Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan's largest and one of the world's leading high-tech research and development institutions, is pleased to introduce In-Line Compact Thermal Analyzer (ICTA) Technology. The world's leading automatic thermal analyzer, ICTA offers a measurement speed of 12,000 LEDs per hour, reducing each LED's component thermal resistance testing time to 0.3 seconds. This is 2,000 times faster than the traditional lab method where only six components can be measured per hour. ITRI will receive a 2014 R&D 100 Award  in November for this breakthrough technology in the "Imaging" category.

One of Osram’s ongoing projects to overcome LED efficacy limitations is the development of microrod 3D LED technology, said Michael Schmitt, Regional Market Director, Asia-Pacific, Osram Opto Semiconductors at LEDforum 2014 which was hosted by LEDinside on Oct. 24, 2014 at Taipei, Taiwan.

The days of glimpsing the world through a tiny plastic porthole when you fly are soon to be a thing of the past; future aircrafts will offer a crystal clear panoramic view without any windows at all. At the UK based Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), scientists and engineers are developing ultra-flexible, high-definition display technologies that could line the interior walls of cabins and display live footage from external cameras.

Cree achieves another fundamental breakthrough in lighting-class LED performance with the groundbreaking SC5 Technology™ Platform. The new platform powers the next generation of lighting with the introduction of Extreme High Power (XHP) LEDs. This new class of LEDs can reduce system costs by up to 40 percent in most lighting applications.

LED prices will continue to fall over the next few years, but this is a phase that will probably pass, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014, which took place Friday in Taipei, Taiwan. Manufacturers aiming to improve profits will be increasingly turning towards cost-effective technologies, such as flip-chip LEDs.

The phase-out of traditional incandescent bulbs in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as a growing interest in energy efficiency, has given LED lighting a sales boost. However, that trend could be short-lived as key materials known as rare earth elements become more expensive. Scientists have now designed new materials for making household LED bulbs without using these ingredients. They report their development in ACS’Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Experts at Osram Opto Semiconductors will be taking the opportunity offered by the Vision Congress in Paris (October 14 and 15, 2014) to showcase an LED for car headlights which has a luminance three times that of existing versions. This means that a single LED can be used to provide a complete low beam. Several LED chips have always been needed in the past depending on the design and the type of LEDs used. The tremendous brightness is the result of a combination of UX:3 chip technology, ceramic conversion technology and high-current technology used in projection applications. In future it will be possible to design much smaller headlights – with every lighting function smaller than a box of matches.

Ford Motor Company and NextEnergy, one of the nation’s leading accelerators of advanced energy technologies, have teamed up on a technology innovation challenge for industry suppliers to help advance state-of-the-art automotive lighting.

Even as the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has enshrined light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the single most significant and disruptive energy-efficient lighting solution of today, scientists around the world continue unabated to search for the even-better-bulbs of tomorrow. Enter carbon electronics.

Duke University researchers have made fluorescent molecules emit photons of light 1,000 times faster than normal—setting a speed record and making an important step toward realizing superfast light emitting diodes (LEDs) and quantum cryptography.

Last October, the biologist and former GE Healthcare chief scientist James Rothman received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for solving the mystery of how cells shuttle molecules of insulin and other substances to the right place in the body. This year, two other former GE scientists looking for new sources of light, Bob Hall and Nick Holonyak Jr., almost felt the glow of a Nobel themselves.

Nanoco Group plc (AIM:NANO), a developer and manufacturer of cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials, announces that it has signed a follow-on joint development agreement with Osram, one of the world’s largest lighting companies, in connection with the use of Nanoco cadmium-free quantum dots in general lighting.

The Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance (NGLIA) has recently released the third edition of  “LED Luminaire Lifetime: Recommendations for Testing and Reporting”. The alliance membership includes some lighting industry heavy weights including Philips, Cree and GE lighting. Below are some of the key recommendations from the report:

In a step that could lead to longer battery life in smartphones and lower power consumption for large-screen televisions, researchers at the University of Michigan have extended the lifetime of blue organic light emitting diodes by a factor of 10.

Princeton University researchers have developed a new method to increase the brightness, efficiency and clarity of LEDs, which are widely used on smartphones and portable electronics as well as becoming increasingly common in lighting.

The Illumination Engineering Society (IES) recently published a “position statement” (PS-8-14) which states that color rendering “requirements should not be a metric used in energy regulations to characterize color attributes for solid state lighting.” This unfortunate wording has caused unnecessary headaches within the lighting community, but what the well-intentioned IES meant to say was that the commonly used Color Rendering Index (CRI) metric is not entirely adequate and a replacement is warranted. We fully agree and are actively engaged with IES to improve this metric, but by no means should color rendering requirements be put on the sidelines while we all wait for improvements!

CEA-Leti and LUCIOM, which develops visible-light communication using light-emitting diodes (LEDs), have launched a project to develop high-data-rate LiFi transceivers. With this technology, LUCIOMexpects to offer in mid-2015 one of the first high-data-rate bidirectional light-fidelity, or LiFi, products that can work with different LED lighting sources, and on mobile devices.

A research team from Ritsumeikan University in Japan has developed a LED lighting system that can prevent unauthorized video recordings via mobile devices in public spaces.

Wearable devices are still in its early phases, where manufacturers can be creative in design. Ritot, a Ukraine-based startup has abandoned screen designs, who needs a LED or OLED screen displays if all the information you need can be projected onto your wrist?

Japan’s Fukuda Crystal Laboratory has successfully developed a 50 mm (about 2-inch) ScAlMgO4 (SCAM) crystal, according to a Chinese-language Nikkei Technology report.

Vishay Semiconductor, Heilbronn, has acquired an MOCVD system from AIXTRON to expand its infrared LED production capacities. The company aims to substantially extend its product portfolio in this area. The system was delivered to Vishay at the end of March.

Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (“INCJ”), Japan Display Inc. (“JDI”), Sony Corporation (“Sony”), and Panasonic Corporation (“Panasonic”) announced hat they have executed a definitive agreement to establish a new company, JOLED Inc. (“JOLED”), to integrate Sony and Panasonic’s R&D functions for organic light-emitting diode (“OLED”) display panels. Through this collaboration, the companies aim to accelerate the development and early commercialization of OLED display panels. JOLED is scheduled to be launched in January 2015, subject to receipt of any necessary approvals.

Seoul Semiconductor (SSC) recently filed a LED TV patent infringement lawsuit against Canadian consumer electronics manufacturer Curtis International in Florida Southern Court, U.S., according to numerous legal publications.

IDTechEx forecasts that the market for plastic and flexible OLED displays will rise to US $16 billion by 2020. This is one of the conclusions highlighted in their latest report OLED Display Forecasts 2014-2024: The Rise of Plastic and Flexible Displays. The new market research report includes detailed 10-year forecast by market segments, but also by display type (AMOLED, PMOLED, etc.). 

GE announced today a research breakthrough that will vastly improve the color and crispness of images displayed on LED devices – everything from cell phones and tablets to televisions. Scientists at GE Lighting and GE Global Research developed a phosphor powder that, when packaged inside an LED, push the picture quality of LED electronics to new heights.

Just as the LED industry is getting comfy with the concept of smart lights, a new company Emberlight has stepped up the game with a socket capable of turning any dimmable light into smart lights--be it incandescent, halogen, CFL or LEDs.

Long hours of nighttime driving can cause eyestrain because while our vision adapts to the surrounding darkness, the sudden stabs of brightness from streetlamps can be irritating, distracting and even painful. Even as LED technology has transformed the lighting industry, bringing the promise of more energy-efficient road illumination, some fear that the new lights could cause even more troublesome, unsafe glare.

Whenever innovative technologies emerge, speculators often will sail with the wind and urge for the technology’s advancement. They will also start listing the old technology’s flaws. In reality, there is nothing definite in new and old technology. By using innovative technologies for reference, old technologies can further advance, while immature new technologies might meet an early demise.

Once three market indicators that signal the arrival of the maturing LED industry are reached, clients will no longer be focused on energy efficiency anymore, a China-led.org report cited Taiwan LED Lighting Industry Alliance Secretary Horng-Ching Hsiao saying at Green Lighting 2014 in Shanghai, China.  

Aoto Electronics announced on an investment platform the latest developments of a new naked-eye 3D LED TV model that “utilizes multi-view technology, and is glasses free,”  according to numerous Chinese reports.