The lighting industry continues to be in a state of rapid transformation. New technologies and new business models are forcing the industry to rethink what it means to be a lighting company in the 21st century. To understand and address this issue, the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute brought together leaders from the lighting industry, policy makers, and business development experts for its annual Partner’s event on September 5-6, 2018 in Troy, New York. More than 100 participants attended the two-day conference, which was a private event for LRC Partners and Alliance members.
Author and entrepreneur Paul Schoemaker presented the keynote, “Taking Stock of Where We Are to Create the Future.” One of the themes of the talk was the importance of collective leadership for industry survival in this time of widespread turbulence, which is only going to intensify in the coming decade. He explained the traps and biases that vulnerable industries typically fall victim and suggested practical remedies based on best practices from companies who successfully adapted.
Dr. Schoemaker also participated in the business experts panel, which focused on the future of lighting and industry stewardship in this time of change. Panelists also included Lori Brock, Head of Innovation Americas at OSRAM; Priscilla Richards, Program Manager at NYSERDA; Mark Lien, Industry Relations Manager at the IES; and Randy Reid, President of LumEfficient and Editor of the EdisonReport. The panel was moderated by Govi Rao, President & CEO of Noveda Technologies.
Several recurring themes emerged during the panel and resulting audience discussion, including recognition that now is the time for the lighting industry to join together to deal with the turbulence ahead, communicate the value of light outside the lighting industry, and adapt to take advantage of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things and machine learning.
Before the program began, the attendees were asked to respond to a series of statements using a 5-point scale, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”
One statement was: “the lighting industry is in transition” and below is a graphic representation of their collective responses.
Another statement was: “the lighting industry is struggling to create value” and below are the responses.
The responses seem to indicate that while some organizations understand how to create value, many are unsure, and there is significant variation in responses.
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