“The first half of the fiscal year was challenging due to various factors. However, the long-term growth trend remains intact, while the reorganization and the technological shift are continuing,” said Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG.

Horticultural LED lighting developer VividGro acquired WeGrow, a cannabis home grow app with over 20,000 downloads in the iTunes Store. WeGrow, which launched its chatbot-based technology in April 2017, has dramatically simplified the learning process of growing cannabis using personalized conversations.

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, Osram continued to grow while increasing capital expenditure. "We had a solid first quarter. Despite the significant headwind from currency effects, we managed to generate further growth while maintaining high margins. From the current perspective, we expect to gain momentum in the second half of the fiscal year," said Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG.

“Because looks do count”, that was the basic idea when MechaTronix started to develop their next platform of spot light, down light and shop light coolers… Inspiration for the design was searched in natural elements which express the feeling of cool or cold.

Osram's new LED chip factory in Kulim, Malaysia, begins operation on time. "We are both on schedule and within budget," pointed out Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG, during the opening ceremony in Kulim on Thursday.

Heliospectra AB, a Sweden-based company specializing in intelligent lighting technology for greenhouse and controlled plant growth environments, presented on 25th August their Half Year Report for 2017 today. The report was followed by a live interview with Heliospectra CEO Ali Ahmadian.

MechaTronix, one of the global market leaders in LED cooling, is broadcasting a clear message towards the horticulture market. “Although there are numerous opinions on the ideal spectrums and mixes of wavelengths, the world of horticulture top lighting is going to change drastically over the coming years, according Koen Vangorp, CEO of MechaTronix.”

Recently Atop Horticulture Lighting released a new series of interlighting LED Grow Light, specially for the Cucumber, Tomato, Pepper and some Canopy plants. The Inter lighting design can let the pant absorb the lighting completely, then increase yield.

The Spot is one of Southern Colorado’s earliest recreational cultivation facilities. Their boutique-style facility houses 430 plants under 20,000 sq ft of roof, and emphasizes utmost importance on quality. VP and Chief Operating Officer, Dave Munn proclaims, “We’ve been doing this since recreational was legal, and were one of the first to have a recreational license in Colorado. Quality is everything for us, so the ability to produce consistently is of the highest importance.”

To shift or not to shift, that is the question. At this point within the LED industry, in terms of business transformation, companies are facing a turning point to shift business focus to new niche markets with high gross margins such as UV and IR LED, or to stay at LED lighting, where they began with; and of course, some chose to embrace all.

Taiwanese LED packaging company Everlight announced a fairly stable revenue of 2Q17. The company is said to have performed better than in 1Q17 and its sales of 2H17 is anticipated to outnumber that in 1H17. As the traditional peak season of this year is right around the corner, the overall demand, mainly for applications such as IR LED, interior and exterior automotive lighting and fine pitch displays, will soar. Yet, Everlight’s supply of conventional lighting and LED backlighting products will slump.

SoraaLaser, a world leader in commercialization of visible laser light sources, will present its innovative light source technology at Strategies in Light conference, March 1-3, in Santa Clara, CA. These advanced light sources feature unique performance properties such as collimated output and waveguide delivery, and provide compelling advantages over LED, OLED, and legacy sources in specialty lighting.