5 Leaders In Lighting Share Their Vision For The Future Of The Industry 5 Leaders In Lighting Share Their Vision For The Future Of The Industry
The co-hosted LED professional Symposium +Expo (LpS) and Trends in Lighting Forum &Show (TiL) returned to Bregenz last month. These two international conference and... 5 Leaders In Lighting Share Their Vision For The Future Of The Industry

The co-hosted LED professional Symposium +Expo (LpS) and Trends in Lighting Forum &Show (TiL) returned to Bregenz last month. These two international conference and exhibition events have been carefully designed over the last 8 years to form a complete ‘insight circle’ in lighting: encompassing science, research and development, technologies, design, planning and lighting applications.

Today, all the complex, interlocking factors must be understood and considered when creating modern lighting systems for them to have relevance and longevity in the new, complex and ever changing market place. To enable the lighting industry to meet new challenges and thrive in the new market place, LpS 2018 and TiL 2018 acted as a catalyst for positive change in the lighting industry by making available, to its attendees, in-depth, diverse and vital 360-degree prospective of lighting and what drives, informs and affects it, from the smallest nanotechnologies to the global problems surrounding human wellbeing.

The combined 3 day events were a forum; a place to share, learn and exchange ideas across disciplines and even sectors. Part of this forum was press a conference, allowing representatives of the multiple facets of lighting to share their opinions on what we can expect from the industry in 2019 and beyond.

Representing lighting design in that discussion, Till Armbüster of Licht Kunst Licht said “It’s very exciting times for lighting designers due to the new technologies, but lighting designers need to refocus on the type of lighting they are using. They need to go back to the people at the heart of it”. Light has moved away from the user, we have to investigate how we interact with light and what it can create. We need to use technology to make the connection between the user and the light”.

Taking this approach one-step further was Jan Denneman of Global Lighting Association who said “The lighting within which we all work, learn or play every day is wrong for the human brain, it is biological darkness and I hope the industry will embark on correcting this is 2019. We need to inform the user about lighting quality, “nutritional light”, and the industry needs to move from a customer focus to a user focus.”

Ourania Georgoutsakou, Secretary General, from the industry association LightingEurope highlighted the need for functionality and usability “This industry needs to keep talking about the value of lighting, and of better lighting. The focus has to go back to the user and the value they receive in the form of energy savings, intelligence and quality lighting that impacts their well-being and health. And we have to keep it simple: the user just needs effortless quality lighting and we should not forget this.” Ourania added, “We need to work together, with a common vision and goal for us all (the lighting industry) to follow. We have to create the value of light to bring value to the industry”.

Representing industry giant, Signify, Peter Duine believes that in the future the industry will be creating smarter solutions for urban life. “As a city manager I would expect to be able to manage my assets in the future much more easily. You can facilitate ease of management with connectivity inside the lights.” He went on to say, “With this mindset we can focus on basic use cases and add real value. We need to see greater investment in network engineering to allow the potential of connected lighting to become apparent and massively adopted. It is only the beginning of connected lighting, but I can say that lighting will never be the same again”.

In addition to the direction of the industry the curator of TiL 2018 Rogier van der Heide also brought up the subject of resources, education and longevity. “The industry needs to get its head around what has to be done to deliver these future solutions we are talking about. We need to look outside of the industry to find the best human capital. We have to attract young people. Where is the generation who is always online? They are the ones who can help us create new meaning and purpose with light”.

Both LpS 2019 and TiL 2019 will continue to offer their attendees the opportunity to explore and learn more about technology and the value it offers lighting, giving them the chance to really explore lighting, its impact and its potential. The debates surrounding the lighting industry will roll-on, and these events will be there to support the discussions and enable experts to collaborate to form a future that is relevant for lighting.

LpS and TiL 2019 will take place in Bregenz on September 24 – 26.

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