The Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign returns to make a difference and create a better everyday life for the many refugees living around the world. Starting February 1 and running till March 29, 2015, for every LED light bulb purchased in IKEA stores, the IKEA Foundation will donate one euro ($1.16 *) to help UNHCR light refugee camps -- making them a safer, more suitable place for the families who live there. In its first year (2014), the Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign, raised $10.6 million (EUR7.7 million**) globally, and the US alone raised over $570,000 through IKEA co-worker and customer support.

On Monday January 19th, The International Year of Light 2015 was officially launched at the UNESCO Headquarter in Paris. During the Opening Ceremony, Philips Lighting CEO, Eric Rondolat, who was one of the speakers announced that Philips Lighting is committed to help end light poverty. He stated “We need to end light poverty for 1.3 billion people by 2030… Eradicating Light Poverty is the most socio-economic thing to do”.  Eric Rondolat also talked about how solar powered LED lighting is an alternative to kerosene.

The Western Railway, which operates in Mumbai, India is planning to replace less efficient fluorescent tube lights with LEDs, according to a report by mid day.

Access Fixtures, a leader in commercial and sports lighting, is proud to announce a 53% revenue growth in a year-over-year comparison from 2013 to 2014. Specifically, LED products exceeded a growth of 100% year-over-year, demonstrating the constant advancement of LED technology and rapid adoption of LED products, including LED bollard lights,LED wall packs, and LED flood lights. LED product sales now exceed 50% of Access Fixtures total revenue.

Chinese LED manufacturer Leyard’s oversea military orders reached nearly RMB 100 million (US $16 million) last year, according to a Jinghua report.

TrendForce, a global market intelligence firm, announced today that it has become the majority shareholder of Topology Research Institute, and has fully acquired operation and management rights. Kevin Lin, the CEO of TrendForce, will also hold the title of Chairman of Topology. Topology’s operations, brand, and managing staff will be under the same business model after the merger.  LEDinside is a research division of TrendForce.

The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released Report 20.3, which is part of a series of investigations on LED PAR38 lamps. Report 20.3 focuses on an evaluation of robustness. Three samples each of 40 of the Series 20 PAR38 lamps (including LED and benchmark conventional lamps) underwent multi-stress testing, whereby samples were subjected to increasing levels of simultaneous thermal, humidity, electrical, and vibrational stress. The results don't explicitly predict expected lifetime or reliability, but they can be compared with one another, as well as with benchmark conventional products, to assess the relative robustness of the product designs.

Azerbajin, a country located in Central Asia, is aiming to bring LED manufacturing to the country by working with LG, reported Azernews.

The LIA has been working closely with the Green Construction Board and British Retail Consortium to develop a campaign aimed at encouraging independent and small to medium sized retailers to switch to LED lighting installations.

DEKRA is strategically expanding its product testing business in Asia. The expert organisation has signed an agreement for acquisition of the QuieTek Corporation in Taipei, Taiwan. This purchase compliments DEKRA’s service portfolio and further strengthens DEKRA’s position in testing of electrical and electronic products and components.

Universal Display and Sumitomo Chemical (Sumitomo Chemical) today announced the signing of a new OLED Technology License Agreement. Under the agreement, Universal Display has granted Sumitomo Chemical non-exclusive license rights, under various patents owned or controlled by Universal Display, to manufacture and sell solution-processed organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting products. The agreement runs for the life of Universal Display’s relevant intellectual property rights.

Heliospectra, a world leader in intelligent lighting technology for plant research and greenhouse cultivation, has received an order worth about one million SEK (US $120,000) for the LX60 system. The order includes 100 units and is from the same customer that last summer ordered 20 units. The new order is Heliospectra’s largest so far.

Digital Lumens announced today that deployments of its enterprise-scale Intelligent LED Lighting System span 200 million square feet (20 million square meters) of commercial and industrial space. This represents 100% installed base growth in 2014, bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to customers around the world.

Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (NYSE MKT:OESX), a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance, energy-efficient lighting platforms, today announced that it was granted a new patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Pat. No. 8888313) directed to design improvements and technical advancements for troffer door assemblies. This award brings the company’s total portfolio of granted patents to 62, with 41 additional pending globally. The patent is a continuation of Orion’s efforts to protect the proprietary innovations embodied in the LDR, which is now the company’s best-selling LED product.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, today announced revenue of $413.2 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2015, ended December 28, 2014, which is similar to revenue of $415.1 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2014. GAAP net income for the second quarter was $12.2 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, a decrease of 66% year-over-year compared to GAAP net income of $35.7 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2014.

pureLiFi, the light communications technology company that leads the market in research and commercialisation of Li-Fi, has raised £1.5 million (US $2.26 million) in its latest round of investment. Valuing the 2012 University of Edinburgh spin-out at over £14 million, a VC funding round is in process and the company expects to make a related announcement on additional funding during the second half of 2015.

Millions of people are needlessly dying because a fifth of the world’s population does not have access to electric light, Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, warns today. More than 1.3 billion people  are trapped in light poverty as they don’t have access to electricity. Most of those affected resort to kerosene lamps and candles to light their homes and businesses. But these primitive light sources claim the lives of 1.5 million people  every year through respiratory illnesses and fires – the same number killed annually by HIV-related diseases.

Contemporary Japanese fashion can often tread the thin line of art and fetishism, as seen with this new Hikaru skirt (“light skirt”) designed by Kiyoyuki Amano.

Jufei Opto recently announced it had signed a strategic white LED patent license agreement with Toyoda Gosei’s Shanghai arm.

Nobel laureate Shuji Nakamura, who was awarded the prestigious science award last year for his blue LED invention, believes laser diodes will eventually become the next mainstream light source, according to a CIO.com report.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) has announced an open funding opportunity for up to $125 million, OPEN 2015, that may be of interest to the solid-state lighting community. OPEN 2015 will support energy research and development projects from top U.S. innovators for game-changing new technologies in transportation and stationary applications, including efficiency for buildings, manufacturing and commerce, and personal use.

Leading Indian dry cell batteries manufacturer, Eveready Industries, is turning to LED lighting products for its next growth phase, according to The Financial Express report.

Cree is bringing another Taiwanese LED manufacturer to court, as the company aims to maintain market dominance in U.S. The company has sued Unity Opto and its luminaire client Feit Electric for violating eight LED patents. By the end of the week, Cree created a huge shock in the LED industry with its low-priced new LED smart bulb, which is one of the first in the industry aimed at resolving long term incompatibility issues among different smart bulb operating platforms.

A major Epistar shareholder has demanded for Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Opto to withdraw investments in the company, due to the Chinese company’s headhunting activities, according to a recent Economic Daily News report.

Chinese LED manufacturer HC Semitek announced on Thursday, it would be privately issuing bonds to raise RMB 500 million (US $80.81 million) to replenish the company’s depleted cash flow and improve finances.

Taiwan topped global rankings last year for LED component output value, and the industry is expected to keep up 14% growth throughout 2015 to reach US $5.37 billion, according to statistics compiled by Taiwan’s Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA).

The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released a special report on LED lamps available through the retail marketplace and targeted toward general consumers. While previous reports in the CALiPER retail lamps series have focused on basic performance parameters, such as lumen output, efficacy, and color quality, the new report – CALiPER Retail Lamps Study 3.1 – focuses on the dimming, power quality, and flicker characteristics of a subset of 14 LED A lamps from CALiPER Retail Lamps Study 3, as controlled by four different retail-available dimmers.

Cree introduces the Connected Cree® LED Bulb, the first smart LED bulb to deliver the combination of the lighting experience customers expect from Cree with industry-leading simplicity, multi-platform compatibility and affordability. The new 60-watt replacement Connected Cree LED Bulb is compatible with Wink and ZigBee® certified hubs and is available at The Home Depot® for just US $14.97, a price poised to drive adoption.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Unity Opto Technology (Unity Opto) is planning to retaliate against Cree’s recent patent infringement lawsuit, according to a Money DJ report.

LG was ordered by South Korea’s labor ministry to halt OLED panel production, after a nitrogen gas leak on Monday claimed the life of two workers and injured four, according to a Reuters report.