Lighting Conference Adds Substance to Taiwan's First Int'l Lighting Show

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Adding practical substance to the first Taiwan International Lighting Show, held Mar. 12-15 at the Taipei World Trade Center, people from government agencies, local lighting manufacturers, and academic bodies met late last year to advise the government on its lighting industry policy.

During that meeting, Director General M.S. Yen of the Exhibition Department of the government-supported Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) stressed that the show would give domestic lighting manufacturers an excellent opportunity to show off their latest technologies and make deals with international buyers, adding that TAITRA would invite about 300 foreign buyers to the show, as well as arrange international forums and industry seminars.

C.H. Lin, a section leader in the Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs, pointed out that the government should devote as much resources as possible to help manufacturers develop intelligent capability to meet changing lighting industry demands. “Whether for traditional or intelligent lighting production,” he said, “the focus should be on lighting-fixture design. The government will introduce a policy aimed at spurring the development of creative designs for lighting applications.”

An Opportunity

Since the lighting industry is an opportunity for Taiwan to brighten its image globally, Lin went on, the government will offer the industry financial as well as policy support. As part of that support, the government will invite international manufacturers to co-create brand names with Taiwanese companies and supply technology to them.

The solid development of Taiwan's information and communications technology (ICT) industry, Lin said, gives him confidence that the island's lighting industry can carry out a smooth transition toward a specialization in intelligent lighting. He expressed his belief that the mainland Chinese market, with its huge demand, could help Taiwanese lighting suppliers to build their own brands.

National Standards Needed

He also urged the government to set up national standards for intelligent lighting to help local manufacturers develop, patent, and use intelligent technologies.

Lighting fixtures and intelligent control systems should be the focus of creative lighting design, Lin commented.

Also at the conference, S. Y. Tung, vice president of the China Electric Manufacturing Co. (Taiwan's top lamp maker by revenue), suggested that the government should help Taiwan's LED lighting manufacturers overcome patent barriers erected by international manufacturers by providing local producers with comprehensive information on the global patent picture and on patent issues so that they can avoid falling into “patent traps.”

Although LED manufacturing is a trendy industry that has grown rapidly with the support of the government, Tung lamented, LED lighting has not received the government help it needs to be confident of future development. Nevertheless, he expressed his belief that LED lighting will have a bright future as it moves in line with the trends toward energy conservation and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Tung cautioned that the lack of illumination design courses in Taiwan's colleges and universities would hamper the island's development of lighting design. He also voiced dissatisfaction with the lack of official enforcement of the policy favoring high-efficiency lighting, which tends to drive producers of such lighting out of the market.

Chairman T.Y. Peng of the High Power Lighting Corp. advised domestic lighting manufacturers to establish own brands right from start-up for the time is now ripe.

Most of the island's solid-state lighting manufacturers, Peng noted, focus on technology rather than marketing to develop products, making it difficult for them to penetrate the market. He warned that the increasing replacement of traditional bulbs with LEDs might eventually trigger fierce retaliation from makers of traditional lighting fixtures, unless also allowed to enter this new field.

Government Help Needed

He went on to suggest that the government could help create a market for LED lighting for, by instance, requiring the installation of LED lamps (or compact fluorescent lamps) on balconies.

C.L. Wu, chairman of the Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA), noted that Taiwan's well-developed information-technology industry could help to bridge the gap between the solid-state lighting industry and the traditional lighting industry, and put the island in an advantageous position in the global market.

“The LED lighting market will be able to grow at a rapid pace,” Wu commented, “so long as manufacturers understand what consumers really need. Since we have good innovation and good products, the upcoming lighting show will surely be able to attract buyers.”

Integration of the LED lighting industry's five sectors—light sources, controllers, light fixtures, heat-dissipation, and design—would assure the industry's sustainable growth, he said.

H.C. Hsiao, a professor of electrical engineering at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, warned that the lack of illumination-design programs in local schools will hamper the development of intelligent LED lighting, since fixtures inevitably require design. However, he continued: “If illumination-design training is enhanced in local schools, Taiwan's lighting industry will be unmatched globally.”

Hsiao pointed out that Taiwan's LED industry is already well developed with a complete supply chain. Cooperation with the Chinese LED lighting industry, he suggested, would help the island's manufacturers expand market share in China, reportedly the world's biggest market for LED lighting.”

Low Value-added

He also noted that while Taiwan leads the world in LED manufacture by volume, it is only No. 2 by value, indicative of low added-value.

Edward Po, general manager of the Lighting Division of Philips Taiwan Ltd., suggested that the government should allocate more resources for the development of LED illumination and control systems, which are, in his opinion, the two segments that will be most crucial to revenue formation once the industry becomes more mature.

“The opportunities are up for grabs all over the world,” Po said, “and we will face an extreme challenge within 10 years if we hesitate to introduce futuristic designs for lighting fixtures.”

When LED lighting becomes the mainstream, Po commented, lighting fixtures will undergo a revolutionary transformation as they incorporate ballasts into a single piece.

Michael Hsieh, general manager of BJB Taiwan, lauded the work of the government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in the development of a Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) control platform for intelligent lighting. This platform, he claimed, proves its 30%-plus energy saving while reducing CO2 emissions.

Director W.C. Cheng of GE Taiwan noted that control system design is the strength of Taiwan's lighting industry, and that the lack of lighting designers is its weakness. The industry, which is made up mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises, needs more help from the lighting-fixture association and from academic bodies to develop intelligent lighting products, he stressed.