Osram managed the challenges of the changing lighting market very well in the fiscal year that ended in September 2015 and laid a strong foundation for future growth. EBITA1 excluding special items rose 26 percent on a year-on-year basis to €567 million, translating into a margin of 10.2 percent. Cost savings, positive currency effects as well as simplified corporate structures have contributed to this earnings increase. The reported EBITA margin reached 5.3 percent despite high transformation costs, while net income declined to €171 million. Revenue, on the other hand, rose eight percent to almost €5.6 billion. On a comparable basis, i.e., adjusted for portfolio and currency effects, revenue remained almost stable with a decline of around one percent. Based on the current corporate structure, the company expects comparable revenue in fiscal 2016 to be slightly below the prior year’s level. The adjusted EBITA margin is likely to be substantially below the level of fiscal 2015, among other things due to expenses attributable to the “Diamond” innovation and growth initiative. In contrast, net income is expected to increase sharply due to the anticipated book gain from the announced sale of the shares in Foshan Electrical & Lighting Co., Ltd. (Felco). Osram confirms that a dividend of €0.90 per share will be proposed for fiscal 2015 to the Annual General Meeting. For fiscal 2016, the company also intends to pay a dividend of at least €0.90 per share.

Intense price competitions in the LED market over the last few years has caused manufacturers a lot of pain, but it is also the driving force of technology innovation. An emerging trend is the transition of L1 manufacturers migration into L2 manufacturing, projected Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director Asia, Lumileds at LEDforum 2015, held at Room 201, National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan.

LEDs combined with solar energy are becoming a top choice in humanitarian aid missions to Africa, which aim to eliminate harmful pollution from burning kerosene lamps that has been the main cause of household air pollution and estimated to be the cause of death of 500,000 people in the continent each year, reported The Conversation.

Plessey announced that it has collaborated with 8Point3 to develop and produce a high efficiency architectural lighting product range. 8Point3 is a provider of market leading, energy-saving, solid-state lighting solutions for a range of solid state lighting solutions for both the private and public sectors.  Plessey has signed a long-term commercial agreement with 8point3 to supply the lighting modules, including the company's MaGIC™ GaN-on-Silicon LEDs.

Philips introduced two new smartphones that employs its Soft Blue technology to reduce eye strain in October 31, 2015 in China, according to an article from Vine Report.

LEDinside covered many different LED applications over the course of the last few years, but few have taken it “skin-deep”.

Have you ever been walking the aisles of a Supermarket or Big Box store, maybe you had a little trouble finding a few things and ended up in there a little longer than you anticipated. Then, all of a sudden, you feel so agitated and uncomfortable that every passing minute seems to make you feel worse? There’s definitely a time limit to those stores or at least an awareness when we’ve entered the penalty time and need to get out of there ASAP. There is certainly no shortage of bothersome elements in those stores, despite their convenience, but one of the main culprits for that fatigued, annoyed feeling you get is the lighting. It’s very apparent how artificial the lighting in those places is.

The word was out last Friday that Osram is in the process of selling its lamp business, which comprises traditional lighting businesses and LED luminaires, with Chinese manufacturers showing the greatest interest in bidding for the German company’s prized luminaire businesses.

German lighting manufacturer Osram has initiated the sales process of its lamps business, which it intends to spin-off operations from the group by next April and legally by July, a Reuters report cited a company spokesman saying recently.

Chinese LED manufacturer MLS, or also known as Forest Lighting announced recently it plans to optimize the integration of its business resources, and strengthen business competitiveness by entering the bid for Osram Licht lighting business.

Cree’s fully owned subsidiary Wolfspeed, and Lockheed Martin have jointly developed a special chip to help track down space debris including remains of satellites orbiting the earth, reported Triangle Business Journal.

As India prepares for the upcoming lighting festival Diwali, one of the biggest celebrations in the nation, decorative lighting products imported from China are becoming highly visible in Patna, reported the Times of India.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a minimally invasive procedure for gallbladder removal, and one of the most common surgical procedures worldwide. While the procedure has a very high success rate, 1 in 200 patients will sustain serious bile duct injury, primarily due to misidentification of the biliary anatomy. With 800,000 procedures carried out in the United States each year that means in the U.S. alone 4,000 patients will be seriously injured.

For every man that dreamed of becoming James Bond and launching a career in espionage, it might not be as easy as thought. A commercial spy group comprising mostly of Win Semiconductor engineers were caught by Taiwanese authorities from stealing sensitive trade secrets. The group led by a Taiwanese engineer working for a Chinese semiconductor company was very close to smuggling Win Semiconductor’s guarded secrets back to his employer. For more please see below:

Taiwanese police have busted a group suspected of stealing business secrets from leading international GaN wafer supplier Win Semiconductors, reported CNA.

The lighting industry has been steadily developing over the last two decades, with China becoming one of the largest manufacturing base and consumer market. According to data compiled by Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) lighting products manufactured in China was up 10.7% YoY to RMB 418.5 billion (US $) in 2014.

In 2015, LED industry has entered the crucial stage of its development, full of merger & acquisition and bankruptcy, scale and price competition, as well as quality troubles and recall issues, industrial problems further emerged. Affected by the tide of reshuffle, more enterprises lacking of competitiveness go into liquidation. On the other hand, there are frequent opportunities in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, also the segment markets like intelligent lighting, automotive lighting and UV LED have enormous potential. Many LED companies seek opportunities ...

For heavy gamers out there, have you ever wondered what potions used by characters would look like in real life? A LED desk lamp mimicking a color changing elixir from RPGs is being sold on ThinkGeek is bringing the virtual item into reality.

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, today announced that the City of Los Angeles (LA) will be the first city in the world to deploy 100 Philips SmartPoles – connected LED street lighting that includes fully integrated 4G LTE wireless telecommunications technology by Ericsson. The collaboration between Philips and Ericsson delivers on the latest Internet of Things (IoT) innovation and provides a double benefit to LA citizens: high quality, public lighting that is energy efficient as well as improved network performance in dense urban areas.

Orion Energy Systems, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance, energy-efficient retrofit lighting platforms, announced Goshen Local School District in Goshen, Ohio, recently installed over 3,900 Orion LED Troffer Retrofit (LDR) fixtures. This installation, completed by C.M. Mockbee, marks the first complete school system in Ohio to be retrofitted with the LDR product line. Goshen Local School District is a Pre K-12 public school district serving 2,800 students high school, middle school and two elementary schools.

The LED industry survived the economic downturn, and has started to rebound in 3Q15. Their financial results will reveal whether manufacturers are in the lead with a overflowing treasury, passing, or in the red zone.

GT Advanced Technology and Apple reached an agreement that will settle the sapphire supplier’s $439 million outstanding debt, reported Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider, and other media reports.

Large private-equity firms might be proposing to acquire Philips lighting unit for EUR 5.5 billion (US $6 billion), a Bloomberg report cited a person familiar with the matter saying.

The Abu Dhabi City Municipality has accomplished the project of replacing traditional lighting on the Sheikh Zayed Bridge by an LED lighting system.

A city located in the Bay of Bengal in East India reports has cut its energy bill by about INR 5.5 million (US $) after upgrading 96,000 streetlights to LEDs, reported The Times of India.

Solid State Supplies has announced a franchise distribution agreement for the UK with Luminus Devices, a global manufacturer of high-performance LEDs.

Dialight, the innovative global leader in LED lighting technology, today announced its SafeSite® LED Area Light is now IECEx/ATEX Zone 2, 22 certified for use hazardous locations, namely chemical, petrochemical, power generation and mining applications.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science plans to announce a funding opportunity on November 30, 2015, for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. Under this grant opportunity, DOE will seek applications for funding directed toward FY16 Phase I, Release 2 projects. Topics for this funding opportunity were released on schedule on November 2, 2015, and can be downloaded at //science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities. The topic title is “Buildings,” and the subtopic title is “Energy Efficient Solid-State Lighting Luminaires, Products, and Systems” (see topic 11a, page 42).

India’s LED bulb retrofit incentives under the DELP program implemented by Energy of Efficiency Services (EESL), a joint venture of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) of the Power Minister have slashed LED bulb prices significantly, reported theEconomic Times.

Ever view your body as a power generator? This tiny flashlight does. The flashlight called Lumen has raised more than US $100,000 on Kickstarter with the figure growing. Designed by, Ross Zhuravskiy, an engineer with a big vision, the flashlight does not use any batteries and can function for a very long time if properly used. According to the founder, it’s an “eternal” flashlight that functions forever.