employee productivity, made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT) in modern offices. This alliance brings together Philips’ LED based connected lighting system with Cisco’s IT network to address a global office market estimated to be worth EUR 1 billion¹.

"LED lighting solutions save power and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and they're not only environmentally-friendly but also economic. In most situations, costs for upgrading to LED lighting are paid back rapidly due to lower electricity costs," stated Dr. Eladia Pulido, CEO of the Osram Lighting Solutions business unit. Dr. Pulido took part in the podium discussion concerning "Energy Efficiency – The Game Changer" during the UN climate conference COP21 in Paris. Christophe Richon, Strategic Marketing Osram Lighting Solutions, also held a talk as part of the accompanying technical forum of the ADEME (French agency for environment and energy management) about "LED Streetlighting Solutions – An easy Switch for Cities".

Osram announced by raising the share of semiconductor sales from the global general lighting market could help it reduce the total cost of producing chips for LEDs at its new factory to be opened in Malaysia, reported Bloomberg.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) in India has implemented the central government sponsored Domestic Efficient Lighting Program (DELP) in areas under its jurisdiction, reported The Times of India.

Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has prevailed in a series of patent invalidation actions against Japanese lens maker Enplas also concluded royalty-bearing licenses regarding LED technology with North American television makers, which demonstrates the strength of Seoul’s LED technology and intellectual property program.

In October, GE launched Current, a startup focusing on bringing to market a holistic energy-as-a-service offering absent from the industry today. Former IBM Watson executive John Gordon just became Current’s first chief digital officer.

EcoSense®, a fast-growing LED technology company, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Journée Lighting.  Journée Lighting is a privately owned, CA-based lighting company that specializes in the design and development of specification grade lighting.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in conjuntion with the Canadaian government have recalled about 25,000 TCP PAR38 LED lamps over electrical shock hazards.

Epistar has come a long way from its foundation in 1996 to become one of the largest players in Taiwan’s LED industry, mergers and acquisitions played a significant role in the process of building up the company. The company Chairman B.J. Lee shared some insights on the company’s business strategies at the 2015 Pan Wen Yuan Prize Award Ceremony on Monday, which took place at the Shangri-La Hotel in Taipei.

Nobel physics laureate Shuji Nakamura recently said importance of Ultraviolet LEDs will grow as the next generation LED technology can also help prevent the spread of deadly diseases, and possibly eradicate them, according to a Korea Times report.

Rumors of Apple’s intention to trade existing LCD display technology for the lighter and thinner OLED screens has been circulating awhile on the market, a recent report from Japanese newspaper Nikkan has named Japan Display as the latest contender for Apple’s iPhone 8 OLED panel orders.

Stand next to a traditional incandescent bulb and a light-emitting diode (LED) bulb, and you will feel the difference as much as see it. Both produce the same amount of light, yet the incandescent bulb is too hot to touch. All that excess heat is wasted energy.

At COP21 in Paris today, Philips Lighting released a paper highlighting the unprecedented energy savings potential of a global transition to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. 

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting and the City of San Jose officially announced a project to pilot 50 Philips SmartPoles, which bring together energy efficient LED lighting and fully integrated 4G LTE wireless technology by Ericsson. This pilot was initiated through the City’s Demonstration Partnership Policy, which was established to support the City’s Economic Development Strategy and City operations. The pilot partnership will also help test backbone technology needed to power San Jose’s smart city transformation so that it can save energy, have brighter streets at night, and respond to the changing needs of its residents.

Ameresco, a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, and the Newport News Public Schools (NNPS) announced today they are partnering on a comprehensive $14.8 million Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) to improve buildings and increase operational efficiency. The infrastructure upgrades are expected to deliver greater energy efficiency and operational cost savings, enhance comfort for building occupants, reduce greenhouse gasses and emissions, and demonstrate the Schools’ ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship.

The LED backlight industry might still experience an exceptionally cool season in 2016, but breakthroughs are expected in the tube light replacement market, said Epistar Chairman B.J.Lee at the 2015 Pan Wen Yuan Prize Award Ceremony at the Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan earlier today.

World leaders gathered in Paris last week for the 21st UN climate conference, known as COP21. At the meeting, U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz highlighted several solutions to reduce carbon emissions, including launching a Climate Energy Ministerial initiative to encourage the adoption of LED bulbs worldwide.

At COP21 heads of some of the planet's biggest brands - Unilever, Google, IKEA, Philips and Marks & Spencer - along with policymakers from around the world, shared their core commitments to decarbonizing. Collectively they send a clear message that  business is expecting a long-term goal from the global climate talks in Paris next week, in order to make longer-term low carbon investment decisions.