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“Light +” concept to explore the future relationship between lighting and other industries at GILE 2023

9 Nov 2022

The 28th edition of Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE) will return to the China Import and Export Fair Complex from 9 – 12 June 2023. As one of the leading fairs for the lighting industry, GILE 2022 saw a significant rise in the number of visitors alongside the concurrent Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology (GEBT). The two fairs attracted 128,202 visitors from 58 countries and regions, which represented an increase of 31% from the previous editions.

GILE 2023 will strive to continuously enhance its product category offering, showcase future lighting trends, and explore new business opportunities with the leading industry players. This year’s fair will revolve around the concept of “Light +”, which will explore how lighting can work together with other industries to improve people’s lives. Five new elements, namely “new retail”, “new manufacturing”, “new technology”, “new finance” and “new energy”, will play important roles in the way we live our lives. These elements will also be coupled with new lifestyle trends, such as experience-oriented living, as well as smart, healthy and low carbon lifestyles. The combination of these popular trends is helping to bring new thinking to urban planning, architecture and of course the lighting industry.

Every lighting industry player aims to improve people's quality of life through the use of advanced technologies. Over the last century of the development of lighting technology, companies have always embraced new trends and have attempted to increase the applications of light. From individual lighting fixtures to the interconnectivity of AIoT devices, from intense competition between companies to cross-border collaboration, and from basic lighting needs to today’s concept of “Light +”, the industry is working towards building a better tomorrow for lighting.

On the fair’s theme, Ms Lucia Wong, Deputy General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd said: “With the ever-changing nature of the lighting industry, companies need to have the foresight to transform their businesses in order to keep up with the latest trends. As the innovations of tomorrow begin to be applied to reality today, only the well-prepared can get a head start.”

She continued: “In terms of planning, focusing on digitalisation and further enhancing the quality of light can help companies to develop a competitive edge. This should also be combined with human centric lighting technologies, and aim to keep up with the latest fashion trends to appeal to a wider market. Furthermore, companies can aim to be more flexible in embracing innovation and explore more opportunities to boost cross-border collaboration. This year, GILE will unveil a blueprint for the future of the lighting industry under the concept of “Light +”. Meanwhile, the fair will host various fringe events to promote business exchange, and make the future of lighting a present reality.”

Explore the future of lighting under the concept of “Light +”
The idea of “Light +” covers a number of different applications, including AIoT, Health, Art, Horticulture and Smart city. The fair will showcase UVC LED, smart dimming, horticultural lighting, healthy lighting products and more, driving the industry towards a brighter future.

“Light + AIoT”: Healthy lighting and low-carbon crossover demonstration zone (Hall 9.2 to 11.2)
In the era of 5G, the combination of lighting and AIoT technologies can be widely applied to different situations. Jointly organised by GILE and the Shanghai Pudong Intelligent Lighting Association (SILA), the “Smart-health crossover demonstration pavilion 3.0” will expand in size next year to 30,000 sqm across three halls, and expects to attract over 250 brands alongside the concurrent Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology (GEBT). The exhibits will cover the smart lighting supply chain, home automation, smart buildings and intelligent and healthy lighting applications.

“Light + Health” and “Light + Horticulture”: Lighting techniques and the horticultural lighting pavilion (Hall 2.1)
The quality of lighting, which is related to the degree of luminous efficiency, high colour rendering index, R9 value, colour tolerance and human centric lighting, is getting more attention in the industry. The concept of “Light + Health” not only covers the physiological and psychological research of lighting and human wellbeing, but also the application of UVC LEDs. UVC LEDs coordinate with sensors to increase safety, and will be a new key area of development in the future. In addition, air sterilisation and large surface sterilisation are currently being used in home appliances, and will be further applied in automobile air conditioning systems, water sterilisation, manufacturing facilities and factory automation. 

TrendForce’s latest report “2022 Deep UV LED Application Market and Branding Strategies”  points out that the value of the UV LED market reached USD 317 million in 2021 (+2.3% YoY), and expects the compound annual growth rate of the UVC LED market to reach 24% throughout 2021 – 2026.

“Light + Horticulture”
Horticultural lighting is a promising emerging market and is becoming increasingly adopted by the agricultural industry. It will also be broadly applied in various fields in the future, including livestock farming, aquaculture, healthy lighting, medicine, beauty and more. 

Jointly organised by GILE and the Shenzhen Facilities Agriculture Industry Association, this year’s “Horticultural lighting demonstration zone” has increased in size to 5,000 sqm, highlighting the applications of horticultural lighting technology in agriculture and food safety.

“Light + Art”: Immersive displays, light art and night tourism zone (Hall 4.1)
According to Sina’s “2021 Generation Z preferences report” , 220 million people out of China’s total population are from Generation Z, 64% of which are students and the remainder have already entered the workforce. As a new consumer base for the industry, they tend to pursue immersive experiences. By combining lighting and art, immersive experiences can be created, which could be said to be the precursor of the “Metaverse”, constituting a breakthrough development in recent years. 

Under the concept of “Light + Art”, GILE 2023 will take LEDs as a basis, integrating cutting-edge technologies such as semiconductors, intelligent control systems, IoT, 5G transmission, XR production and naked eye 3D technology to present an immersive experience, and appeal to the needs of Generation Z.

“Light + Smart city”: Smart street lighting, road lighting, urban infrastructure lighting and new energy / energy storage (Hall 5.1)
“Light + Smart city” will represent how in the era of IoT, lighting industry players will need to think about how to bolster the development of smart cities using smart lighting components. With the support of 5G and digitalisation, smart lighting has contributed to a wide range of public services, forming a part of the smart city management system. 

A report by TrendForce estimates that the global LED smart street lighting market (including light bulbs and individual lamps) will reach USD 1.094 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.2% between 2019 to 2024 . In order to meet the strong demand for smart city lighting products, this year’s fair will set up a “Smart city pavilion”, showcasing products and technologies such as smart street lighting systems, smart light poles, new energy, energy storage and urban infrastructure lighting.

This year’s GILE will also continue to highlight the entire lighting industry supply chain, covering three main categories: lighting production (production equipment and base materials, lighting accessories and electronic components), LED and lighting technology (LED packaging, chips, optoelectronics, device drivers, lighting control and power technologies) and lighting and display applications (landscape, road, industrial, educational, home and business area lighting).

Connecting nine ecosystems to bring about the future of lighting
Driven by breakthroughs in IoT, big data and optoelectronics, smart, healthy and low-carbon lighting products can be increasingly applied to different market segments, ushering in rapid growth for the lighting industry as a whole. To capture the benefits of these breakthroughs, the industry has to explore how to encourage consumers to adopt these new technologies. GILE 2023 will connect nine ecosystems including smart city, home decor, cultural and night tourism, elderly care, education, smart lighting supply chains, commercial property, hotels and art. The fair aims to help transform and upgrade the lighting industry, allowing new business opportunities to be explored.

Ms Lucia Wong added: “Over the last two years, lighting industry players have operated in a complex and competitive market. As a result, many of the predictions made in the past about the future of lighting have already been realised. The great author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, ‘As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.’ GILE will therefore continue to support the industry as usual.”

The next editions of Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition and Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology will be held from 9 – 12 June 2023. Both shows are part of Messe Frankfurt’s Light + Building Technology fairs headed by the biennial Light + Building event. The next edition will be held from 3 – 8 March 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Messe Frankfurt organises several trade fairs for the light and building technology sectors in Asia, including Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology, Shanghai Smart Home Technology and Parking China. The company’s lighting and building technology trade fairs also cover the markets in Argentina, India, Thailand and the UAE.

For more information on Light + Building shows worldwide, please visit http://www.brand.light-building.com. For more information regarding the lighting shows in China, please visit http://www.light.messefrankfurt.com.cn or email light@china.messefrankfurt.com.

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Background information on Messe Frankfurt
The Messe Frankfurt Group is one of the world’s leading trade fair, congress and event organisers with their own exhibition grounds. With a workforce of some 2,200 people at its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and in 28 subsidiaries, it organises events around the world. As in the previous year, annual sales for 2021 were significantly lower owing to the COVID-19 pandemic: approximately €154 million compared with Group sales as high as €736 million in pre-pandemic 2019. We serve our customers’ business interests efficiently within the framework of our Fairs & Events, Locations and Services business fields. Sustainable business practices are a central pillar of our corporate strategy and strike a healthy balance between ecological and economic interests, social responsibility and diversity. Another of Messe Frankfurt’s strengths is its powerful and closely knit global sales network, which covers around 180 countries in all regions of the world. Our comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. We are using our digital expertise to develop new business models. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. With its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 percent) and the State of Hesse (40 percent). For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com

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