Signify announced that it will not participate in Light + Building 2020 due to “health risks posed by the coronavirus.” Light + Building, the world’s biggest biannual fair of the lighting and building industry, will be taking place as planned during March 8 to 13, announced by its organizer Messe Frankfurt last week. Even though the organizer addressed the minor opportunity of getting infected with the coronavirus, Signify, the world’s biggest lighting company, decided not to participate in Light + Building this year. Eric Rondolat, CEO of Si...

Display applications adopting Mini LED technology is expected to bloom in 2020 following the rumors of Apple releasing Mini LED based iPad and MacBook this year. Since last year, related players in the industry are pushing production and development of Mini LED backlight as well as Mini LED RGB displays. (Image: Pixabay) Chip producer Epistar reported that its plans for Mini LED backlight products production and shipment will be process as scheduled, despite the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. Epistar has expanded its capacity in Taiwan for Mini LED...

Osram Opto Semiconductors recently began to work with a Polish company XTPL to initiate evaluation of adopting 3D printing technology solutions to address the challenges connected with the manufacture of future generations of lighting elements. Osram signed an agreement with XTPL on January 21, 2020, to access the possibility of implementing XTPL’s technology in Osram’s production processes for create conductive interconnections for semiconductors. The potential industrial application of the XTPL method in the lighting industry is yet another proof of ...

80 Acres Farms, an indoor farming operator, is growing tomatoes on one of the busiest streets in New York outside the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as part of the Guggenheim's new exhibition in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas, Countryside, The Future, which is taking place from February 20 until August 14, 2020. (Image: Guggenheim Musuem) People in New York will be able to look through a large window in the indoor farm to view a crop of fresh tomatoes being grown continuously during the next six months under precise LED lighting and other controlled conditio...

To fight against the continuously spreading coronavirus, China purchased self-driving disinfection robots with UVC light to run in hospitals. Danish company UVD Robots signed an agreement with a medical equipment supplier to the Chinese market, Sunay Healthcare Supply. The partnership will ship the UVC light equipped robots to China for hospital deployment. (Image: UVD Robots) UVD Robots is a Danish company established from a project between Odense University Hospital and Blue Robotics with their development of an UV-disinfection robot providing auto...

According to the latest report of 2020 Global LED Lighting Market Outlook- Light LED and LED Lighting Market Trend-1H20 issued by LEDinside of Trendforce, with the development of technology, mature products, active promotion of manufacturers and popularization of smart lighting concepts in 2019, the global smart lighting market has entered a stage of rapid development, with the market size approaching USD 10.7 billion. Among them, smart residential lighting accounted for 29% of the global smart lighting market in 2019, reaching USD 3.11 billion. Currently th...

A research team at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Taiwan, recently announced the development of a new quantum dot material that provides more realistic color and is more stable. (Image: NTHU) Led by Professor Hsueh-Shih (Sean) Chen at Taiwan’s National Tsing Hua University, the research team developed a “shield” of approximately 1-nanometer at the crystal facets of each quantum dot to overcome the current technology difficulty of quantum dot which is unstable and easily damaged. The team has already applied for patents for the new mat...

The biannual event of the lighting industry, Light + Building will be held as scheduled from March 8 to 13 in Frankfurt Germany, announced the event organizer Messe Frankfurt. (Image: Light + Building) This year at Light + Building there are 2,640 registered exhibitors. Messe Frankfurt noted that these exhibitors are preparing to take part in the event. Based on the information and advises provided by the World Health Organization and other public health authorities, the risk of getting infected by the coronavirus is very low. The organizer addressed that it wil...

As the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, continues to spread across the world, people become more alert to public health issues. Hospitals, where people go seek for health care and treatment, usually gather individual with potential health problem and become a risky environment for others. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the U.S., approximately 1 in 25 patients contract healthcacre-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals. Despite that standard cleaning procedures cover manual application of detergents and disinfectants,...

STMicroelectronics announced the collaboration with TSMC to accelerate the development of Gallium Nitride (GaN) process technology and the supply of both discrete and integrated GaN devices to market. Through this partnership, ST’s GaN products will be manufactured using TSMC’s GaN process technology. GaN is a wide bandgap semiconductor material which is considered outpacing traditional Silicon-based semiconductors for power applications. GaN is more energy efficient at high power and allows the design of more compact devices for better form fact...

As internet become more and more popular worldwide, people obtain information faster and more convenient than ever. However, when things come to a point where they have to make a decision, such as a large cross-broader trading, they will choose to participate in an industrial show where they have opportunities to have face-to-face conversation with others. Take the lighting industry for example, every year there are thousands of buyers stream into leading lighting fairs seeking for right products and suppliers. But another challenge they have met is that with such an explosive informa...

On November 26, 2019, Seoul Semiconductor announced to auction its radio frequency (RF) semiconductor patent portfolio and a high-power LED package patent portfolio. In the first auction, Seoul Semiconductor is seeking the top bidder for 80 patent assets related to power amplifiers and gallium nitride (GaN) RF semiconductors, including 54 U.S. patents. Three of the patents are licensed to the U.S. Air Force or the U.S. Army. In the second auction, Seoul Semiconductor will auction more than 100 patents, including US, European, Chinese, Japanese, and Ko...

Mariana Figueiro, director of the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, continues to enhance the lighting treatment developed for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. The research team recently announced a US$ 3 million grant renewal from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Figueiro has demonstrated that providing light exposure of certain amounts and qualities throughout the day can improves sleep patterns, sociability, and agitation, while decreasing symptoms of depression. With the latest grant renewal, Figueiro and her t...

Signify announced at EuroShop 2020 its further step in the Retail IoT space through the launch of Interact Retail multisite management – a cloud-based, connected lighting system designed for multiple stores and retail distribution centers. The system will be adopted by UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S). (Image: Signify) The new features make it possible to create a network of connected stores, helping s the retailer to create and manage uniform light schedules for its stores from a single dashboard. The retailers can thus define scenes and schedules on ...

Nanoco, a UK-based quantum dot technology specialist, announced that it has filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung, accursing the Korean company of infringing Nanoco’s quantum dot patent.   Nanoco filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on February 14, 2020 against defendants including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Visual Display and Samsung Electronics America. Samsung was accused of infringing five technologies related to na...

The Society for Information Display (SID) will host its 57th International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, known as Display Week 2020, June 7 to 12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, USA. This year's event will bring together the brightest minds in the display industry, providing insight into new display technologies in development, as well as affording a sneak peek at new products that will be hitting the shelves within the next few years. Last year, attendance topped 8,000, and this year the event will be held in the heart of Silicon Valley...

  Display Week 2020, hosted by the Society for Information Display, will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from June 7 – June 12, 2020. The Display Week technical program starts with the International Technical Symposium and Sunday Short Courses on Sunday, June 7, and continues with the Monday Seminars on Monday, June 8. The Symposium continues until Friday, June 12, with and will include more than 70 technical sessions consisting of nearly 400 oral and poster presentations. The Display Week 2020 Exhibition will...

After reporting a robust financial result for its Fiscal 1Q20, Osram further announced a better than expected performance of its efficiency programs. The German company said that thanks to the increased efficiency and the initiated measures, its savings target will increase from its original target of EUR 220 million (US$ 237.5 million) euros to EUR 300 million (US$ 323.87 million) by 2022. The cumulative impact of several individually-led programs across Osram business units has resulted in beating expectations with regards to savings. Together, they have already suc...

The Hong Kong Trade Devleopment Council (HKTDC) announced that it will reschedule the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Spring Edition) from April 6 to 9 to July 25 to 28 concerning coronavirus. HKTDC noted that it will take measures to prevent infection including distributing personal health control notice to the attendees, providing mask and hand sanitizer upon request and cleaning elevator buttons as well as escalator handles from time to time. As the novel coronavirus continues to spread across the broader and the infected number still goes up, many...

US-based container farm developer Freight Farms has raised US$15 million in Series B funding led by Ospraie Ag Science, an investment firm committed to supporting sustainable solutions. The investment round, which received participation from existing investor Spark Capital, brings the company's total funding to more than US$ 28 million. Freight Farms specialized in containerized vertical agriculture. Its product, named “Greenery,” incorporates hydroponic systems and LED lighting, enabling production of more than 500 varieties of crops at commercial s...

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) announced a collaboration with Jungo to develop a Time-of-Flight (ToF) and 2D infrared- (IR) based camera solution to enable driver- and in-cabin monitoring in vehicles. (Image: ADI) The combination of ADI’s ToF technology with Jungo’s Codriver software is expected to enable the monitoring of vehicle occupants for levels of drowsiness and distraction by observing head and body position as well as eye gaze. The solution is also expected to enable smart vehicle interaction based on face, body, and hand gestures, and offer ...

Israel-based LiDAR company Innoviz Technologies announced its partnership with Shaanxi Heavy Duty Automobile, a truck manufacturer based in Xian China, which is also known as Shacman Trucks outside China. With the cooperation, Innoviz will supply its LiDAR sensors for developing autonomous trucks for an upcoming project in one of the biggest ports in China. At the first stage of the project, InnovizPro LiDAR is being utilized in Shaanxi Truck's autonomous proof of concept project at the Chinese port, with Shaanxi's ultimate goal being the deployme...

ISE 2020 ended last week on February 15 at RAI Amsterdam. Despite that some companies decided to pull off from the exhibition with coronavirus concerns, still many worldwide industry leaders attend ISE 2020 with their latest products. Micro LED and Mini LED displays, the next-gen display technology, also played significant roles at the event with several new products showcased and innovative solution presented. Samsung Presents 583-inch Micro LED Display - The Wall for Business Samsung extended product portfolio, The Wall for Business, covering Mic...

The following analysis shows TrendForce’s investigations of key component and other downstream technology industries, under the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, with the latest data as of February 14, 2020. LED In terms of the upstream substrate, chip to downstream packaging sector, because the number of LED manufacturers in Wuhan and Hubei core affected areas is limited, only a few manufacturers affected. The LED manufacturers in other parts of China were constrained by the slow pace of the resumption of work, and they may be unable to return...

  In its latest blog post, Osram addressed the significance of smart street lighting for future cities, noting that the digital transformation of city services is critical and will rely on connected city infrastructure. The United Nations foresees that by 2050, 68% of the world population will live in urban areas. For enhanced safety, operational efficiency and sustainability, this growing and concentrated population need to be supported by integrated system and services. Smart street lighting thus serves as a primary smart city installation to simultaneously create the unde...

LeddarTech announced that it will exhibit the result from the collaboration with its Ecosystem partner Renesas at the AV20 Silicon Valley Conference from February 26-28 at The Pullman San Francisco Bay. (Image: LeddarTech) LeddarTech will demonstrate the award-winning Leddar™ Pixell, a 3D solid-state cocoon LiDAR for autonomous shuttles, delivery vehicles and robotaxis. The Leddar Pixell features the LCA2 LeddarEngine™, for which LeddarTech collaborated with Renesas. The teams worked closely in the design and manufacturing of the LCA...

Veeco announced financial results for the fourth quarter in 2019 and fiscal year 2019 ended December 31, 2019. For the 4Q19, the company registered a revenue of US$ 113 million, up by 14% YoY comparing to the revenue of US$ 99 million in 4Q18. Veeco also reports US$ 419 million for fiscal year 2019. Despite the revenue drop by 22% YoY, Veeco has lowered the net loss from US$ 407 million to US$ 78.7 million. Veeco marks 2019 as a transformational year with a return to profitability. The company reported improved gross margins which came to 40% and reduced expenses, ...

As the novel coronavirus is spreading across the world and is highly contagious, people are getting more and more alert in environment disinfection. UVC LED technology providing disinfection function thus draws consumers’ attention. UVC LED technology, which can be integrated with different applications for water, air and surface disinfection, is becoming a hit in the LED industry and the consumer market since the outbreak of coronavirus. Companies with UVC LED technology are now working on various applications to help people combat the virus. High Power ...

The training grounds of the Red Bull Football Academy in Salzburg, Austria have been outfitted with environmentally friendly floodlights from Signify and STICH. Providing their students with superior training in optimal conditions is their number one goal, but the academy also sought a way to carry on late-night and early-morning trainings that weren’t disruptive to the nocturnal creatures populating the surrounding area. (Image: Signify) Artificial light from outdoor facilities often create light pollution for nocturnal animals and insects, altering the night...

The outbreak of novel coronavirus continues to escalate and the production in China is postponing due to the epidemic, leading to expected production and supply chain delay. US-based lighting companies, Cooper Lighting Solutions and Satco, posted a notice respectively to inform their customers of the possible interruption of product supply. Cooper Lighting Solution noted in its “Coronavirus Update” that due to travel and logistics suspensions enacted by Chinese authorities, its suppliers have not resume production yet. This delay in operations capabilities wil...