CALL-FOR-ENTRIES Research into LED technology started in 1962, 53 years ago, but the invention and development of the high-power white-light LED to use for illumination has only made it into our everyday life since 1995. We celebrate the 20th anniversary of this benchmark with the 'happy LED life!' competition.

Cree LED business will undergo restructures, which the company estimates will cost a total US $85 million. According to Roger Chu, Director, Research Division, LEDinside, the company has been hurt by LED bulb price wars. Startup 3D LED company Aledia has successfully completed its round B financing, and has been backed by IKEA GreenTech and automotive lighting company Valeo. Valeo has a 10% stake in Aledia, and appears to be interested in using 3D LED technology in its future automotive lighting products. Merck continues to show interest in OLED technology and has invested in another manufacturing plant in Germany. The company aims to become one of the leading OLED material companies by 2018.

The Guangdong Province in Southern China incurred the greatest losses in China’s lighting industry, according to monthly statistics compiled by National Bureau of Statistics.

Chapter 3: LED market segments were added, covering the market scales on Chinese backlight LED, lighting LED and display LED fields. Also, Chinese LED package market scales in 2015-2019 by both manufacturer camps and power types are estimated. Furthermore, LED supply chain of backlight, lighting, and display markets are discussed.

The lack of LED standards is still a big issue, and users do not always understand the LED terminology jargon, which often leads to dissatisfied consumer experiences, said WhichLEDLight’s Commercial Director Rory Wilding in a recent interview with LEDinside.

Founded in 2014, Which LED Light, is a website in UK that offers different brands LED bulb price comparison information to end consumers, designers, and installers. To ensure only good quality LED products are recommended on the website, only products that have been tested in International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) certified labs are offered on the UK-based company website. The company’s Commercial Director Rory Wilding recently spoke to LEDinside about the company’s business model and how interested manufacturers can submit their products for review.

Latest market rumors from Korea have noted South Korean display manufacturers are trying to persuade Apple to use flexible OLED screens in its future iPhones, reported Business Korea.

For the three Danish regions collectively known as Greater Copenhagen, the vision for reducing global warning and creating green growth is quite clear and very ambitious.

A court in The Hague has made an unprecedented ruling and ordered the Dutch government to cut carbon emissions by at least 25% within five years, reported The Guardian.

Eaton Cooper announced recently it has dropped the Cooper name for its lighting business, details of the transition can be seen in the statement below from Mark Eubank, Preident of Eaton’s Lighting Division.

Lighting Science Group, a global manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, announced comprehensive refreshes and redesigns across the company’s entire commercial product portfolio. Being rolled out in a phased approach beginning this quarter, this revamp will begin with the general availability and release of the new and improved value-based GP19 lamp.

Filmmaker Jack C. Newell and design consultant Seth Unger have launched a Kickstarter campaign to transform the dingy elevated train tracks (L) in Chicago’s loop to a piece of interactive light art.

LED market trends observed at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition  2015 (GILE 2015) that took place in Guangzhou, China in mid-June  can be summed up in this short poem:

Market competition in the North American bulb market has pressured Cree to restructure its LED business, said Roger Chu, Director, Research Division, LEDinside.

LG and Google have recently formed a joint marketing campaign to promote OLED TVs, reported The Korea Times.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, today announced that the board of directors has approved the following: A restructuring of the LED Products business A $500 million stock buyback authorization for fiscal year 2016 The fiscal year 2016 annual operating plan that targets: Revenue to increase to $1.8 billion +/- Non-GAAP operating margin increasing to approximately 8% Free cash flow of approximately $75 million

An innocuous looking water slide in Bad 1 pool on the German coast of Bremerhaven offers riders a trippy experience resembling interstellar travel, reported Gizmodo recently.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee rolled out the red carpet over the weekend for the 83rd Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM).

Dialight, the innovative global leader in LED lighting technology, announced the launch of its new 15,000 lumens DuroSite® and Safesite® Floodlight in UL, CE and C1D2 versions. The higher lumen Floodlight can replace up to 400W traditional HID lighting fixtures and represents the future of energy efficient illumination for industrial and hazardous applications worldwide.

A special UV or IR pavilion was set up at this year’s Photonics Festival in Taiwan, which took place earlier this month in Taipei, Taiwan.This is the first time that the show organized by Taiwan’s Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association (PIDA) has highlighted niche UV and IR LED applications, which has benefited attending manufacturers and visitors.

Valeo announced that it has purchased a 10.5% stake in Aledia, by subscribing to a portion of Aledia’s capital increase. Aledia is a technology start-up dedicated to the development of cutting-edge LED technology for general and automotive lighting.

Panasonic intends to halt fluorescent lights in Indonesia by the end of June 2015, and will be laying off about 700 employees at the plant, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

A recent report from BMW Blog has quashed rumors that the laser headlights would be arriving in the U.S. market by fall this year.

The retrofit and relight business is in full swing today. A variety of new LED replacement luminaires, retrofit/conversion kits and lamps are available from a variety of manufacturers and whether we are talking about a T12 to T8 fluorescent conversion or fluorescent to LED, the economic value proposition and project mechanics are well understood.

Through its Transportation Lighting and Safety program, the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is evaluating the potential for new lighting technologies and approaches to improve driving safety at night, including new car headlight systems. For the study, vehicle manufacturer Audi AG has provided the LRC with an A7 equipped with adaptive high beam “matrix lights” that allow drivers to benefit from using high beams all the time while selectively dimming a portion of the beam in the direction of other drivers to prevent glare. In the Audi system, the beam pattern is split into numerous individual LEDs arranged in a grid or “matrix” that adapts to the surroundings in real-time. The lighting system is being evaluated by LRC researchers this June.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that Epileds, a leading supplier of LED chip products, has qualified the Company’s AIX R6 tool for LED epitaxy mass production.

Lighting Science Group, a leading manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, announced today the appointments of three experienced sales leaders who will add broad business and industry expertise to its global sales team. Daniel Yasi joins the company as Senior Director of Commercial and Infrastructure Channels. Oscar Ibarra also joins LSG as Director of International Infrastructure Sales. Additionally, David Rubin joins the team as a Director of Commercial Markets. Dan, Oscar and David will play key roles in supporting and growing the Lighting Science product portfolio, with specific concentrations on expanding the commercial and infrastructure channels both domestically and internationally.

Exagan, a start-up innovator of gallium-nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology that enables smaller and more efficient electrical converters,announced it has raised €5.7 million (US $6.38 million) in first-round financing that will be used to produce high-speed power switching devices on 200mm wafers.

The event organised by Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt. Ltd, the organisers of some of the biggest lighting shows worldwide, LED Expo Mumbai saw a strong line-up of new products, brands and launches by 117 exhibiting companies from China, Germany, India, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and the UAE.

Molex Incorporated announces the availability of its wet-location-rated Woodhead® LED Wide-Area Portable Magnet Light. This durable solution offers contractors and maintenance, manufacturing and quality personnel a light that consumes just 40 watts of power to produce 2700 lumens output lasting 50,000 hours. This delivers significantly longer life expectancy when compared to traditional lights such as high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal-halide (MH). The light also features a heavy-duty magnet, allowing it to be quickly, easily and securely mounted on a variety of metal surfaces.