Sensity Systems, the pioneer of Light Sensory Networks (LSNs), has closed a private funding round of $36 million led by Cisco Investments and includes industry leaders Acuity Brands, GE Ventures and Simon Venture Group (corporate investment arm of Simon Property Group). Sensity has now raised a total of $74 million since its inception from venture investors Almaz Capital, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Radar Partners and Silver Creek Ventures, in addition to these four industry-leading lighting, networking and retail organizations. The investment will be used to scale Sensity’s NetSense platform and application developer program globally.

Lumileds launches the LUXEON 3535L Color Line, giving  builders of emergency vehicle lights, signs, color tunable bulbs and architectural lamps access to high quality, single color mid power LEDs in Red, Red-Orange, Phosphor-Converted (PC) Amber, Lime, Green and Blue. “The tremendous success our customers have had with our high power color emitters convinced us that multiple markets could benefit from similar colors in the mid power performance range” said David Cosenza, Product Manager for the LUXEON 3535L Color Line.

FLEXCurtain LED video screen finds a new application on “Brain Games” commercial   Working with production company Variable and design studio Meptik, the industry-leading lightweight, flexible PixelFLEX FLEXCurtain was selected for an application beyond traditional video use in a commercial for the National Geographic Channel. Featured as a futuristic, movable environment, eight panels of the PixelFLEX 100mm FLEXCurtain LED video screen were used to create a textured environment promoting the hit show “Brain Games.”

iFixit recent teardown of iPod touch 6 revealed the absence of sapphire covered lens, reported Apple Insider.

Shenzhen Kaifa Technology (Kaifa) announced its LED subsidiary Kaistar will be acquiring 100% shares of a major U.S. LED company for US $130 million recently, reported China’s Securities Daily.

Ford is developing advanced lighting technology that enables drivers to more easily see potential hazards when driving at night Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System widens beam at junctions and roundabouts after interpreting traffic signs GPS-enabled system uses forward-facing camera to remember roadways and direct lighting to help drivers better see bends in the road – effectively lighting the way home on previously travelled routes Spot Lighting uses infra-red camera to detect pedestrians, cyclists, and animals, and highlight the potential hazards; system can detect up to eight potential hazards and highlight two highest priorities using specially designed headlights and on-screen display

To capitalize on the growing interest in cadmium-free quantum dot (CFQD) technology within the lighting industry, Nanoco Group announced the formation of a new division dedicated to furthering CFQD® Quantum Dot technology in the lighting industry. The new division is part of the company’s business expansion strategy to accelerate commercialization and further development in its four key target markets – electronic display, LED lighting, biological imaging and solar power. Nanoco’s Torsten Schanze will lead the division as its General Manager.

Designed to precisely and beautifully light small objects and spaces, Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaNTM LED technology, launched today the first full visible spectrum 4-degree AR111 LED lamp. The IEC size standard, 6W AR111 4D LED lamp has outstanding peak intensity; flawless beam definition and edges; exceptional color (CRI of 95 and R9 of 95) and whiteness rendering; and is customizable with the company’s SNAP System.

Panasonic Corporation announced that it donated 3,000 solar lanterns to United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for use in Ebola affected regions. These lanterns have started to be distributed in 3 West African countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone). Panasonic first donated 240 lanterns back in December 2014.

GlacialLight, the diversified LED technology provider, announces an emergency backup module for its PL0606 & PL0312 ceiling panel lights and an emergency light version of its TL0606 troffer light. The new GL-EM01F emergency backup module installs directly on the PL0606 and PL0312 panel lights and powers the emergency light version of the TL0606 troffer light, providing 90 minutes or more of constant-current power to keep these LED luminaires running in case of building power loss.

Recently, Spark Optoelectronics won the bidding of project of comprehensive LED lighting products for the third phase of Shenzhen metro line 7 depends on excellent R&D technological advantage and 15 years’ rich experience in LED lighting solution, which marks the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership between Spark Optoelectronics and Shenzhen metro.  

British electronica trio Years and Years are touring summer festivals and venues with an ingenious bespoke LED strip screen mapped by an Avolites Ai Infinity EX8 server.

In response to Nichia Corporation’s press release posted on July 16, 2015, Everlight clarifies that all claims of Nichia’s EP 936682 (DE 69702929) patent have been declared invalid by the German Federal Patent Court. The infringement action on this patent has been stayed by the German Düsseldorf appellate court. 

Nichia is taking a very strong approach in its latest legal actions taken against Everlight. After announcing the German court has asked Everlight from refraining from using misleading or untruthful interview content about Nichia’s YAG patent status, the company followed up by enforcing its new YAG patent against Everlight in Germany a day later.

A new white LED patent which covers, among others, YAG phosphors has been granted by the European Patent Office in favor of Nichia Corporation ("Nichia"), namely EP 2 197 053.

China’s LED package market grew 19% Year-on-Year (YoY) to US $8.6 billion in 2014, according to LEDinside’s 2015 Global Sapphire and LED Chip Market Report. The lighting market has been the major growth momentum for the industry, as the LED commercial lighting and residential lighting market penetration rates soar, it has continued to stimulate market growth.

Chinese LED manufacturer Unilumen recently announced it has cancelled plans of acquiring a foreign firm for US $300 million, according to a cnledw.com report.

A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) have strong antibacterial effect on major foodborne pathogens, and are most effective when in cold temperatures (between 4°C and 15°C) and mildly acidic conditions of around pH 4.5.

An ideal track lighting solution for challenging applications, WAC Lighting unveils the latest Paloma lighting design, a museum-quality LED luminaire with an adjustable LED beam angle that ranges between 15 and 60 degrees using easy and convenient fingertip control.

It usually can be costly to transform your favorite sneakers into flashy LED ones, but Blinky Shoes is offering a much more economic DIY version for upgrading your Converse or Nike sneakers into a brightly colored shoe.

Madame Zingara’s unique South African travelling theatrical experience is reinventing itself in bigger, better and more opulent surroundings than ever before. The installation of the custom built, triple story speigelpaleis, known as the Queen of Flanders” on Cape Town’s Grand Parade offers the creative energies of the Madame Zingara team even more scope to dazzle and astound their audiences.“The Celebration” is the culmination of 15 years of the dinner cirque’s fantastical journey and looks set to live up to every bit of hype around it.

Huntkey Enterprise Group has expanded its product lines with a series of consumer electronic products, including power banks and LED lights.

Further details of Ledman’s acquisition of a Chinese LED luminaire company has finally been confirmed today.

The global market value from the external sales of LED chips grew 18% from US$3.677 billion in 2013 to US$4.35 billion in 2014, according to the 2015 Global Sapphire and LED Chip Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. The share of Chinese companies in the external sales market also rose from 27% in 2013 to 36% in 2014. 

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, today announced that Hubbell Lighting, a division of Hubbell Incorporated has joined its LED Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs Licensing Program. Through membership of its open Licensing Program, Hubbell Lighting, Inc. will benefit from Philips’ patented and leading-edge innovations in LED control and system-level technologies.

“PEA presents EcoLightTech Asia 2015” will be held together with “C-Tech 2015” and “SolarTech 2015” during19-21 November 2015 at 10.00-18.00 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand.

Royal Philips  announced the appointment of Andy Ho as Chief Executive Officer for Greater China per November 2, 2015, succeeding Patrick Kung, who will retire on December 31, 2015. To ensure a seamless transition, Mr. Ho will join Philips on August 3, 2015, as Executive Vice President, Royal Philips, reporting to Philips CEO Frans van Houten. Mr. Ho joins Philips from IBM Corp., where he has held a wide range of sales, technology and senior management roles across Greater China, Canada and the United States in a career spanning over 30 years. His latest roles at IBM were General Manager for Greater China North and, subsequently, General Manager Technology Partnership and Strategic Alliances for Greater China.

Cree announces the new XLamp® XHP35 family of LEDs with 50 percent more light output than Cree’s previous highest-performing single-die LED, setting a new performance standard for the 3.5mm footprint. Built on Cree’s SC5 Technology™ platform, the XHP35 LED introduces Cree’s breakthrough high-voltage power die architecture, empowering manufacturers to unleash the full capacity of extreme high power LEDs using existing drivers. The new XHP35 LED delivers up to 1,833 lumens without the optical inefficiencies of a multi-die LED to enable new designs with reduced size and lower system costs.

When working in the world of live television production, the lighting rig stands at the forefront called upon to provide a wide variety of creative looks. Nowhere is this more important than on two of television’s most-watched events, the Grammy and Academy Awards, where both productions showcase a number of artists with individual lighting needs. As a veteran of both productions, lighting director and programmer Andy O’Reilly knows exactly what it takes to bring all these performances to life, and this year, he and his team got to do so with the assistance of VL4000 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

Some 140 GLP impression X4 series fixtures were out in force at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest (ESC 2015) which took place at the 16,000 capacity Wiener Stadthalle in Austria.