LED designer and manufacturer Illumitex today announced the extension and expansion of its popular USDA grant application program.  The program helps customers tap into a $50M grant fund available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The fund, called Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), provides grants to agricultural entities in both rural and urban settings that implement energy-efficiency improvements or a renewable energy system.

Royal Philips today announced that its working with Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s leading live entertainment company, to connect music fans everywhere through intimate emerging artist performances and interactive connected lighting using Philips Hue. In a series of exclusive online videos, the Living Light Sessions, music lovers everywhere will be able to watch up-and-coming artists perform songs from living rooms outfitted with the Philips Hue connected lighting system. The inaugural Living Light Sessions performance, featuring Rudimental, whose single “Lay It All On Me” is currently charting globally, is now available online at meethue.com.

Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. today introduced a new automotive-grade IHLP® low-profile, high-current inductor in the 3232 case size that is the industry’s first to feature high continuous operating temperatures to +180 °C. Offering a low 4.0 mm profile, the Vishay Dale IHLP-3232DZ-8A provides a wide range of inductance values from 0.22 µH to 33 µH.

Singles Day celebrated by China every November 11 is one of the biggest shopping spree days in the country that can only be comparable to Black Friday in U.S., or Boxing Day in UK. Online Chinese retailer Alibaba has set a brand new record this year, completing business transactions at a much faster rate than last year.

LEDs might be a new lighting product, but it is being widely applied in different types of lighting applications, according to a report from Chinese-language Emerging Industry Strategic Library. To strengthen and advance energy saving technologies, many countries have issued their own LED lighting standards. Lighting was included in China’s energy efficiency standards, which became effective in January 2008, while the Energy Star in the U.S. has set certain energy efficiency standards during the certification process. The EU directive on energy-related products (ErP) covers LED energy savings.

The scale of the LED lighting market is growing steadily, according to 2016 Global LED Lighting Market Trends Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. LEDinside estimates that the scale of the LED lighting market will reach US$25.7 billion in 2015 and expand to US$30.5 billion in 2016. The penetration rate of LED lighting is also projected to climb from 31% in 2015 to 36% in 2016.   Joanne Wu, LEDinside assistant research manager, stated that sharp price declines have severely impacted the margins of replacement products such as LED light bulbs and light tubes. Consequently, lighting companies begin to shift their focus to professional lighting markets and hope that increases in government spending, especially in new public projects, will create new opportunities. Sectors with tremendous growth potentials include industrial lighting, commercial lighting and architectural lighting.

In addition to the Osram application center for aftermarket products in Herbrechtingen, there is now a second one in Asia, which was officially opened in Shanghai on November 9, 2015. This brings Osram closer to business customers in the Asian region. On the one hand, it helps to deal with requests from customers in Asia more quickly, and on the other, technical queries and issues can be resolved together with the customer.

The U.S. Department of Energy's GATEWAY program has released a report on a trial installation of LED apron lighting at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). In addition to reducing energy, PHL also hoped to reduce required maintenance, reduce light pollution, and increase safety with an improved lighting system.

The ONE Music Group announced its U.S. debut of The ONE Smart Piano and The ONE Light keyboard at select online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Recently named a CES 2016 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Smart Home product category by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, The ONE Smart Piano is the first and only Apple MFi-certified smart piano that works with an app to teach users to play.

Using the industry-leading LUXEON M, LUXEON XR-M can be combined with standard lenses, lens plates and easily-mounted drivers to provide the industry’s simplest LED solution for streetlights and high/low bay fixtures yet.

EarthTronics, dedicated to developing innovative energy-efficient lighting products that provide a positive economic and environmental impact for its customers, now offers “Plug and Play” and Direct Wire linear LED tubes as an energy-efficient solution for replacing T8 fluorescent bulbs for office, retail, hospitality, restaurant and long-term care locations. These Design Light Consortium (DLC)-listed bulbs feature glass tube construction that ensure proper system cooling to support high lumen maintenance over the 50,000-hour rated life of the product. 

 Investments of around EUR 2 billion (US$) planned in research and development by 2020.  Additional EUR 1 billion intended for the construction of a new LED chip plant by 2020.  “Diamond” initiative promotes growth and sustained enterprise value Until 2020, average annual growth rates of 8% for revenue and 9% for EBITDA expected

Osram managed the challenges of the changing lighting market very well in the fiscal year that ended in September 2015 and laid a strong foundation for future growth. EBITA1 excluding special items rose 26 percent on a year-on-year basis to €567 million, translating into a margin of 10.2 percent. Cost savings, positive currency effects as well as simplified corporate structures have contributed to this earnings increase. The reported EBITA margin reached 5.3 percent despite high transformation costs, while net income declined to €171 million. Revenue, on the other hand, rose eight percent to almost €5.6 billion. On a comparable basis, i.e., adjusted for portfolio and currency effects, revenue remained almost stable with a decline of around one percent. Based on the current corporate structure, the company expects comparable revenue in fiscal 2016 to be slightly below the prior year’s level. The adjusted EBITA margin is likely to be substantially below the level of fiscal 2015, among other things due to expenses attributable to the “Diamond” innovation and growth initiative. In contrast, net income is expected to increase sharply due to the anticipated book gain from the announced sale of the shares in Foshan Electrical & Lighting Co., Ltd. (Felco). Osram confirms that a dividend of €0.90 per share will be proposed for fiscal 2015 to the Annual General Meeting. For fiscal 2016, the company also intends to pay a dividend of at least €0.90 per share.

EVERLIGHT, one of the leading LED manufacturers in the world, is going to showcase a wide variety of product lines in China Electronic Fair in Shanghai this year, including highly efficient lighting, IR and car products that have been the center of attention all year round. EVERLIGHT is capable of satisfying customers’ expectation for high-quality products, and offers a one-stop, all-round solution for best service available with every need.

Intense price competitions in the LED market over the last few years has caused manufacturers a lot of pain, but it is also the driving force of technology innovation. An emerging trend is the transition of L1 manufacturers migration into L2 manufacturing, projected Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director Asia, Lumileds at LEDforum 2015, held at Room 201, National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan.

LEDs combined with solar energy are becoming a top choice in humanitarian aid missions to Africa, which aim to eliminate harmful pollution from burning kerosene lamps that has been the main cause of household air pollution and estimated to be the cause of death of 500,000 people in the continent each year, reported The Conversation.

Plessey announced that it has collaborated with 8Point3 to develop and produce a high efficiency architectural lighting product range. 8Point3 is a provider of market leading, energy-saving, solid-state lighting solutions for a range of solid state lighting solutions for both the private and public sectors.  Plessey has signed a long-term commercial agreement with 8point3 to supply the lighting modules, including the company's MaGIC™ GaN-on-Silicon LEDs.

Philips introduced two new smartphones that employs its Soft Blue technology to reduce eye strain in October 31, 2015 in China, according to an article from Vine Report.

LEDinside covered many different LED applications over the course of the last few years, but few have taken it “skin-deep”.

Have you ever been walking the aisles of a Supermarket or Big Box store, maybe you had a little trouble finding a few things and ended up in there a little longer than you anticipated. Then, all of a sudden, you feel so agitated and uncomfortable that every passing minute seems to make you feel worse? There’s definitely a time limit to those stores or at least an awareness when we’ve entered the penalty time and need to get out of there ASAP. There is certainly no shortage of bothersome elements in those stores, despite their convenience, but one of the main culprits for that fatigued, annoyed feeling you get is the lighting. It’s very apparent how artificial the lighting in those places is.

Luxexcel, the only company in the world able to 3d print functional optics and OPTIS, the leading software vendor for the scientific simulation of light, human vision and physically correct visualization, announce a collaboration. This collaboration enables an easy route from CAD design to custom 3D printed prototype.

Blending cutting edge optics with smooth curves, MaxLite introduces LED Architectural Flood Lights as the ultimate design tool for transforming buildings and outdoor spaces into works of art.

World renowned UV LED solution company Seoul Viosys announced on November 5th its plan to partner with Watersprint, a Swedish company developing water purification products and systems to develop a clean water supply solution.

According to the latest report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, the global average price of 40W LED replacement light bulbs rose 2.8% monthly to US$11.1 in October, while the 60W replacement bulbs rose 3.5% to US$15. LEDinside analyst Allen Yu said that vendors in the U.S. and Europe have called a truce in their price war after three consecutive quarters of downtrend. Prices of some promoted products thus saw noticeable rebound in the first half of October. LEDinside also reports that the Chinese LED package market saw prices falling in same month despite a demand upturn in the TV backlight application.

The word was out last Friday that Osram is in the process of selling its lamp business, which comprises traditional lighting businesses and LED luminaires, with Chinese manufacturers showing the greatest interest in bidding for the German company’s prized luminaire businesses.

German lighting manufacturer Osram has initiated the sales process of its lamps business, which it intends to spin-off operations from the group by next April and legally by July, a Reuters report cited a company spokesman saying recently.

Chinese LED manufacturer MLS, or also known as Forest Lighting announced recently it plans to optimize the integration of its business resources, and strengthen business competitiveness by entering the bid for Osram Licht lighting business.

Cree’s fully owned subsidiary Wolfspeed, and Lockheed Martin have jointly developed a special chip to help track down space debris including remains of satellites orbiting the earth, reported Triangle Business Journal.

As India prepares for the upcoming lighting festival Diwali, one of the biggest celebrations in the nation, decorative lighting products imported from China are becoming highly visible in Patna, reported the Times of India.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a minimally invasive procedure for gallbladder removal, and one of the most common surgical procedures worldwide. While the procedure has a very high success rate, 1 in 200 patients will sustain serious bile duct injury, primarily due to misidentification of the biliary anatomy. With 800,000 procedures carried out in the United States each year that means in the U.S. alone 4,000 patients will be seriously injured.