Unleash your imagination for connected lighting

A future world with the connected lighting systems

When it comes to value creation, you may be surprised to hear that I’d be the first to admit I don’t have the answer. The reason is that it really depends on how do the end customers reimagine what the connected lighting systems can do. Specifically, I’m talking about the extra benefits that the connected lighting systems can generate when real-time information becomes available. To quantify these elusive value creation potential, we have to pay attention to clues that are already around us.

Back in February, I wrote a blog tilted Lighting Industry A Decade From Now. In that article I explain how the connected lighting systems can play a key role in the world of Internet of Things (IoT). Technological advancement in machine learning, artificial intelligence, mobile devices, coupled with the all-digital lighting infrastructure, will transform the way we interact with the physical world. The concept of mirror world—in which digital information and our physical world are seamlessly intertwined—will enable us to have an even more immersive and intimate experience with all the digital information we access each day through our mobile devices and computers. (Figure 3)

Since this blog was published, I have had numerous conversations with my colleagues, customers, and Signify’s IoT partners. While there is healthy debate on how mature are these three key elements of the mirror world—machine learning, augmented reality, and all-digital lighting infrastructure—everyone agrees that this is where the industry is heading. There is also consensus that building the all-digital lighting infrastructure NOW is the most crucial first step. 

To identify the hidden clues that would reveal the value creation potential of the connected lighting systems, we would first need to have a longer-term vision of what the connected lighting systems can do. In other words, we need to embrace the connected lighting systems with a newer, and dare I say, more disruptive mindset. This is more critical than ever especially given the uncertainties with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has fundamentally changed our way of working (e.g. work from home, distance learning, etc.). This newer and disruptive mindset requires an imaginative interpretation of how lighting can transform our lives and our current way of working. If you consider the parallel examples of what other thought leaders such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos have done in reimaging what their respective industry would be with smart phones, autonomous electric vehicles, and e-commerce, it’s time for all of us to think bigger and be bolder with our imagination about the connected lighting systems.

Value creation use cases

To help visualize the future state of the connected lighting systems, I listed four most talked-about use cases that can generate additional values beyond energy savings. While these four use cases have yet to become mainstream, and are probably not part of the lighting design specifications, their future benefits are compelling and undeniable. (Figure 4) 

The future is now

As exciting as the connected lighting systems are to some of us, the reality is that their commercial adoption is still at the infancy. The consensus is that the market adoption is well short of 10% in the US. While technologies have improved and prices have tumbled, for the most part energy savings is still the primary decision criteria. I think it’s time for all of us to dream big and use our imagination to visualize what the future might look like. It’s equally important for the decision makers who are tasked with charting the future of their organizations to think of the connected lighting systems with a different mindset. By shifting the focus away from energy savings and toward the value creation, we can better identify and quantify the future potential of the connected lighting systems. Furthermore, technology for the all-digital lighting infrastructure has matured to the point that we can begin laying the digital foundation today by using luminaires equipped with digital LED drivers. In my closing remark at the 9/1 roundtable, I left the audience with this final thought: in the future of mirror world, what the connected lighting systems can do is only bounded by our imagination.