Sponsors are revisiting the strategy of Lighting for Tomorrow; here’s what you need to know about activities in 2018 and beyond.
Lighting for Tomorrow sponsors are planning a workshop in 2018 that will occur in lieu of the traditional competition. The workshop will focus on reassessing market needs and will allow a variety of stakeholders to better examine how, as an industry, we can continue Lighting for Tomorrow in the current program and market climate. Lighting for Tomorrow will still support and promote the 2017 product winners online and at events like Lightovation and LIGHTFAIR throughout 2018.
Keep reading to find out more about what’s happening and how you can stay in the loop!
Why a workshop rather than a competition this year?
While LFT sponsors still believe there are opportunities to transform the residential lighting market (plenty of inefficient lighting is still being sold, for example), there are other factors pointing us towards an alternative to the competition. Due to federal minimum efficiency standards, energy efficiency program administrators are seeing the cost-effectiveness of their residential lighting programs decline, and funds available to support these efforts are being reduced.
Moreover, now is a good time to strategically consider the role of LFT going forward. Workshop participants will explore how LFT can harness recent developments in the lighting market to increase efficiency. These developments range from the shift toward greater SSL market penetration to the enhanced product functionality and introduction of connected lighting, the increasing role and value proposition of connected lighting as part of an integrated home, and the remaining adoption barriers to the integrated home that may be overcome from the continued partnership between the program administrator, lighting showroom and manufacturer industries.
What will happen? Who will be involved?
2018 is intended to be a transition year in which LFT partners will pause to assess the future of the competition and whether this model for market transformation is still relevant and appropriate. Lighting for Tomorrow intends to invite experts from across the lighting, connected home, and utility program spheres to imagine and discuss the future of residential lighting in an interactive workshop.
Will there be a competition in 2019?
During the workshop, participants with determine if and how the Lighting for Tomorrow competition platform might be leveraged in 2019 and beyond.
What are the goals of the workshop?
Through the workshop, Lighting for Tomorrow intends to:
- Bring relevant stakeholders to the table to discuss the future of residential lighting and the integrated home
- Explore lighting technology and residential program trends and expected developments
- Explore the characteristics of connected lighting, including new functions or services beyond lighting — such as sensing, processing and networking — that fixtures, lamps, and switches may provide consumers in the future
- Discuss how various stakeholders might promote or integrate connected lighting in new ways
- Determine the potential role of LFT going forward, including how a competition model structured around these concepts might be applied in 2019
When will I learn more?
The outcomes of this workshop will be presented at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, in September. At that time, sponsors would publicly announce details about any future competitions.
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