Member of the euroLED 2012 advisory board, on investment, applications and support for R&D in LEDs.

1. Are Zumtobel investing in any particular lighting technologies at the moment, other than LEDs, or is LEDs an area where most potential is seen?

 

Of course the Zumtobel Group is investing in not just LEDs but all classical, current and emerging lighting technologies but we see the LED technology as the most important lighting technology for the near future. LEDs are not just proved to be a mature and reliable technology, which have made during the last years impressive improvements in efficiency, costs and quality, but it also allows for entirely new applications due to the small form factor, the fast reaction times and the possibility to adjust the colour and colour temperature for white LEDs almost arbitrarily.

 

2. You are chairing a session at the conference entitled “Emerging technologies and novel applications of LEDs across all value chains” and where do you see the biggest opportunity to be, in terms of applications of LEDs?

 

In my opinion the LED will have one of the biggest impacts in lighting applications since this application affects us all every day and since the LED not just replaces older light sources but allows for the first time for functional and intelligent lighting. LED light can not just be used to brighten up our environment, but it allows for lighting solutions that can enhance our concentration, improve our well being or help us relax after a long working day. There are even some medical applications where LED light can be used as therapy and I am pretty sure, that there will be some emerging technologies, which will add new parameters to the LEDs and therefore allow for entirely new applications.

 

3. Do you feel that there is a large enough degree of government support for R&D and industrial policies that drive investments in underlying parts of the value chain (fabrication, packaging, assembly, etc)?

 

I think the efforts are going in the right direction, although more support would of course be beneficial to strengthen Europe’s position in the global competition. A very important trend is that not just R&D is supported, but also the later stages which are important to transform the research results into mass products and high quality solutions.

Ten years ago the focus was almost exclusively on R&D which led to excellent European research but the problem was that in many cases these research results didn’t make it into mass products. Now that the entire value chain is (or is starting to be) considered and supported we are in a much better position to translate high quality research in high quality products.

One problem is still that the efforts in the different countries are often not combined into a joined effort but implemented independently in each country, which dilutes the results that could have been achieved in a more concentrated effort. I think that events like the euroLED could help to solve this problem in bringing the relevant people together and help to combine the efforts on a European level.

 

4. Why is an event like euroLED important to you and your company?

 

The LED technology is quickly becoming the dominant lighting technology and euroLED brings together the key players in the European LED and LED related industry. It is a platform for exchanging information and learning about new developments and breakthroughs and therefore a very important information source that helps to stay ahead of the competition.