Osram is putting the focus on sustainable growth and wants to take even greater advantage of the potential offered by semiconductor-based lighting technologies. Prior to that, another important strategic step, the carve-out process of the general lighting lamps business, got under way. Given Osram’s strong financial standing, the company is proposing a dividend of €0.90 per share at Tuesday’s AGM. In parallel, Osram has in the meantime also started a share buyback program of up to €500 million.

Current, powered by GE, announced a deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to install LED lighting across most of Chase's U.S. branches. Potentially spanning 25 million square feet across roughly 5,000 branches, the project is the world's largest single-order LED installation to date. Current estimates that, once completed, the project could reduce the branches' lighting-related energy use by more than 50 percent– equal to taking nearly 27,000 cars off the road.

Researchers at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab have developed the world’s first full-colour, high-resolution and wireless flexible smartphone to combine multitouch with bend input. The phone, which they have named ReFlex, allows users to experience physical tactile feedback when interacting with their apps through bend gestures.

Following on from the BMW i8, the BMW 7 Series is another range of models from the Munich car manufacturer that Osram is now equipping with a laser module for the headlights. “We have succeeded in developing this new technology to such an extent that we have now taken it from a niche vehicle to a mass produced car – an important step in terms of market penetration”, said Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO Specialty Lighting at Osram. “With laser light as the next stage in automotive lighting we are once again demonstrating our competence in lighting systems and underlining our leading position in LED and laser technologies.”

Surrey, a city of British Columbia, Canada is to join other Canadian cities in switching streetlights to LEDs. The conversion is estimated to cost CA $11million (US $8 million), reported CBC.

- Revenue up 6 percent; stable on a comparable basis - Adjusted EBITA margin rises to almost 12 percent - Osram confirms updated outlook for fiscal 2016

Located North of New Delhi, Indian state Haryana has recently made LED lamps a necessary requirement for amending the zoning plans of licensed colonies and change of land use (CLU) granted sites, according to a Business Standard report.

Several Canadian municipalities are planning to invest CA $13 million (US $9.29 million) to replace 42,000 streetlights this year, reportedMetroland News.

Metro Detroit freeways to be upgraded with approximately 15,000 LED streetlights. Several major interstates freeways will be converted to LED lighting as early as April 2016 with a US $123 million public-private partnership.

In collaboration with the Coreplast Laitila company, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has created a reflector that can be wirelessly controlled via a mobile phone application. This involves equipping a traditional reflector with sensors, LED lights, and wireless charging and communication.

The worst is thought to be over as 2015 comes to an end, a quick overview of developments in the past year show product prices have reached new historical lows in the past year. The elimination race has escalated with restructures becoming the new norm in the industry.

The Texas Rangers announced that the club has entered into an agreement with Eaton's Ephesus Lighting to implement an advanced LED system for the field lights at Globe Life Park in Arlington beginning with the 2016 season.

Scarsdale Village, a town in New York, U.S. is considering to convert its 2,000 streetlights to warm colored LED ones, reportedScarsdale10583.com.

Osram headlight lamps are continually being copied illegally by product pirates. To protect consumers from low-quality copies the lighting manufacturer has now developed its own trust program. Thanks to innovative two-step security checks, purchasers can easily verify whether the lamp they have bought is an Osram original that has been manufactured in accordance with international quality and safety standards.

Seoul Semiconductor a global leading LED components manufacturer from Korea, and the Austrian company LUMITECH, a leading manufacturer of components for Human Centric Lighting announced a licensing agreement for PI-LED technology patents. These patents govern the industrial trade mark rights of LUMITECH’s PI-LED technology, which can implement tunable white from 2.500 to 7.000K with perfect colour rendering in a high and constant efficiency. Based on the license agreement, Seoul Semiconductor has the right to offer tunable white components based on the leading PI-LED technology, worldwide.

In an effort to study the effects of lighting on human health and diseases, the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), recently installed a novel hospital inpatient lighting testbed for the study of automated lighting at theUniversity of New Mexico Health Center (UNMHC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The testbed is a demonstration of the success of the multi-institutional, interdisciplinary Engineering Research Center Program funded by the National Science Foundation.  

One of the most triumphant moments in the book and recent movie The Martian comes when lead character, Mark Watney, successfully grows a potato crop on Mars. It’s more than food for survival; he’s also nourishing his spirit.  In space, there is no scent of baking bread, no wind on your face, no sound of raindrops hitting the roof, no favorite kitten to curl up in your lap. Over time, being deprived of these common earthbound sense stimulations takes a toll. Having limited access to stimuli to the senses is identified as a significant risk by NASA’sBehavioral Health and Performance team.

A sharp eyed Twitter user has spotted a code implying Li-Fi functions might be incorporated in later generation Apple iOS, reportedTechRadar and other media.

A town in Massachusetts, U.S. has decided to put its LED streetlight upgrade on hold, even though it had received funding from Department of Energy Resources in conjunction with the town’s new status as a Green Community, reported The Patriot Ledger.

A MIT research has caught on like wild-fire in the industry this week, since it holds the potential of reviving the nearly phased-out incandescent bulbs. The research claims that by using nano optic crystal structures, they were able to raise incandescent luminous efficiency to 6% and holds the potential of reaching 40% rivaling LEDs. However, there was a slight glitch in the press release. The cited luminous efficiency data was a bit outdated, most likely traced to 2013 results. Thanks to a reader from Epistar, who pointed us into the right direction

Hull City, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, will start to replace its 32,000 conventional streetlights with LEDs, expected to save more than GBP 1 million (US $1.44 million) per year.

St. Mary- Corwin Medical Center is a Pueblo- based medical organization in Colorado, U.S., which switched from conventional lightings to LED ones in November 2015.

Musco’s innovative LED lighting system has helped the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) solve a major issue with the surrounding community.

A Zambia-based power utility company Zesco has distributed more than 480,000 energy efficient lamps nationwide out of its 1 million bulb target, according to reports by Zambia Reports and others.

Apple’s latest software update iOS 9.3 has built in blue light reduction features to make it easier for users to sleep at night, according to a Mac Rumors report.

STG Aerospace, the pioneering aircraft cabin lighting company, is delighted to announce that Icelandair has selected its next generation saf-Tglo® SuperSeal UltraLite® (SSUL) photoluminescent floorpath lighting  for its 767 aircraft, becoming the first 767 operator for this newly certified system.

U.S. football team Miami Dolphins’ home stadium, Sun Life Stadium, will become one of the leading NFL football stadiums in the country to replace traditional lights with LEDs, reported Miami Herald.

Anne Kustner Haser, president and design principal at Anne Kustner Lighting Design (AKLD) in Evanston, Illinois started her professional career as a graphic designer, but quickly fell out of love with graphic design in favor of lighting design. Perhaps this decision was influenced by the way some photographers she worked with utilized lighting to instill excitement into an otherwise ordinary product. Or, maybe it was an instinctive aptitude that Anne displayed while arranging lighting throughout her house as a young teenager. Even more so, it could have been the influence of her supportive family and especially her encouraging father, who himself was involved in electrical engineering. Since that fateful decision, and after opening her own lighting design studio 21 years ago, Anne has created stunning lighting environments for a unique blend of commercial, hospitality, and high-end residential clients that allow their individual personalities to shine through.

Pioneer is demonstrating a very nice looking transparent OLED automotive brake system. The idea is to embed this unit in the vehicle's rear window - so it is transparent and allows for a greater field of view, but when you press the brakes it emits a bright red light:

As the UK's biggest ever fully-funded LED lighting retrofit, the project will see 90,000 new lights installed across the bank's UK estate of 800 branches and 13 office buildings – slashing energy use in half and reducing carbon emissions by more than 7,000 tonnes each year.