From their use in telecommunication to detecting hazardous chemicals, lasers play a major role in our everyday lives. They keep us connected, keep us safe, and allow us to explore the dark corners of the universe.

Ultravision International, a global leader in light-emitting diode (LED) products, has been awarded seven United States patents for innovations in the design and application of optics, lighting assemblies, heat-dissipation and moisture protection used to illuminate sophisticated out-of-home billboards around the world.

Demand for lighting equipment jumped 4.4% between the second and third quarters of 2015 to achieve what the National Lighting Bureau hails as “the best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2008.” The dramatic improvement – a 4.8% year-over-year gain – was revealed by data developed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) for the NEMA Lighting-Systems Index (LSI). According to NLB Executive Director John Bachner, “Three months ago we said that ‘lighting-equipment demand is moving in the right direction’ and “We’re optimistic that the next report will show continued growth over the third quarter.’ Our optimism has been justified; in fact, it has been more than justified. Lighting’s back!”

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group have established a joint fund to support the development of laser technology in Taiwan, and assist local companies brushless DC motor controlled IC modules enter the large Japanese vendors supply chain.

Acuity Brands  announced it has acquired for cash certain assets, including all proprietary technology and other intellectual property, of GeoMetri, LLC, a provider of a software and services platform for mapping, navigation and analytics.

Chinese TV manufacturer Skyworth is vying to sell 200,000 of its new OLED HDR TV panels by 2016, reported 4K.

A research team headed by Chong Wen Tong from University of Malaysia has developed a hybrid energy LED outdoor light, capable of imitating human scent to trap mosquitos.

New possibilities for utilizing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxi de are a topic at the UN Climate Change Conference. Related activities in industry, science and politics were presented at an accompanying event of the Paris Summit by Climate-KIC, a European Union initiative for climate innovations. Based on a model program named “enCO2re”, Climate-KIC wants to promote the partial replacement of increasingly scarce petroleum with carbon dioxide (CO2) in the plastics industry. The program is headed by materials manufacturer Covestro, a pioneer in the field.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

The United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released a paper on its final written decision “Adapted For” Language in Preamble IPR2014-00703, according to a report by The National Law Review.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) called on the California Energy Commission (CEC) today to ensure that California consumers have access to the most efficient and cost-effective LED bulbs currently on the market.

A team of engineers from Cornell University, the University of Notre Dame and the semiconductor company IQE has created gallium nitride (GaN) power diodes capable of serving as the building blocks for future GaN power switches -- with applications spanning nearly all electronics products and electricity distribution infrastructures.

LG Display will initiate its OLED lighting business operations, which was acquired from LG Chem, and focus on promotion as its next growth engine, reported Business Korea.

Organic semiconductor materials are already being employed today in solar cells and organic LEDs (OLEDs) amongst others. Until now, however, little was known about how the doping molecules are integrated into the chemical structure of organic semiconductors. The Molecular Systems Joint Research Team of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin at BESSY II have now analysed this with surprising results. The molecules are not necessarily uniformly dispersed in the host lattice, as it is usual with inorganic semiconductors, but instead form what are known as co-crystallites. 

A recent CNET report has noted Philips Hue latest operation software update in the form has ousted third-party smart bulbs, due to interoperability issues.

The Zhaga Consortium has published a new specification for LED drivers that are used in combination with separate LED modules. The introduction of standardized form-factors for LED drivers is expected to bring significant benefits for LED luminaire makers, including enhanced second-sourcing options and the ability to interchange different LED modules and drivers independently.

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.

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.

With the help of light-emitting diodes as small as neurons, University of Michigan researchers are unlocking the secrets of neural pathways in the brain.

European company Carbodeon has been granted a US patent for its technology which enables detonation-synthesised diamond particles (nanodiamonds) to be combined with polymers for use in fields such as personal electronics, LED lighting, automotive and machine tools.

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.

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.

MIT engineers have designed what may be the Band-Aid of the future: a sticky, stretchy, gel-like material that can incorporate temperature sensors, LED lights, and other electronics, as well as tiny, drug-delivering reservoirs and channels. The “smart wound dressing” releases medicine in response to changes in skin temperature and can be designed to light up if, say, medicine is running low.

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.