The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has announced an opportunity that may be of interest to the solid-state lighting community. The LPO invests in the power of American innovation to accelerate the deployment of innovative clean-energy projects across the U.S. in order to avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gases. To date, it has supported a large, diverse portfolio of more than US $30 billion in loans, loan guarantees, and commitments that have covered more than 30 projects nationwide, generating over US $50 billion in total project investment, supporting job creation, cutting pollution, and enhancing American competitiveness in the global economy.

Materials manufacturer Covestro continued its successful half-year trend in the third quarter of 2016 with high Free Operating Cash Flow and strong earnings. Adjusted EBITDA rose significantly by 21.9% year-on-year to EUR 574 million, mainly driven by higher volumes combined with higher margins. The Group’s core volumes (in kilotons) were up by 9.1% on the prior-year period.

Company continues to provide high efficiency LED lighting solutions to reduce operating costs and improve light quality within public schools; has completed more than US $13.3 million in education work throughout 2016

Kyocera announced that its LED technology is being utilized in a facade lighting system to showcase the New Kyoto Building of Wacoal Holdings, Japan’s leading creator of intimate apparel for women. Completed last month, the system illuminates the building every night.

On Oct. 13-14, 2016 the live printing demo of the mid-web 8-colors central drum ONYX 810 was held at Uteco headquarters in Colognola ai Colli.

ClearLight Technology®, a division of American Machine Vision LLC announces its US $60,000 in 60 days Kickstarter campaign to fund the certification and final engineering of their low-power, low heat, energy efficient LED retrofit module for fluorescent tube fixtures.

China Electric or better known for its lighting brand Toa Lighting in Taiwan issued a statement on Oct. 31, 2016 rebutting Taiwanese media reports about ongoing company financial investigations were exaggerated and fabricated.

Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu confirmed last Saturday market rumors that Cupertino-based Apple will be adapting OLED screens in its next generation iPhones, reported Nikkei Asian review.

U.S. OLED manufacturer Universal Display Corporation’s office in Ireland reported a US $21 million loss in 2015 on revenue of US $98.2 million, reported Irish media Independent recently.

Blackbird Technologies (//www.blackbird-tech.com), a company dedicated to helping independent inventors and small companies realize value from their patents, has settled a patent infringement lawsuit with Kobi Electric and filed new cases concerning LED bulbs.

As part of its ongoing role to support the destination and promote increased year-round visitation to the region, The Niagara Falls Illumination Board is pleased to announce that construction is underway on its enhanced illumination project for both the Canadian Horseshoe and American Falls.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting,announced that it signed a patent license agreement with GVA Lighting Inc., a designer and manufacturer of LED lighting systems for architectural and commercial markets. The license provides GVA Lighting with full, worldwide access to a wide range of basic LED control, color-mixing, and system-level technologies.

CAO Lighting filed a patent infringement suit against Light Efficient Design, LLC and its distributor EWS in Federal Court in Boise, Idaho, for infringement of its U.S. Patent No. 6,465,961 on Oct. 28, 2016.

Enel has connected an 88 MW wind farm to the grid in Nojoli, South Africa, and launched a rural electrification project with Liter of Light, to bring sustainable light to the streets of its surrounding villages.

Another UAE emirate Ras Al Khaimah announced it will be rolling out a major streetlight replacement project along major roads to the airport, public parks and others, reported Khaleej Times.

There is increasing German government interference in LED and semiconductor related transactions this week, Osram’s decision to sell its general lighting business to Chinese consortium headed by IDG Capital and included lighting company Forest Lighting (MLS) has been delayed and put on hold.

Chinese investor Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) was supposed to have sealed deal between German semiconductor equipment manufacturers Aixtron on Oct. 6, 2016, but was abruptly called off by the German Economic Ministry this Monday over unspecified national security issues.

The German government has temporarily halted Chinese consortium headed by strategic investor IDG Capital Partners (IDG) to acquire Osram’s general lighting business LEDVANCE, and have put the deal under review, Reuters cited German magazine WirtschaftsWoche recent report.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released CALiPER Report 24: Photometric Testing, Laboratory Teardowns, and Accelerated Lifetime Testing of OLED Luminaires, which is the first CALiPER report evaluating the performance of OLED luminaires based on independent procurement and testing. Among the findings:

Epistar announced that it agreed to settle its patent litigation against Adamax d/b/a Newhouse Lighting (“Adamax”) pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, for infringement of Epistar’s light-emitting diode (“LED”) filament patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,346,771, 7,489,068, 7,560,738, 8,240,881, 8,344,353, 8,791,467, 9,065,022). 

On Oct. 27, 2016, Liquidleds Lighting (Liquileds) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Testrite, a Taiwan-based distributor which sells products through its retail channels like TLW, HOLA, HOLA CASA and HOLA Petite. The lawsuit alleges that Testrite infringed on Liquidleds' patent for "Method of Assembling an Airtight LED Light Bulb." (Taiwan Patent No. 1372842, which has foreign corresponding fillings in China, US, EP and Japan)

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting today announced the illumination of the Palace of Culture in Iasi, Romania with Philips’ architectural lighting. 

LEDVANCE announced a wide range of new SYLVANIA LED lighting solutions for both residential and commercial applications. Available now or in the near future, first-to-market products include an easy option for updating recessed lighting, and connected indoor/outdoor and under cabinet lighting.  The company is also launching a motion and temperature sensor – a major step toward automating intelligent light – and Energy Star® qualified LED A19 and A21 lamps that are rated at 15,000 hours, offering long life at a good value, and eligible for utility rebates.

Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced the launch of two new industry-leading[1] photocouplers, TLP2767 and TLP2367, for high-speed communications at data rates up to 50Mbps.

LG Innotek announced that it will release a programmable LED driver for wireless lighting control in the American market. The product has moderate price, but shows outstanding performance, it is expected to gain popularity as a wireless lighting control solution in the market.

The TCAT is designed to harmoniously blend flat and curved geometrics, producing a sleek, subtle contour that complements any architectural aesthetic in offices, schools, medical, and public spaces.

These 1.5W lamps provide the timeless look of an incandescent lamp with the energy efficiency of LED technology. U-LED filament LED lamps have no visible circuit boards or heat sinks, they are dimmable and provide an omnidirectional light that replicates the appearance of incandescent filament lamps.

MAXIMUS®, a home security company providing easy-to-install smart home security solutions, today launches its latest preventative security feature: message playback on detection. This new feature helps homeowners protect their homes and loved ones, even when they're not able to get to their phone, by playing pre-recorded messages or a sound when motion is detected.

At LEDforum 2016 hosted by LEDinside in late September in Taipei, Taiwan, industry insiders were all focused on innovative technologies including Quantum Dot (QD), Micro-LEDs and other new technologies. Saturation in the LED backlight market, while the LED lighting market might have high market potential, but requires specialization has ushered development of new applications in the LED industry. Some of these include small-pitch LED displays for billboards, large indoor displays, automotive LEDs, non-visible LED light (UV and IR applications), grow lights and other important emerging applications. Future technology developments include integrating QD technology with micro-LEDs to optimize LED performance.

A new infrared LED from Osram Opto Semiconductors reduces the size of lighting units for camera-based assistance systems in cars. Compared to the Platinum Dragon previously used, Synios SFH 4770S A01 offers 25 percent higher optical output and needs only about one tenth of the footprint.