Refond Opto announced Monday night, shareholder Konka Precision Mould Plastic (Konka) sold out more than 3.02 percent of its stake in the Chinese LED manufacturer, according to a Sinai report.

At a meeting with investors and analysts in London, Royal Philips announces the next strategic step to capitalize on fundamental market changes, by creating two market-leading companies focused on the HealthTech and Lighting solutions opportunities. Both companies will continue to benefit from leveraging the Philips brand. With 2013 sales of EUR 15 billion for Philips’ combined HealthTech businesses and EUR 7 billion for the Lighting solutions businesses[1], each company has the scale to fully leverage Philips’ heritage of more than 120 years of innovation.

Philips Lumileds announced today it has expanded beyond its well-respected LED product offerings to include Matrix Platform solutions. The Matrix Platform consists of turnkey LED solutions using components, optics and LUXEON LEDs assembled on a wide selection of board types. This platform launches today with two product lines—the LUXEON XR and LUXEON XF—on rigid and flexible substrates respectively.

The Illumination Engineering Society (IES) recently published a “position statement” (PS-8-14) which states that color rendering “requirements should not be a metric used in energy regulations to characterize color attributes for solid state lighting.” This unfortunate wording has caused unnecessary headaches within the lighting community, but what the well-intentioned IES meant to say was that the commonly used Color Rendering Index (CRI) metric is not entirely adequate and a replacement is warranted. We fully agree and are actively engaged with IES to improve this metric, but by no means should color rendering requirements be put on the sidelines while we all wait for improvements!

Hubbell Lighting, a world leader in lighting innovation, and TOTUS Solutions, the leading provider of outdoor lighting based security platforms, will debut Spaulding Lighting’s popular Cimarron LED fixture (CL1) controlled by the Integrated TOTUS Surveillance Platform™ (iTSP™) with a built-in Axis Communications multi-megapixel IP video surveillance camera (AXIS M3027-PVE) during the 2014 ASIS International Expo at Axis Communications’ booth #1023.

ESCATEC, one of Europe's leading providers of contract and manufacturing services, has nearly doubled the size of its ISO Class 7 cleanroom to meet the increasing need for miniaturized, multi-function components and 'smart materials/systems' with new equipment for material preparation, components creation and assemblies.  The expansion includes a 'Future Lab' with advanced state-of-the-art R&D, custom designs, specialised prototyping, and novel process development that will offer leading-edge LED solutions as well as a dedicated workspace next to the cleanroom for 'hands-on' design work with ESCATEC's partners

To accelerate Civilight North America’s commitment to offering high quality and high performance indoor LED lamps in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the company has appointed five new lighting industry veterans to sales and marketing positions. The new national sales and marketing team will service distributors, specifiers and lighting professionals. The vice president of sales and the marketing director will report directly to Jeffrey E. Lagaly, CEO of Civilight North America.

LED package manufacturer Harvatek revenues is expected to drop during third quarter in 2014, due to adjustments in lighting OEM orders, according to a Money DJ report. However, the company is expected to see revenue growth next season. While further long term observations are required to determine the impact from Cree’s patent lawsuit.

Following the integration among upstream LED manufacturers in Taiwan, such as the merger between Epistar and FOREPI and Cree’s investment in Lextar, Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) has become the second largest LED die supplier in Taiwan, according to a UDN report. Since Chicony became GPI’s largest shareholder, GPI’s financial performance has gradually improved, and has recently completed raising NT $1.0 billion (US $300 million) funding.

Toshiba Lighting has been the latest international manufacturer to show interest in the Indian market, according to a report from The Economic Times.

Images associated to the British name Dyson brings to mind innovative vacuum cleaners, bladeless fans, and hand dryers. Sir James Dyson was the master mind behind the design and manufacturing of these high-end electric appliances, and now his son Jake Dyson is following closely in his footsteps in LED luminaire designs.

University of Utah physicists read the subatomic “spins” in the centers or nuclei of hydrogen isotopes, and used the data to control current that powered light in a cheap, plastic LED – at room temperature and without strong magnetic fields.

Outlines investment of INR 600 million (US $9.86 million) in next three years to set up operations, distribution and retail infrastructure, including exclusive brand stores in top 30 cities

Highlights this week, Cree sues two Taiwanese LED manufacturers Harvatek and Knightbright over LED patent infringements. New analysis on sapphire cover glass disappearance from the iPhone 6 result in two very different arguments, with one camp attempting to shield GTAT by saying it was Chinese sapphire processing manufacturers fault. However, a follow up analysis noted Apple never planned to use sapphire glass in iPhone 6 to begin with. DOE has also released new energy savings forecasts for SSL, while Rubicon announces change of CEO.

Escalating market competition in China’s LED industry has spurred vendors to acquire orders by offering customers generous loan terms, but when buyers delay payment, it adversely affects manufacturers’ liquidity. If delayed accounts receivable become bad debts or uncollectible accounts then the consequences can be dire.

Elec-Tech International (ETI) financial performance and management condition has come under the spotlight, as the company’s conflict between NVC Lighting intensifies.

The Climate Group - with the support of consulting company Orbiz - convened key Brazilian stakeholders at a workshop in São Paulo last week, the third in a series which aims to accelerate the adoption of energy efficient LED street lighting around the world.

Chinese LED lighting manufacturer Opple has announced plans of entering the India market with a wide range of low-priced LED bulbs, according to an article by The Economic Times. Opple will become the first major Chinese LED player to enter the local market.

Here's a little story about some innovation soon to show up in Copenhagen. In a city with many bus stops and cycle tracks, there is the question of coexistence. For a number of years, the City of Copenhagen has worked hard to establish islands at bus stops for the bus passengers to use when disembarking. It really is the baseline for infrastructure and the City, by and large, prefers it over anything else. Since the City starting retrofitting bus stops to provide islands, safety has increased dramatically across the city.

AFX, an industry leader in energy-efficient decorative lighting solutions has won the 2014 Lighting for Tomorrow award in the Decorative Lighting category with their Cortez LED Pendant. Equipped with a 30W 3000K LED module, the stylish Cortez LED luminaire produces more than 2,220 lumens and is rated at 50,000 hours.

Technical Vision Inc., a product development company focused on designing and manufacturing assistive devices and technologies for the visually and physically disabled, today announced the launch of the company's premier mobility aid product, My Mobile Light™ Low Vision Aid. 

Tim Bajarin, President of U.S. market intelligence company Creative Strategy, refuted an earlier report by PTT Research Senior Analyst Matt Margolis that Apple dropped sapphire substrate last minute because of Chinese sapphire glass processing manufacturers Biel Crystal and Lens Technology’s low yield rates.

Have you read Malcolm Gladwell’s longtime-bestseller The Tipping Point? In it, the author discusses the phenomenon where something goes from being marginal to mainstream. For LED (light-emitting diode) lighting, the tipping point has arrived. U.S. Department of Energy statistics show that about 49 million LEDs were installed in the U.S. in 2012 — saving about US $675 million in annual energy costs. And, switching entirely to LED lights over the next two decades could save the US $250 billion in energy costs, reduce electricity consumption for lighting by nearly 50 percent and avoid 1,800 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

Winners in the Indoor category of the sixth annual Next Generation LuminairesTM Design Competition were announced today at The LED Show in Los Angeles. Sponsored by DOE, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers, NGL promotes excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED products for commercial lighting applications.

Rubicon Technology announced that Raja Parvez will step down as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. The Board has appointed William Weissman, currently CFO, as interim CEO to ensure a smooth transition and to lead Rubicon’s executive team. Chairman Don Aquilano will lead a Board search for a permanent CEO with the assistance of a leading executive search firm.

Telensa (www.telensa.com), the wireless street lighting control company, has enhanced its market-leading PLANet SmartGrid street light control system by adding an on-board GPS module and the new NEMA 7-pin connector to its telecell options.

A Hong Kong team has come up with an idea of encouraging social interactions on a rainy day with LED embedded UmbrellaHere.

NVC Lighting’s internal conflict has escalated in recent weeks, even after the company board voted unanimously for ETI CEO Wang Donglei to take over in early August. The transition after the merger of the two companies has been difficult, with disagreements occasionally erupting into violence.

China’s Standardization Administration has issued three new LED luminaire standards.

Harvatek Corporate announced that U.S. LED manufacturer Cree, has taken legal action against the Taiwanese company to enforce its six patents in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on September 15th, 2014. Although, Harvatek has not received an official copy of the complaint yet, is is aware of the dispute and preparing reactive measures.