IPWEA is an official event partner of the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) which is held in Barcelona each November. SCEWC is the world’s biggest and most influential event on urban innovation. Each year it attracts over 25,000 delegates from around the world, more than 1100 exhibitors, and over 600 speakers, who gather to share their vision of how to build a more sustainable and liveable future.
This year’s SCEWC delegation from Australia included several working in lighting. As public lighting rapidly shifts from analogue to digital technologies, SCEWC has also become one of the world’s most important smart lighting events. SLSC Partners Signify, Schréder, Itron and Connected Light Solutions all have strong representation at the event, as do some forty other smart lighting companies and industry bodies driving the evolution of smart lighting such as the Zhaga Consortium and TALQ Consortium.
So, what were the top smart lighting trends at SCEWC 2024? Here is a summary of what the IPWEA delegation observed:
- Sustainability: Sustainability is a major driver of the European lighting market, more so than perhaps anywhere else. Not only did companies at SCEWC showcase ever more energy efficient LED lighting solutions but there was a strong emphasis on other aspects of sustainability. This included a focus on minimising light pollution, minimising the environmental harm of lighting on other species (through the use of lower colour temperatures and colour changing lighting) and on improving recyclability.
For some of the largest and most influential lighting companies in the world, European Extended Producer Responsibility regulations are a key driver changing how lighting is designed, produced and what happens to it at the end of life. These regulations require registering as a producer, following product and packaging design and labelling requirements, reporting on the amount of product sold and achieving recycling targets (including by funding the recycling and/or recovery at end of life). - Smart Lighting Control Systems: Smart lighting controls are without doubt one of the most significant recent developments in lighting. While they are no longer a new technology, they are being put to more advanced uses in Europe than in most other markets. Lighting controls are increasingly being integrated with sensors and other data sources to deliver adaptive lighting based on real-time conditions. Indeed, as SCEWC exhibitors made clear, there are now a large number of adaptive lighting projects deployed across many parts of Europe.
- Connectivity and Interoperability: From the first gas lighting in the UK to the first electric street lights of Paris, Europe has been at the forefront of many lighting developments over the past two centuries. As lighting moves into a digital era, it is European industry bodies like the Zhaga Consortium and TALQ Consortium that are driving a new wave of standardization and connectivity in luminaires.
One could see from the exhibitor stands at SCEWC that Zhaga interfaces for controls and sensors are being used by almost every luminaire, smart control and sensor supplier. This is remarkable given that Zhaga Book 18, the industry standard for outdoor luminaires, was only first published six years ago.
With regards to interoperability, TALQ was strongly represented at SCEWC and is playing a crucial role in standardizing and improving smart city lighting systems. Many suppliers are now promoting their adoption of the TALQ interoperability standards and certification on the standard. - Smart Infrastructure Integration: Lighting solutions were presented by many major suppliers at SCEWC as part of broader smart city ecosystems, integrating with a growing array of sensors, other urban systems, data-driven analytics and IoT platforms.
Overall, it seemed clear from SCEWC that we can expect the lighting industry to deliver a range of more sustainable and intelligent lighting offerings that increasingly integrate with other facets of the smart city.
