CONNECTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION

The SSL-erate Project reaches the 18 month mark

SSL-erate, the driving force behind the Lighting For People platform, is a three year project that aims to accelerate the uptake of high-quality Solid State Lighting (SSL) technology in Europe by supporting open innovation and bringing validated information to all those who have a stake in high quality lighting, but with a focus on regional actors such as city governments and lighting company clusters. The SSL-erate team consist of 24 partners, from various origins: municipalities, clusters of lighting entrepreneurs and lighting research

The first one and a half year mark will be passed soon. We have held a large number of local workshops, in eleven countries, with the participation of 300 organisations, aimed at municipalities and local stakeholders over the whole value chain, to find out about lighting needs and experiences from the city perspective and encourage local innovation collaborations. The latter led to the initiation of business development projects organised by local lighting clusters. These are carried out in an open innovation setting, facilitated, monitored, evaluated and documented by the SSL-erate project team and aim to realize a substantial innovation in ‘green business’ and/or in ‘health and wellbeing’, beyond ‘current business’.

To support the development of innovative SSL products and services, an extensive overview was made with validated information of the merits of human-centric lighting for five application domains: (i) education (ii) workplaces, (iii) healthcare/nursing homes, (iv) domestic applications and (v) smart cities. This is a major achievement, for which a team of experts analysed approximately 400 scientific documents. The information is presented on three different levels: for the general public, for various stakeholders in lighting, to create further awareness e.g. in specification and procurement, and in depth, for actual use by e.g. product designers and researchers along with the most relevant references/sources in scientific literature.

At the Light+Building fair in Frankfurt in 2014, the Lighting for People portal was launched, which has a central position in our endeavours. This web-based innovation platform is the go-to site for high quality information on solid state lighting in Europe.

In the one and half year in front of us, further actions and events will be held to help the creation of new business, through actions on demand and supply side.

A key issue for us is not only the development of the energy saving potential of solid state lighting, but also the chance to make better lighting for use in smart environments.