The year 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of the Strategies in Light conference, setting the stage for events to come with a retrospective by conference founder and co-chair Bob Steele. In his 2019 Keynote address, Steele described the origins of the Strategies in Light conference and its focus on technology and applications enabled by high-brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs), which have driven the market for solid-state lighting (SSL) into emerging applications over the past 20-plus years.
In parallel, LEDs Magazine has sought to cover advances in general lighting but kept pace with the research pulse from its sister business unit, Strategies Unlimited, to follow innovations spawning new markets for the tiny packaged LED and provide information on long-term business opportunities in the LED and SSL sectors. Strategies Unlimited market research also plays a significant role in addressing the technology shifts and business potential of LEDs and SSL. Thus, the interaction of the magazine, research, and conference teams with industry advisors has become increasingly important in combining the latest market developments, business strategies, scientific studies, and product and lighting design challenges into a robust and informative program. The attractions of the program support the additional networking opportunities afforded by the gathering of attendees, exhibitors, and industry experts under one roof.
In San Diego, CA, the 21st annual Strategies in Light conference will open on Feb. 11 with hands-on workshops and the Investor Forum. From Feb. 12–13, three tracks are designed to encompass the technology, applications, and business concerns of the LED and SSL supply chain:
- Track 1: State of the LED and Lighting Industries/Interesting Verticals
- Track 2: Advancements in LED and Lighting Technology, Designand Manufacturing
- Track 3: Connected Lighting and the IoT
And we can’t neglect the bustle of the exhibit floor, where hundreds of exhibitors plan to display their latest products and demonstrate the strides they’ve made in addressing the demands for high performance, improved light quality, and ease of use and/or integration into complex SSL systems.
Workshops build on SSL foundations
The opening day of the Strategies in Light event represents key educational and strategy-building opportunities for attendees. Four workshops cover major topics in SSL design, standards and metrics, shifting business and product development tactics to a probability-driven approach, and the importance of strong intellectual property (IP) protection. Curated with expert leaders, these workshops allow participants to leave with immediately actionable concepts and techniques for managing business and engineering concerns.
The scheduled workshops are:
- Workshop 1: LED Optical Design: How to Start and Where to Go — 15 Years in 4 Hours
- Workshop 2: LED Lighting Standards and Methods of Measurement
- Workshop 3: What to Build and When to Build it. Scenario Planning and Decision Support Workshop for Lighting and Technology Companies
- Workshop 4: Patent Workshop
A highly experienced optical design engineer, Zemax’s Bob Householder will demystify LED optics and provide a full systems view of how all the components must work together for optimal performance. Well-known standards experts Jianzhong Jiao, consultant, and Cameron Miller of the National Institute of Standards and Technology will familiarize attendees with LED and lighting standards from various bodies, then explore methods of measurement that will ensure components and products meet those standards. Lighting industry leaders Clifton Stanley Lemon, Clifton Lemon Associates; Eoin Billings, Billings Jackson; Jerry Mix, Finelite; Paul Pickard, Ecosense; David Wilts, Digital Masterplanning; and Scott Yu, Vode Lighting will bring a hands-on approach to business planning and product development. Finally, veteran IP consultants Marshall Honeyman and David Radulescu will build a strong foundation for patent initiation and protection so that companies can maintain ownership over their most precious IP assets.
All of the workshops are designed to provide immersive learning experiences, but Workshop 3 is a bit unusual for the Strategies in Light program and represents a new focus for participants (you can learn more in our targeted Q&A with workshop planner Clifton Stanley Lemon). “The workshop is really focused on lighting company staff: product developers, managers, engineers, and C-level functions. We will get into the weeds on several topics, like how to deal with California Title 24 and other regulatory constraints, trade practice, labor costs, energy efficiency, lighting quality, health and wellness, the changing electrical grid, and product lifetimes. And we will address bigger company strategy issues like branding, culture, team building, and productivity,” explained Lemon. “Investors in lighting are often unfamiliar with the industry and will benefit from the strategic overview of driving factors that impact the success of companies they invest in. There will be something for everyone, and because of the participatory and collaborative nature of the workshop, everyone from every job function will be able to contribute a valuable viewpoint.”
Investor Forum places bets on applications
That observation on those beginning to explore the lighting industry’s investment potential is the exact purpose for the event’s longstanding Investor Forum. It will take place concurrently with the workshops on Feb. 11, creating a unique opportunity for executives and investors to learn how the SSL industry ticks. Panelists Jy Bhardwaj, Capricorn Investment Group; Jed Dorsheimer, Canaccord Genuity; Mike Gagnon, Alumage Advisors; Konrad Jarausch, Capricorn Investment Group; and Dale Pfau, Axion Advisors will guide attendees as to what applications are driving the market, describe the demand for specialty products and services, and demonstrate with key speakers how companies can position themselves for partnerships and merger and acquisition prospects.
The transition of the lighting industry from traditional sources to a technology business has been slowly progressing, with many unique challenges along the way. We asked Bhardwaj how the specialist concerns of the industry and the evolving business strategy for growth, innovation, and quality of light in end products and applications will play out in investment opportunities — and investor interest — in the LED and SSL sector. He explained, “As the LED transition in lighting becomes increasingly commoditized, focus is increasing to substantial profitable niches, which are now driving the next cycles in development. Specifically, these niches create higher value, such as IoT [Internet of Things]/sensor integration using existing or new lighting infrastructure or application-specific customization for horticulture, UV treatment, etc.”
Bhardwaj continued, “Within the cost-competitive luminaire segment, we also expect development to enable a higher level of modularization to ease SKU management challenges. Longer term, we also see the potential for the emergence of new segments based on dynamic lighting (application-specific beam steering) and then the convergence of dynamic lighting and information display.”
Expect to take home more guidance and insights gathered during the day-long Forum.
Keynotes illuminate the future of SSL
The keynotes have been spread across two Plenary sessions on Feb. 12–13 to kick off each day’s programming with an inside look at high-impact topics, as Steele described in our initial pre-conference coverage. Presentations will deliver guidance on the following:
- The advancing understanding of light in support of human health and wellbeing, as LEDvance CEO Lawrence Lin outlines the technical design and implementation of LED sources and enabling components to fine-tune spectral output in SSL end products
- How to leverage user behavior and response to light to create better and deeper experiences in the built environment, with lighting design consultant Thomas Paterson of Lux Populi explaining how to structure the design brief to incorporate these facets into a project
- The annual review and forecast for the packaged LED market and applications outlook, which will be presented by Bob Steele on behalf of Strategies Unlimited
- How the past 20 years in the lighting industry can illuminate the roadmap for continued growth, and the new value proposition of lighting beyond “the energy era,” according to engineer and designer James Benya of Benya Burnett Consultancy
- Insights from the research side to determine what will make the most impact in directing the commercial SSL business toward a new path, courtesy of Bob Karlicek of the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
A central theme has emerged with the keynotes: to support the framework of the conference in addressing the impact of past developments on the technology of today; the direction of business for sustainable growth; and how the industry can realize integrated products and systems that responsibly deliver quality illumination that is customizable and flexible to meet user needs via connectivity and data analysis.
Market observations and business growth factors are the foremost concern at Strategies in Light. In an Industry Insights piece in this issue, written by Alex Baker of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), he pointed to a loose approach to applying industry lifetime standards that has resulted in lower confidence in many products and thus an impact on LED uptake.
LEDvance’s Lin picked up the thread on the quality of products being especially important to supporting the growth of lighting for wellbeing applications. “With LED price points consistently dropping, more and more residential and commercial customers have incorporated it into their homes and businesses. Still, many have a bad impression of LED technology due to poor quality products,” said Lin.
While Baker strongly advises a new focus on compliance, which will strengthen the industry’s growth potential, Lin pointed out that it’s up to the LED and SSL supply chain to deliver on that promise. “LED lighting offers more than just longevity and energy savings; it also can help deliver natural light and better light quality… High-quality, full-spectrum LED technology that is affordable is going to be a game changer in 2020 as you see it utilized in more consumer and industrial LED lighting products.”
To support the most decisive planning, the annual market forecast helps to inform the story of the past year and indicate where the LED market is headed, and is one of the most highly anticipated presentations at the conference. In-depth market forces and data on packaged LEDs and their penetration into general lighting, horticultural SSL, and cannabis lighting markets will be presented by Bob Steele during Wednesday’s keynotes, as mentioned earlier.
Technology under the microscope
While Track 1 centers on the most up-to-date market and business insights that will drive the industry in 2020 and beyond, Track 2 connects the dots of R&D and manufacturing and the role of the supply chain. Across all three tracks, the movement of R&D to commercialized products merges into application discussions — some of them far beyond illuminating a space for the visual experience.
The conference team has vetted speakers who prescribe an informed approach to the application of light to the human condition — meaning that the SSL industry must continue to build upon its expertise by collaborating and consulting with the academic community and determining a holistic approach to enabling technologies, integrated systems, and standardization that paves the path to responsible lighting design.
Erik Swenson, general manager at Nichia America Corporation, will participate in a panel discussion on LEDs for Circadian Lighting during Thursday’s Track 2 session alongside Elio Jin-Ha Kim, head of application engineering at Samsung Electronics, and Jonathon Lowder, director of sales engineering at Seoul Semiconductor. With regard to the importance of LEDs in spectrally-enhanced lighting experiences, he said, “I personally believe in the potential of circadian lighting. To me it is a question of evidence, value, and timing. With LEDs, we have the opportunity to digitize lighting and do so much more than just flip a light switch.”
Commercialization of the concepts behind lighting for health and wellbeing is a prime opportunity for continued and lasting growth. But Swenson tempered the excitement that is driving the application of LEDs with a considered approach, saying, “We should continue to advance the technology further and enable more value than just simply providing light. Circadian lighting is one piece of this story. Ultimately, though, we must qualify and quantify the value that circadian lighting provides. Part of my message this year has been and will be that we tread carefully with these advancements, do not rush to judgment, and do not overmarket or oversell the technology.”
Building a new knowledge base
As mentioned earlier, the conference tracks are designed to complement one another, and connected lighting is the heart of Track 3, exploring the progress of lighting as a major component and enabler in IoT schemes. Although we follow and report on the forays of lighting companies into smart systems and applications, there is a common observation amongst players in the SSL industry that there is no truly smart lighting or smart building — yet. How is this possible, one might ask? One issue that is holding back the fully integrated system is a lack of buy-in on future functionality and the lighting supply chain’s commitment to playing a critical central role. Some in the industry believe that less complexity in controls and systems is the way to move forward for the foreseeable future, while others believe that as a collective we need to be ready to implement more intelligent lighting throughout all our daily activities to gather usable data that, once analyzed, will improve human wellbeing.
Speaker David Wilts, who will take part in Workshop 3 as well as presenting his own talk, “Bringing Value: Why There Are No Smart Buildings — And How to Get There,” noted, “It is more important than ever for the lighting industry to understand their potentially central role in a digital (smart) building. Utilizing integrated control systems on a shared IP [Internet Protocol] network with other building systems is the most important next step. The Strategies in Light conference will be a great place to learn and help the lighting industry advance the design and construction and operations industry as a whole.”
No one knows better the trials facing an industry that has been challenged to change its entire business model to a technology value proposition better than IES industry relations manager Mark Lien. “We cannot be effective without a clear understanding of what affects our business unless we are lucky, and luck is not a sustainable business plan. The lighting community has been conspicuously absent from events produced for technologies now morphing into the lighting industry,” he observed, continuing, “Without engagement with the leaders in cybersecurity, AI [artificial intelligence], quantum computing, etc., our community will stay behind the curve on these converging technologies.” Presentations and educational opportunities such as those scheduled into the Strategies in Light program are designed to enable the industry gain its footing and redirect efforts into agile organizations that tackle and resolve complex converging technological concerns. Lien said, “International tech conferences are also increasingly focused on issues relevant to the evolution of the lighting industry. I have been attending these events typically as the sole representative from the lighting community. Surviving and thriving during lighting’s current market transformation requires knowledge of converging technologies.”
This is genuinely only a slice of the offerings that will be found at Strategies in Light. Chances to network with industry peers also abound, including at the Sapphire Awards reception in the evening on Feb. 12, where we will learn which of the finalists have earned trophies for their innovations. Join us at the San Diego Convention Center from Feb. 11–13, 2020 for the full conference program — from workshops to investment guidance and market data to technology and application expertise, there is something to address every need across the entire supply chain.
