After years of cross-line efforts from lighting, communication, and platform vendors, smart lighting has finally burgeoned, as shown by the exhibits at the 2018 Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (spring edition). 

(Source: LEDinside)

In terms of market size, the latest study of LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, shows that the scale of the global smart-lighting market has soared by nearly 95% in 2017 to US$4.6 billion. By the end of 2020, that figure is expected to jump to US$13.4 billion. In 2017, the global share of residential lighting is estimated at around 23%, which is expected to jump to 31% by 2020. In the coming years, smart lighting will continue to develop by leaps and bounds, alongside the market’s other emerging technologies, like smart home technology.

To keep up with the current trends, major lighting firms have begun to team up with manufacturers from different parts of the industry, such as Xiaomi with Philips, Huawei with Osram, and Alibaba with Honyar Lighting, NVC Lighting, and Yankon Lighting. Partnerships like these have facilitated the lighting manufacturers’ access to different technological applications, such as smart modules, cloud computing, gateways, industrial design, IoT solutions, apps, sensors, big data, and AI, according to Dai Zhao-Liang, the secretary general of Shanghai’s Pudong Intelligent Light Association.

To avoid being eliminated, small to medium sized lighting firms must seek partners and join the fray. “They must have a proper understanding of the industry’s latest trends, possess strong communication skills, invest the proper time and money into their product’s developments, and remain calm,” he said.

Founded in 2009 by a participant in the development of Alibaba Cloud, Tuya, a startup, offers assistance for companies to catch up with the intelligence current, helping customers develop cloud-end services and app software for their products. It now boasts over 10,000 customers in 200 countries and areas, mainly in the fields of home appliances, electric engineering, and lighting.

In the lighting sector, Tuya has helped firms equip their products with such features as on/off switches, brightness adjustment, timing, color choice, and operating-mode choice, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Mesh, and Zigbee, on top of access to mainstream smart household platforms, including Amazon Echo, Google Home, IFTTT, and Google Nest, facilitating control by mobile app and smart speakers, such as Alexa and Tmall Ganie.

At this year’s lighting fair, a number of other startups have also begun to develop smart lighting products and solutions which take advantage of the industry’s latest trends. Solutions for one-stop services are also gaining traction.

Tuya-enabled lighting system can be connected with various sensors for automated lighting and be controlled by mobile App or sound. (Source: LEDinside)

Tuya exhibits smart home, consisting of sensors, home entertainment system, smart lighting system, smart audio system, and smart security system. (Source: LEDinside)

Canadian lighting brand BAZZ displays smart residential lighting, which employs Tuya's Wi-Fi module and IoT platform. (Source: LEDinside)

Founded in 2013, Delight Power Products Ltd., a Hong Kong firm, exhibited carcinogen-free LED capacitor and patented flash-free driving technology, meant for use in school and office lighting. Its LED dimmer can be connected with various sensors, in addition to capability for controlling setting according to demands via mobile app. The company has attracted quite a number of international investors, including Acer and Universal Technologies Holdings of Hong Kong which chipped in US$20 million in 2017 jointly.

A customer of Delight Power is Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University, which installed its NALA lighting system, consisting of 421 lamps, in its Chimei Building in the Tainan campus. Hallway lamps would light up upon passage of people and dim or switch off in other times, thanks to occupancy sensors.  

NALA's smart-lighting control system is connected to a lighting array powered by 48 V AC/DC Power House. (Source: LEDinside)

Delight Power's patented LED dimmer (Source: LEDinside)

Hong Kong firm Tronico Technology's lighting control module can be attached directly to the original switch panel of lighting and be employed in any lighting application, which, plus the company's gateway and various sensors, enables customer to control and monitor their lighting via cloud-end service and mobile app.

Tronico Technology's lighting control module (Source: LEDinside)

Huitang Healthcare Lighting and Intelligent Technology exhibited a smart Wi-Fi desk lamp, which can be turned on and off and adjusted in color via its own mobile app, with a base furnished with a Bluetooth speaker which can be connected to mobile phone for direction of music playing. Wireless charging module or gesture sensor can also be inserted, upon customer request.