LED and SSL events: Light+Building, LightSPEC Midwest, and LEDucation updates

LED and lighting industry events have had a difficult two years. The fluctuating restrictions and public health guidance around the globe have made it challenging to maintain an expected schedule of tradeshows, exhibitions, and conferences. Many of us met for the last time en masse at an in-person Strategies in Light in February 2020. We at LEDs Magazine continue to keep an eye on the moving target dates for high-profile events, as well as best practices for travel and safety, and update our travel plans accordingly.

Light+Building lands in October

In late December, Messe Frankfurt – the organizers behind the world’s largest lighting trade fair, Light+Building (L+B) — announced that the planning committee would review its planned dates for the March 2022 event and provide updates on the in-person show schedule. Messe Frankfurt has now communicated that L+B will be held Oct. 2–6, 2022 in Frankfurt am Main as a one-off “Autumn Edition.”

“We took the concerns of our partners very seriously and of course also weighed up the entrepreneurial opportunities and risks. As already announced in December, all options for a new date were under review,” said Messe Frankfurt president and CEO Wolfgang Marzin in a press statement. “Fortunately, we managed to find an attractive autumn date and make it possible through internal rescheduling for Light+Building. This means that the prospect of a strong, international sector launch in Frankfurt in 2022 remains.”

L+B organizers also confirmed that the planned hybrid event concept will remain in place for this Autumn Edition.

LightSPEC Midwest launch

Moving to news metaphorically closer to home, LEDs Magazine’s parent company, Endeavor Business Media, has announced a new lighting specification event for the Chicago, IL region called LightSPEC Midwest. Back in the spring of 2021, Endeavor first launched its West Coast lighting and education solutions event LightSPEC West, scheduled to be held at the Magic Box @ the REEF in Los Angeles, CA Sept. 21–22., 2022. Shortly thereafter, the company acquired the assets of the closed-down LightShow West to expand the target audience for LightSPEC West.

With two events, Endeavor events and executive management now expect to address the needs of buyers and specifiers of commercial, architectural, industrial, and high-end residential and decorative lighting products, controls, and technologies across key regions where lighting agencies are based.

The company has also announced the appointment of lighting industry consultant Clifton Stanley Lemon as program director for both conferences.

“The LightSPEC platform is curated to provide a forum for the cross-pollination of ideas; connect buyers with sellers; and pioneer new ways of learning and connecting, both in-person and online. LightSPEC will address the top topics in the lighting and building industries today, including design; health and wellness; equity, diversity, and inclusion; technology evolution and integration; and the industry’s dynamic ecosystem,” said Lemon.

LEDucation virtual Monday

As of the timing of this report, the Designers Lighting Forum of New York (DLFNY), organizers of the LEDucation conference, have confirmed the March 15–16, 2022 in-person event is a go for the New York Hilton Midtown. We would draw your attention, however, to the virtual Monday sessions scheduled for Monday, Mar. 14, as they too promise to draw on both conceptual and applied expertise. Sessions on balancing urban lighting needs, outdoor lighting, circadian lighting, and lighting controls will be addressed by speakers from both commercial and industry education organizations.

One item that stands out in particular is the session titled “Conversation between North America and Europe on embodied carbon and circular economy in lighting.” In past content, LEDs has observed that industry stakeholders involved in European and UK-based lighting associations have promoted circular economy principles to the lighting supply chain, but they have yet to take hold with solid regulatory or policy reform strategy. Proponents of circular economy models and principles claim that implementation would reduce supply shortages, improve processes for recycling or repurposing materials, and create a path for continuous upgrades as technologies improve and are designed for modular replacement.

Of late, a slow emergence of product development and design methodologies has mainly centered on 3-D printing for SSL materials (also known as additive manufacturing), which could indeed find its place in a circular economy model for SSL.

Our editors look forward to bringing readers more information on what steps are being taken to develop a circular economy model in both the US and European lighting markets; how new practices in materials, assembly, and services can sustain an evolving lighting business model; and how the concepts intersect with and potentially mitigate environmental impact concerns.

Additional links

Visit the L+B website for the latest exhibit and schedule information

Bookmark lightspecwest.com and lightspecmidwest.com for program updates

View the full LEDucation 2022 agenda

CARRIE MEADOWS is managing editor of LEDs Magazine, with 20 years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.

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