Appropriately themed “Envision the future of lights” after its mission, the 20^th edition of the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition had participants sharing inspirational ideas and innovative technologies. Dialogue of this nature is essential in shaping the future of the lighting industry. Held from 9 – 12 June 2015, the fair spanned across 21 halls and occupied 225,000 sqm. The show closed with a 4.7% increase in visitor figures from the previous year, totalling 135,990 professional visitors (2014:129,885) from 131 countries and regions including over 5500 domestic and overseas delegates. These numbers were duly matched by a record-breaking 2,698 exhibitors (2014: 2,621) representing 27 countries and regions.

Commenting on the success of this year, Ms Lucia Wong, Deputy General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd, noted: “The exhibition floor was buzzing throughout the four-day event. I am impressed with the depth, breadth and diversity of the content of the fair. The exhibition booths were brightly illuminated by products as well as application staging in places such as fashion shops, homes, factories, offices, schools and museums. It was evident that the quality of lights and a human-centric design approach were being stressed. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the worldwide lighting community for their support in staging such an extensive mix of lighting applications at our 2015 fair. This reinforces our commitment to playing a leading role in the lighting industry by creating a global platform for lighting technologies.”

Among the innovative products present at the 2015 edition were:

-          Chip-scale packaging (CSP) technology significantly scales down the size of LED packages, enabling more flexible and compact designs of LED modules or fixtures. CSP also lowers manufacturing and operational costs of LED lighting systems.

-          UV/IR LED-related applications cover LED chips, die packages and other products. Displays included UV packages with different wavelengths that can disinfect, printer dryers, money verifiers, and nail curing and tanning machines. Also exhibited were outdoor UV/IR radiation-free, lead-free and mercury-free LED modules that are highly reliable and durable, and ideal for outdoor lighting applications.

-          Chip-on-board (COB) products focused on light quality and colour rendering.

-          Cloud-based smart lighting for the smart home was the centre of many discussions. On display were unique control systems with user interfaces, such as a panel that utilised motion and gesture controls.

Visitors were impressed by the number of exquisite brands present, as well as by the diversity of products and technologies on display. The wide range of lighting applications and solutions on offer gave attendees an opportunity to source the right products and technologies for all areas of their businesses. Fifth time visitor, Mr Daniel Bazz, Director at Ecoguard of Uruguay, stated: “My aim was to find LED products and fluorescent lamps. This trip has been very successful because I have already purchased more than 100 kinds of products and have arranged some factory visits to explore more business opportunities with suppliers.”

Close industry cooperation delivers inspirational programmes for 20^th anniversary

This year marked an important milestone for the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition – its 20th anniversary. Together with the continuously evolving lighting community, the fair witnessed the vast transformation of the industry, from conventional lighting to solid state, energy efficient and intelligent lighting over the past two decades. To celebrate this special occasion with the industry, the organiser launched a series of interactive programmmes that engage lighting experts, allowing them to inspire and be inspired by innovative ideas regarding the future of lighting.

“Light is about imagination” programme

Launched in January 2015, this programme gathered industry elites to share their visions and forecasts for the future of lighting. Visitors also imparted ideas on:

-          Returning to simplistic lighting designs that are clean, simple and elegant

-          Balancing Multi-generational Tastes: the wide appeal of lighting technology among all age groups

-          Wireless controls are becoming more mainstream

-          Synchronising HVAC and lighting controls

-          TLED, one of the key future developments of lighting

“Talk-series” programmes

These programmes, including “Design Talk”, “CEO Talk” and “Light Talk”, attracted more than 1,500 attendees such as designers, CEOs, and industry associations. These industry players shared their visions and ideas for the future of lighting from different perspectives. Topics discussed were “Smart Lighting”, “Human-centric Lighting”, “Quality of Lights” and “Sustainability”.

Mr Liu Xiao Dong, an attendee of “Light Talk” and member of the Project Team at AKE Lighting Co Ltd of China, mentioned: “I am particularly impressed with the presentation on “Quality of Light” delivered by Mr Martin Klassen from CLDA. He presented lighting design principles on how to use space to highlight the contrast of light and human-centric lighting to increase quality of life. The content of his presentation was very practical and allowed me to increase my knowledge on lighting design.”

"Hosted buyer networking" programme

This programme was designed to give exhibitors and visitors a chance to maximise networking and carry in-depth business discussions. Over 150 exhibitors and visitors were successfully matched according to their business interests. Mr Miguel Perez Fernandez, visitor and Manager at Mode on Tecno SL of Spain, expressed: “My goal was to source LED modules and electrical components. I was able to network with over 200 exhibitors. Regarding the business matching services at the show, they have helped connect me with suppliers I originally missed. Overall, the show was great and I will most definitely be back again next year.”

The future of lighting also sees increasing demand for intelligent products which provide more comfortable living standards and satisfy energy-efficient goals. It is no surprise that this is one of the major driving forces behind China’s economy.

Supporting this notion was Mr Gordon Guo, Marketing Director at PAK Corporation Co Ltd of China. He has exhibited for more than 10 years and promotes intelligent controls. Mr Guo exclaimed: “We want to emphasise that smart control lights can create lively atmospheres and industry interest is strong. The visitor flow was very good this year and we met visitors of great diversity in business nature including dealers, designers, home decoration companies, design institutes, owners, commercial users and many others. We are very satisfied and the show means lots to us.”

Sharing the same sentiment regarding the visitor quality was Mr Sebastian Steuer, Managing Director at Alanod GmbH and Co KG of Germany. He commented: “The fair is one of the largest and most reputable lighting shows in the world. We are not focused on visitor quantity but rather visitor quality and it was excellent this year.”

Fair remains true to mission: promote global dialogue and explore the future of lighting

The fair organiser understands that the exchange of information and ideas can bring new life to inspirations. With strong support from the lighting community, the organiser remained true to the show mission and gathered industry peers during the fair to have fruitful dialogue regarding the future of lighting. Industry specialists of varied business backgrounds divulged an array of forecasts such as:

Designers:

Mr Chou Lien, Partner, Bardston Partnership Inc

“In the future, we should stress the non-visual biological effects of lights. Healthy lights will become one of the main themes of lighting design. On the other hand, macro scale urban lighting will no longer be widely adopted with growing lighting knowledge. Self-controls to customise comfort levels according to users’ preferences will become the advanced target of micro-design.”

Mr Charles G Stone II, President, FIALD, IESNA, LC, LEED AP BD+C

“I envision a future filled with light. We will work, learn, play and heal in spaces that are filled with beautiful, appropriate and sustainable lighting. Lighting for tasks, for decoration and for our lives will be perfectly conceived and integrated.”

Association:

Dr Dongwook Park, President, Korea Photonics Technology Institute

“Human-oriented lighting is the hub of next generation lighting applications. Thus, high CRI with highly efficient lighting technologies will top most R&D agendas.”

Corporations:

Mr Edmond Wong, General Manager, Citizen Electronics Co Ltd

“Technological innovations with phosphor material and spectrum tuning are important for coping with upcoming trends in human-centric lighting and the quality of light.”

Mr Zhongwei Yu, Product Director, Macroblock Inc

“The popularity of smart phones and the unlimited capacity of the Internet to develop will facilitate trends in which all home-electrical devices can synchronise in one place.”

Impressed by the information flow and dialogue generate among show participants, Ms Wong added: “Technological breakthroughs will continue in lighting development. The possibilities for the future of lighting are endless and there will always be elements waiting to be discovered. Going forward, perseverance, constant exploration and interaction among lighting communities will be essential for development. We will continue to stay abreast the latest developments of the lighting industry to envision the future of lighting.”

Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, along with the concurrently-held Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology, is headed by the biennial Light + Building event, which will take place from 13 – 18 March 2016 in Frankfurt, Germany.

In addition to the aforementioned fairs, Messe Frankfurt also offers a series of light and building technology events worldwide, including Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology, Shanghai Smart Home Technology and Shanghai International Lighting Fair in China, BIEL Light + Building in Argentina, Light Middle East in the United Arab Emirates, Interlight Moscow powered by Light + Building in Russia, Light India, as well as LED Expo New Delhi and LED Expo Mumbai in India.

The next edition of Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition is scheduled to take place from 9 – 12 June 2016 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou.

To find out more information about the show, please visit www.light.messefrankfurt.com.cn or email light@china.messefrankfurt.com.

For additional information on Light + Building events worldwide, please visit www.light-building.com/worldwide.