LpS Aims to Prepare Its Delegates for the Digital Future
LEDification shook the world of lighting to its core, transforming how we engineer, innovate, design and even live. Today, in lighting, we know the next huge revolution is upon us, but unlike LEDification, this next phase is not really clear enough to define, predict or plan for. Siegfried Luger, Director of LpS, shares his thoughts on what we need to still focus on in engineering, what changes we need to make, and how he hopes LpS can guide attendees to building a secure, relevant and valuable future in lighting.
Core-focus updates:
It has often been said that you have to know where you are coming from to know where you are going. I think this rings true in lighting technology today. We have to be ready for the new digital future, but we have to make sure we never forget what we have built to date and what still requires our attention. The expert speaker sessions we have curated for LpS this year cover a new digital future, however, they also continue the essential continued discussions needed to build and shape the technologies we all develop and design today. LEDification is almost at full maturity, but now there are LED’s for new applications and more niche functions with detailed specifications that require all our attention. The spectrum of the LED also needs more focus from us to activate the full spectrum of light we all desire and know is achievable. Testing, quality and reliability can never be forgotten, nor can standardization and its role in our combined future. Alongside the major topic of LED’s we also have OLEDs and Laser Light that need to be explored. This year we want to share these core topic updates and impart the latest news to the delegates so the foundations of lighting technology are stronger for the future.
Attendees are interestedly following the lectures of a higly skilled specialist at LpS/TiL 2017
Beyond lighting technologies:
After working in lighting technology for most of my career, I have seen first-hand the many phases the industry has gonethrough. I have been fortunate to have ridden the wave of change brought about by the invention of the LED, seen the first example of laser lights and now be a witness to the rapid transformative pace brought about by digitization. In the past, one thing remained constant and that was that lighting technology was designed essentially to illuminate. That is no longer the case; now light needs to be able to, for example, heal human skin, guarantee harvest yield, secure our homes, and enable data communication. This year’s LpS will still bring the attendees sessions on core updates that have to be addressed in lighting, but it will also encourage attendees to broaden their horizons to include the multiple applications of light and the varied applications and users.
The bigger picture:
The challenges faced by connected luminaires, and their ability to communicate correctly are so pivotal to our future that we have created a track dedicated to this topic. In the past you only had to look at the luminaire and the light source; it was a focused and fixed developmental space. This has all changed now. Yes, you have to understand how your core technologies are evolving but you also have to recognize all the trends around you, your sector, and field of expertise to maintain the relevance of your products and work. These days it is far bigger than a single point of development. It is much more complex now to develop a human centric, user-focused luminaire that is agile and whose application functions correctly. To be the best engineer you can be, you have to understand the complete environment of the luminaire, its application and the user. We have seen a clear pattern emerging in engineering; there is a demand to understand more from the application point of view from designers, engineers and developers who want to develop systems in the correct way, to make them future proof. Our publications and symposium have always been dedicated to supporting lighting technologies and we continue to do so with our co-hosted event, Trends in Lighting. We will be combining the two areas of in-depth technology and the need to embrace innovations, applications and user approaches.
The future leaders in light:
LEDification was a revolution we all experienced over 8 years ago and it changed the entire landscape of lighting technology. Digitization is comparable to the LED revolution but what it will really look like is still uncertain. We had far more clarity with LEDification about the impact and the best paths to take. Digitization is an unknown. Since we can’t predict the future, we should at least be prepared for it. We are seeing global giants like Google, Facebook and IBM joining the light communication space. New stakeholders with new ambitions, such as Microsoft and CISCO are ready to take on light and lighting. But how does this affect us and what can we do to be part of it? It’s a whole new motion and phase in lighting and we want you to be better equipped to take part in it. This world of communicating light will change and transform over the coming years and it’s those who are best prepared that will be able to remain agile in the future of light and lighting technologies. To be prepared you have to have a wide perspective, be open to collaboration, be up to date on developments and you must also be engaged. We don’t think any of us need to compete with the global tech giants, but we should be ready to work with them and help guide them. An event like LpS is the perfect training ground for you to begin collaborative relationships, create open innovation and also keep up to date with all existing and real topics in lighting, rendering strong foundations on which to build your future.
