Welcome to the LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter for Dec. 22, 2021. I want to start off by wishing everyone in our audience a truly happy holiday — wherever you are, whatever you find to celebrate toward the end of a year, know that we appreciate your support and feedback all through the year. Technically, we still have two more editorial newsletters coming next week, so this won’t be the “official” 2021 sign-off.😉
I have mentioned our upcoming top 20 articles of the year and that list is still to come. But you’ll find a teaser from the selection of topic-focused “top article” lists we’ve revealed on our blog so far. Keep in mind, though, that there will be additional stories and feature articles in the top 20 that reach beyond these curated “top four” in horticulture, connected lighting and controls, and health and wellbeing.
I don’t see it as an enormous spoiler to tell you that the years-long journey of ams and Osram to an integrated organization continues to gain traction with our audience. You’ll see some of those items in the top 20. In recent news that wouldn’t yet make it into the most-viewed, our Mark Halper reported on the sale of the ams Osram horticultural lighting business, Fluence, to Signify. Initially, that break caught me off guard, considering former Osram exec Olaf Berlien commented back in February that “Fluence […] had growing rates of about 25% year over year and is highly profitable.” But Halper noted the crux of the Q1 report was that Osram’s Digital division was under scrutiny for possible sell-off — which would potentially put horticulture up for grabs along with smart lighting/IoT, entertainment lighting, and architectural lighting. I have no doubt that we will continue to see a refinement of the ams Osram businesses focusing on optical solutions for “sensing, illumination, and visualization” (as stated on the company website).
Turning to other business, I confess I was hesitant to write up the latest update on the Light+Building (L+B) in-person event planned for March 2022. But I felt it would be a significant gap in our coverage if we didn’t share the most recent public-facing information on the event status — which is somewhat hazy at the moment. As of this publication timing, Messe Frankfurt has not released a definitive postponement or rescheduling announcement but rather has stated that the show “will definitely take place in 2022” while demurring that “a timely decision” will be made in January. I appreciate the pressure of debate and decision making event organizers must endure right now as we all are learning about coronavirus variants and continuing impacts on healthcare systems. I do hope that stakeholders, exhibitors, and organizers can develop solid event strategies in the new year.
You’ll find more of interest in the body of today’s newsletter. Please keep in touch about content we post or to pitch a contributed article.
- Carrie Meadows, (603) 891-9382, [email protected]