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June 3, 2008
CHIEF SCIENTIST AT PHILIPS NAMED 2008 NATIONAL INVENTOR OF THE YEAR FOR SOLID STATE LIGHTING BREAKTHROUGH
Burlington, MA - Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, the new entity formed by Philips' acquisition of Color Kinetics, today announced that Chief Scientist Ihor Lys has been named 2008 National Inventor of the Year by the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) Education Foundation. Dr. Lys was selected for the invention of Powercore® technology - a breakthrough in digital power processing that increases the efficiency, lowers the overall cost, and eases the installation of solid-state lighting systems.
The award, one of the top honors bestowed to U.S. inventors, will be presented in a ceremony on June 10, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
"This is an incredible honor, and I'm thankful to the IPO for recognizing this invention as instrumental to the growth of solid-state lighting - a technology that we have long viewed as the future of lighting itself," said Dr. Lys. "Powercore has allowed us to deliver more efficient, easier to use lighting systems that illuminate and decorate the places where we live, work and play."
"We are thrilled for this recognition of Ihor and one of his many contributions to the exploding solid-state lighting field," said Bill Sims, CEO, Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions. "For over a decade Color Kinetics focused on developing important technologies to reduce the cost and complexity of LED lighting control, operation and installation - in turn accelerating market adoption. Inventions like Powercore have helped LEDs ascend from research laboratories to real-world lighting systems, fueling a powerful patent portfolio that will continue to support Philips' solid-state lighting product development in the future."
Dr. Ihor Lys
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have advanced at remarkable rates to enable an entirely new market category - solid-state lighting - that is projected to reach $30 billion by 2025. As compared to most conventional light sources, solid-state lighting is highly efficient, long lasting, environmentally friendly and inherently controllable - enabling new uses of light while minimizing energy consumption. To be truly viable for illumination, LEDs must be integrated into precisely engineered systems that can adapt to existing lighting infrastructure, with power management being one critical consideration.
Powercore technology broke ground as a completely new and holistic approach to power control and conversion - specifically optimized to drive solid-state lighting systems. It provides a means for integrating power and data management directly within solid-state lighting fixtures. This eliminates the need for external low-voltage power supplies and special cabling that were historically required to operate solid-state lighting systems. In doing so, Powercore reduces installation cost and complexity while making these fixtures far easier to use in existing lighting environments - in turn accelerating adoption of a light source with tremendous potential for energy conservation on a global scale.
Today a number of high-profile landmarks are illuminated by Powercore-based solid-state lighting systems, including the Hollywood Bowl, CN Tower (the world's tallest free-standing tower), Globen arena (the world's largest spherical building), and the Singapore Flyer (the world's largest observation wheel). The technology has been incorporated into 13 commercialized products to date, providing a key differentiator in the increasingly competitive solid-state lighting market. It will be incorporated into a majority of Philips' future solid-state lighting products, including many already in development.
Dr. Lys is largely credited for developing some of the underlying technologies that make LEDs useful for illumination today. He co-founded Color Kinetics in 1997, marking the beginning of a lighting industry transformation from inefficient analog technologies to digital LED-based illumination. During his ten-year tenure with Color Kinetics prior to its acquisition, Dr. Lys led the development of the company's breakthrough Chromacore® and Chromasic® technologies, which continue to support and differentiate Philips' solid-state lighting systems today. A prolific inventor, he has contributed to more than 50 issued patents and numerous patent filings.
The National Inventor of the Year Award, in its 35th year, recognizes America's most outstanding recent inventors. To be eligible for this year's award, the invention must have originated in the U.S., be covered by a U.S. patent, and either patented since 2004 or commercialized recently. Nominees were judged on originality of concept, ingenuity in bringing the concept to design, societal benefit, and commercial success.
About Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions
Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, the new entity formed by Philips' acquisition of Color Kinetics, transforms environments through new, dynamic uses of light. Its award-winning lighting systems and technologies apply the benefits of LEDs as a highly efficient, long lasting, environmentally friendly, and inherently digital source of illumination - reinventing light itself as a highly controllable medium. Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions also enables widespread adoption of LED lighting through OEM and licensing partnerships in diverse markets. The company is headquartered in Burlington, MA. More information is available at http://www.colorkinetics.com.
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering people-centric, innovative products, services and solutions through the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 134,200 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of USD 42 billion (E26 billion) in 2007, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, as well as lifestyle solutions for personal wellbeing. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
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