Today, Siegfried Luger, publisher of LED professional, talked with Mr. Ed van den Kieboom, Conference Director Smart Lighting Event, and with Dr. Bruno Smets, Chair Conference Committee Smart Lighting Event, about the ongoing conference in Frankfurt.
Luger: What's Smart Lighting per definition? How do you define it exactely?
Kieboom/Smets: With the introduction of Solid-State Lighting the lighting industry is becoming digital in the long run. There is the assumption that with this transition to digital lighting will become more efficient, but will also create the right condition for the people's working and living environment, for their well-being, and, over time, also their health. In the past the lighting conditions were given but in the future the lighting conditions will be on demand - let's say based on customer and consumer requirements. The main driver is digital lighting and we can say it's the marriage between the lighting industry and the semiconductor industry.
Luger: How many people are attending the Smart Lighting Event, right now?
Kieboom/Smets: There are 248 people here at the show.
Luger: From yesterday's and today's talks what can be seen as technology trends for the future or in other words which technologies are required in this digital world - as you mentioned - and what should be improved in technologies when we look to smart lighting applications?
Kieboom/Smets: In this digital world controls exist in a very limited level. What you see is that nearly all communications and protocols are proprietary. So there's the need for common standards as in other applications to boost the acceptance of the digital systems. Additionally, it is to say that the standards of today are not the standards of tomorrow. If we move the business into more system and solution orientation, and if we talk about user-interface, then new devices like mobile phones and tablets will become new devices for communication and interfacing.
Another interesting aspect is that the lighting industry is moving to low-power/voltage applications. It could be that in the future our environment is based on low-voltage grids. This would also revolutionize the infrastructure of lighting systems, e.g. in combination with renewable energy sources.
Luger: What's the general outlook then of the lighting industry?
Kieboom/Smets: There's a variety of representatives of different communities in the audience. The presentations given had a very wide prospective and a broad range of topics. According to the the discussions it seems that the lighting industry is looking for a new identity. This identity will surly not be based on traditional stakeholders from the lighting industry but coming from a variety of stakeholders such as lighting designers, utility companies, construction companies, architects, and many more. This new stakeholder situation came out very clearly. So the lighting industry has to create this new identity.
