Smart lighting challenge by Tridonic
How might we increase the benefits of smart lighting for people and businesses?
About Tridonic
Tridonic is a world-leading supplier of lighting technology, supporting its customers with intelligent hardware and software and offering the highest level of quality, reliability, and energy savings. As a global driver of innovation in lighting-based network technology, Tridonic develops scalable, future-oriented solutions that enable new business models for lighting manufacturers, building managers, systems integrators, planners, and many other types of customers.
Our goal is to develop innovative technological solutions that convert lighting systems into intelligent networks and thereby enable associated services. Its profound, technical industry expertise makes Tridonic an ideal partner for established brands and newcomers to the market.
Tridonic is the technology company of the Zumtobel Group and is headquartered in Dornbirn, Austria. In the 2020/21 tax year, Tridonic generated sales of €302.8 million. 1,808 highly skilled employees and a worldwide sales presence in over 70 countries reflect the company’s commitment to developing and deploying new, smart, and connected lighting systems.
Responsible conduct is the shared mission of the Zumtobel Group and Tridonic. As a global player in the lighting market, we see it as our duty to integrate social, economic, and ecological considerations into all areas of our business activities and internal operations.
The promise of smart lighting
Lighting is becoming smart. Smart lighting describes an LED-based system with sensors and controllers that are networked and enable the lighting products within the system to communicate with each other and transmit data. It is a technology that increases the convenience, safety, and energy efficiency of lighting. Think about being able to simulate daylight in the evening to optimize your energy. Or turning on the lights from anywhere when you are not at home to increase security. Smart lighting can save substantial amounts of energy by adjusting the light to the presence of people or the amount of sunlight. In addition to energy savings, smart lighting has the potential to act as enabling infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT). Considering that light sits on top of every room there are ample opportunities.
Lighting controls are a fundamental component of smart lighting systems since they enable detecting changes in environmental conditions, such as daylight and occupancy rate. Tridonic offers various control solutions for different applications and requirements. From easy and cost-effective solutions for a single luminaire to a high-end solution for entire buildings with a great level of flexibility, comfort, well-being, and safety. With its lighting control systems, Tridonic aims to expand its market reach and develop a more significant presence in the high-end consumer market. Most importantly, Tridonic wants to become an “easy to work with” solution provider.
Issues slowing the adoption of smart lighting
For most people interested in living in a smart home, lighting is the entry point. However, while smart lighting provides many benefits, consumer adoption is low and growth has been slow. The benefits of smart-lighting products currently only appeal to niche consumers. Neither high numbers of end-consumers for their private home, nor business customers, such as restaurants and hotels, are converting to smart lighting solutions. Especially in rural areas like Vorarlberg, people are hesitant to make the switch or invest in an innovative connected lighting system. One obvious reason for many people is the increased costs. Other consumers might be overwhelmed by the choices available and the complexity involved in installing smart lighting systems. To fully reap the benefits of a smart lighting system, it needs to be integrated with other smart home systems, such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Integrating different systems within the building requires expertise and skilled professionals. The various systems that are being installed are usually not plug-and-play compatible with each other, which in many cases avoids synergies between different hardware elements allocated within the building. This complexity of the installations and the associated costs often hinder the adoption in the broader market. Additionally, deciding which light to install in a home is typically the final choice in the planning process. Already selected building components might not yet be “smart-ready”. Because of the limited consumer interest with the associated lack of willingness to pay, construction companies are not pushing smart products.
The challenge
The slow adoption of smart lighting leads us to our challenge that we invite you to tackle: How might we increase the benefits of smart lighting for people and businesses?
What do you expect from your future smart home? Which role does lighting play and which benefits can you imagine? How can the complexity of smart lighting systems be reduced to make it easy for people to use them? How can Tridonic as a producer of lighting controls contribute to your compelling smart lighting experience – from planning, installing to running the system? What does Tridonic and other smart home providers have to offer to convince you to get a smart lighting system for your home?
Besides the consumer market in private homes, you may also think about the opportunities in the business market. How might Tridonic develop a compelling offering for business clients? How can we design a smart lighting system that contributes to a better physical environment within restaurants, retailers, or hotels? How can customers benefit from the data collected by smart lighting systems? Which data helps our customers solve their problems? How can data be collected and linked to other data to create valuable insights and applications for our customers? How can the value created be monetized?
Your ideas
Let’s build innovative smart lighting solutions that convert light into intelligent networks and enable valuable services for customers. Your idea can be a helpful service, a new product concept, or an innovative business model. Think about how your idea works with existing smart home systems (e.g. Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings etc.). Promising ideas consider the unique strengths of Tridonic. Take a look at the controls developed by Tridonic. The most relevant solutions for the challenge within our current lighting controls portfolio are the Casambi Ready basicDIM and the sceneCOM, listed below. You can get the full portfolio overview here.
Collaboration incentive
Participants are invited to tour the Zumtobel Group Lichtforum in Dornbirn and discuss how to develop the ideas beyond the InnoDays.
In addition, CASA Möbel will reward the best furniture-related idea with a surprise goody bag.