Dr. Sanderson was one of 18 panelists selected from industry, non-profits, government and academia to participate in a policy roundtable on “Fast Tracking Widespread Adoption of LED Lighting” at The Institute for Energy Efficiency at UC Santa Barbara in early February. The discussion focused on new solutions to accelerate widespread adoption of energy-saving LED lighting, while identifying current policy inhibitors to adoption.
Following the workshop on LED lighting adoption, Dr. Sanderson presented a seminar entitled “Technology Development and Commercialization of Solid State Lighting in the Global Context” to the economics and policy group at the Institute. While existing patent analyses of the emerging technology of Solid State Lighting (SSL) have focused primarily on the U.S., this study analyzes patents granted worldwide to probe differences between the U.S., Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, and China, countries poised to play a key role in SSL’s future. The growing role of Asian nations, corporate patent portfolios, the roles of individuals and universities, and relationships to national policy are analyzed.
This work, with Kenneth L. Simons, was supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation-funded Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center at Rensselaer.
The Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) focuses on developing intelligent lighting systems with adaptive and controllable properties not possible with incandescent and fluorescent lights. This interdisciplinary, multi-institution organization was funded by NSF in 2008 and receives additional support from NYSERDA. It is led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has as core partners Boston University and The University of New Mexico. The center engages in research and education, and works closely with industry to facilitate commercialization. For more information see smartlighting.rpi.edu or contact Silvia Mioc, Director of Industrial Collaborations, at miocs@rpi.edu.
