| A group of 22 European companies and academic institutions are working together in a three-year project entitled “Consumerizing Solid-State Lighting (CSSL),” which is partly funded by the European Union and EU countries.
The CSSL project aims to develop technology and application breakthroughs as well as new market approaches in order to speed up the availability of affordable high-quality LED lamps to replace the ordinary light bulb in the home. In this way, the project plans to help keep Europe at the forefront of LED lamp development and market introduction.
The transition towards energy-efficient LED-based solid-state lighting opens up tremendous opportunities in terms of technological development, cost reduction, sustainability and approaches to market. The participants in the CSSL project are committed to cross-industry partnering as the fastest, most effective way to bring the benefits of LED lighting to European consumers.
The CSSL project describes itself as being all about building a European “consumer LED ecosystem” encompassing the entire value chain from LED die and light sources through to consumer luminaires and lighting controls. Some of the partners are utility companies.
The project is focusing specifically on a number of key advances. These include:
- Gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) wafer processing, enabling to reduce LED costs
- Mains-compatible LEDs and electronics, enabling to reduce the number of lamp parts
- Dimmer-compatible LED lamp and electronics
In addition to the technology developments, the team is also exploring other ways to accelerate the uptake of LED lamps. With the support of utility companies the ecosystem will gain-end user insights and explore new business models that would further fuel growth.
CSSL is partially funded by the European Commission and the participating Public Authorities within the ENIAC program.
The 22 CSSL consortium members include 3 Philips companies and a number of research organizations and university groups.
Also included are driver IC companies STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductors; equipment manufacturer KLA-Tencor (ICOS); dimmer and controls makers Legrand & Niko; small and medium-sized enterprises Boschman, Archimede QLT, Inteesa, Best Electronique & Wittenburg; and the utility companies ENEL, Electricité De France & British Gas.
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