The Aurora Group announced three key changes to its brand structure and market strategy to ensure the delivery of its new corporate mission – creating ‘Value Beyond Illumination’. This reflects Aurora’s commitment to the integration of new smart technologies in LED lighting and the associated ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) proposition, which is set to change the way lighting is sold and monetized.

Large UK home enhancer and garden retailer issued a notice recently recalling “Baby start LED night lights” that under certain circumstances could trigger a small explosion.

The sluggish global economy triggered the downtrend in the LED industry in 2015, and next year is expected to be just as challenging for manufacturers in the backlight and general lighting market, said Katsuyuki Akutagawa, Chief Legal & IP Officer and Company Board Director of Nichia (the company) at a press conference held in Mandarin Oriental Taipei, earlier Wednesday. 

Power management company Eaton today outlined how recently acquired Ephesus Lighting, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based manufacturer of connected light-emitting diode (LED) lighting solutions for sporting venues and high lumen outdoor and industrial applications, will create new value for a wide range of customers. Ephesus Lighting is a market leader in high output controlled lighting solutions that harness advanced electronic design technology to bring lighting into the digital age.

Deco Lighting, has been awarded a master contract from the School Project for Utility Rate Reduction (SPURR) for interior and exterior LED lighting retrofits as of October 1, 2015. Deco Lighting was selected from among multiple vendors after an open, competitive RFP process on the basis of price, range of Design Lights Consortium qualified products available, quality of products, controls, company background and references, and additional value-add services available. 

Stimulated by a real-world problem, the shortage of electric energy in remote areas of Peru and particularly in rural areas of the tropical forest, the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC), through a team of researchers - made up of teachers and eight students – developed a Plant lamp, an innovative alternative renewable energy generating system.    

Chinese solar power hardware manufacturer Solar Leading has entered the new photovoltaic (PV) street light product market, which is designed with the aim of providing longer lifetime and low energy consumption lights to cities and companies, reportedIHS Electronics 360.

The capital of Indian State Karnataka will initiate its LED bulb scheme from Dec. 11, 2015, according to a report from The Times of India.

In order to continue contributing to its goal of reducing energy cost, the New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) announced the approvals of selling utility-owned streetlights to separate municipalities, reported My Twin Tiers.

CEA-Leti and its partners in the European FP7 project PLAT4M today announced they have built three silicon photonics platforms. The four-year project, which launched in 2013, aims at building a European-based supply chain in silicon photonics and speeding industrialization of the technology. PLAT4M, which is funded by a European Commission grant of 10.2 million euros, includes 15 leading European R&D institutes and CMOS companies, key industrial and research organizations in design and packaging, as well as end users in different application fields, to build the complete supply chain.

Several Canadian cities have announced plans to swap their old traditional streetlights for more energy efficient LED lights, but the country’s sixth largest capital Mississauga, located in Southern Ontario underestimated the finance it would need to replace the city streetlights.

Authorities of Panaji, the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district, decided to switch all conventional bulbs to LED ones so as to cut 50% of their streetlights bill. The conversion will cost about INR 923 million (US $13.9 million). The project will be executed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) within six months, reported the Times of India.

Binghamton, a city of New York State is to upgrade its aging streetlights with LED lights. According to Mayor Rich David, the city will switch approximately 7,000 streetlights to LED ones.

Health Canada releases several seasonal lights recalls for potential overheating, fire and eletric shock hazards.

Elemental LED, a leading U.S.-based engineering and technology company that manufactures LED lighting solutions announced today a strategic partnership with Border States Electric that extends its Diode LED product brand into the 81 branches of Border States Electric representing close to 200 locations. Border States Electric joins the Diode LED National Account Program which offers strategic dealers advanced product training, in-field support, and innovative programs designed to help them showcase and deliver the solutions and value of the Diode LED product line to their customers. Elemental LED and its wholesale and manufacturing division, Diode LED provides a wide variety of superior quality linear, task, and accent LED lighting solutions for both residential and commercial applications.

Highlights this week: The India market’s demands for star labelled efficient products has doubled with falling prices and increased participation of private companies, as the country follows its commitment to lower carbon footprint ahead of climate change talks to take place in Paris later this month. Following Osram’s announcement last week that the company is to invest EUR 1 billion in a new Malaysia-based plant for LED chips, a leading investor in Osram expressed opposing opinions about Osram’s latest strategy. LEDinside’s analysts initial estimates that about 30% of the EUR 1 billion investment will go into constructing the factory, and probably 30% in chip processing while Osram might be investing around EUR 400 million in MOCVD equipment. ON Semiconductor and Fairchild Semiconductor announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for ON Semiconductor to acquire Fairchild for in an all cash transaction valued at approximately US $2.4 billion.

Authorities in Anhui, China reported seizing counterfeited Philips LED pendant lights from the local architectural material market. The luminaires labelled with Philips’s trademark were confirmed to be fake by officials of Royal Philips. Authorities found 236 counterfeited luminaires, worth RMB 20,000 (US $3,134).

Shortly after releasing the top 100 of China’s Rich List this year, Forbes followed up with the publication of Forbes List of China’s 400 richest.

Revolution Lighting Technologies , a leader in advanced LED lighting technology solutions, today announced that its operating division, Energy Source, recently completed two lighting retrofit projects, installing high efficiency LED lighting and control systems, totaling more than $4.75 million. Acquired by RVLT in August, Energy Source, LLC is a provider of turnkey energy savings solutions for LED lighting for the commercial, industrial, hospitality, retail, education, and municipal sectors.

Following Osram’s announcement last week that the company is to invest EUR 1 billion in a new Malaysia-based plant for LED chips, a leading investor in Osram expressed opposing opinions about Osram’s latest strategy, reported Reuters.

Key Transaction Highlights: Creates a leader in the power semiconductor market with a broad and deep product portfolio Highly complementary product lines offering the full spectrum of high, medium and low voltage products Strengthens presence in key strategic areas – industrial, automotive and smartphone end markets Immediately accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share and free cash flow Expect significant accretion to non-GAAP EPS within a few quarters post close Clear line of sight to $150 million in annual cost savings within 18 months of the transaction close

Noise is an issue in optical telecommunications. And findings means of controlling noise is key to physicists investigating light-emitting diodes or lasers. Now, an Italo-Iraqi team has worked on a particular type of light source, called the quantum dot light-emitting diode (QDLED). In a study published in EPJ D, Kais Al Namee from the National Institute of Optics, in Florence, Italy and colleagues, demonstrate that modulating bias current of the QDLED could lead to countering the noise. This, in turn, leads to stabilising such light sources, making them better suited for optical telecommunications.

Oversupply situations in the LED chip sector, and fierce competition in the general lighting sector over the past few years has aggravated the pricing situation in 2015. White LED chip prices for the large part have reflected a consistent downtrend over the past few years. Despite the ominous cloud hanging over the LED chip and general lighting sector, German LED chip manufacturer Osram announced last week it would be injecting in total EUR 2 billion (EUR 2.14 billion) in R&D and EUR 1 billion in LED manufacturing in the next five years.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) responded to IES TM-30-15 with NEMA LSCR-PP 1-2015 Light Source Color Rendition. The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) recently published TM-30-15 IES Method for Evaluating Light Source Color Rendition. NEMA has produced a position paper, Light Source Color Rendition, in response to this document.

A team of Florida State University materials researchers has developed a new type of light-emitting diode, or LED, using an organic-inorganic hybrid that could lead to cheaper, brighter and mass produced lights and displays in the future.

STG Aerospace, the pioneering aircraft cabin lighting company, is delighted to announce that following evaluation of all the available aftermarket LED lighting systems, leading Spanish charter airline Air Europa has chosen liTeMood® for retrofitting its fleet of 737-800 aircraft.

ITRI received four 2015 R&D 100 Awards this year in Las Vegas November 13. ITRI’s technologies were selected as winners for the most innovative products in the IT/Electrical and Mechanical Devices/Materials categories. The research organization was awarded for its OLED and LED technology: 

Pro-Lite Technology Ltd (Cranfield, UK) today announced that it is reducing the cost of photometry with the launch of its Labsphere LFC-Series of Integrating Sphere Photometers. LFC integrating spheres are a new, entry-level solution for lighting product manufacturers concerned with value-for-money. Although LFC systems are probably the most affordable like-for-like integrating sphere systems on the market, Pro-Lite is keen to stress that there has been no compromise in terms of quality, performance or accuracy of its new photometers.

Virtual Extension continues to innovate in high performance wireless lighting control, with networks that expand its Wireless extension into DALI 2 reign. Using the same innovative VEmesh technology that enables the replacement of wiring by wireless for the previous generation of DALI controllers, LED drivers and other control gear, Virtual Extension complements the emergence of the new DALI input devices and application controllers with the modern, convenient and easy-deployment wireless connectivity. This connectivity adds to the cost-effectiveness and energy- effectiveness achieved by the novel devices.

Chinese LED manufacturer Nationstar announced recently, it will be scaling up its investments in two subsidiaries including Foshan Nationstar and Zhejiang Invenlux.