Leading lighting companies join the new ENLIGHTENme advisory board
Inappropriate light exposure at night, or too little light exposure during the day, affects people’s circadian rhythm, health, and wellbeing. Knowledge about the health effects and guidance for effective urban lighting strategies have the potential to counteract these effects. A new advisory board of lighting companies has been created to work with ENLIGHTENme towards more liveable cities and buildings, with increased lighting quality and energy efficiency.
The Board of Lighting Companies is made up of 14 key players in the lighting industry, invited to actively bring their cutting-edge technological knowledge and design experience, working with indoor and outdoor lighting, to the project’s research work.
“By actively participating in research projects we can bring new knowledge on lighting to our own design practices, companies and institutions, and the wider community. The work done in ENLIGHTENme has the potential to bring about an urgent understanding of how urban lighting affects elderly, and how it can be mitigated through better planning and policy-making,” says Florence Lam, Arup, member of the new advisory board.
The project will conduct three in-depth studies in selected districts of Bologna (Italy), Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Tartu (Estonia). By establishing an “Urban Lighting Lab” in each of the cities, the project will encourage both citizens and city officials to engage in how lighting affects human health and involve them in co-designing and assessing lighting innovations.
Based on its research findings, the European project aims to provide tools to support the urban planning process, for healthy and green lighting policies. The lighting board will also advise on how to reduce health inequalities through the inclusion of citizens normally not involved in the drafting of urban lighting plans.
The Board of Lighting Companies is managed by Gate 21 in Albertslund, Denmark, who’s long experience of innovative collaboration with private, research and public partners across Europe will bring additional knowledge from other lighting projects and networks into the framework.
"With our experience of managing large-scale lighting projects we are able to share knowledge from related initiatives, like DOLL Living Lab, Lighting Metropolis and LUCIA to the project. Together with the new cross-disciplinary research it will potentially make the basis for authoritative and very credible new lighting policies for Europe." says Sif Enevold, Chief Project Manager at Gate 21.
The advisory board consists of the following members: Florence Lam (Arup), Carla Wilkins (Lichtvision), Torben Skov Hansen (Chromaviso), Luc Joosens (Schréder), Alberto Carone (Citelum), Laura Cinquarla (iGuzzini), Joachim Stormly Hansen (Ocutune), Michele Bassi (Neri), Cesare Coppedè (Neri), Matteo Seraceni (Hera Luce), Ronald Maandonks (Signify), Jonathan Cridland (Lumie), Nicklas Nilsson (Zumtobel) and Zbyněk Svoboda (Ekosvětlo s.r.o.)
The ENLIGHTENme project consists of partner institutions from Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the US. The project officially launched in March 2021.