The highlight of the co-located Strategies in Light (SIL; strategiesinlight.com), The LED Show, and Lightspace California events (lightspacecalifornia.com), the third annual Sapphire Awards Gala bestowed honors upon beacons of innovation in the solid-state lighting (SSL) industry on Mar. 1, 2017 in Anaheim. During the course of the evening, attendees gathered on the sapphire carpet to share in the excitement before the winners were named, enjoyed a gourmet dinner, and experienced top entertainment with performances by the Doug Taylor Trio Band and the Bella Electric Strings quartet. LEDs Magazine chief editor Maury Wright, who also headed the judging panel, presented an illuminating video on the extraordinary capabilities of LED-based SSL to deliver unique experiences in light, with examples of both striking landmarks enhanced by LED lighting and compelling architectural lighting design projects.
 
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The LED & Lighting Network team, including Strategies Unlimited analysts Philip Smallwood and Shonika Vijay, was on hand to interview the winners and celebrate their accomplishments (stay tuned for a video of Gala highlights on our website).

Even now in our third year, we uphold the view that the Sapphire Awards program is singular in the industry for its recognition of valuable contributions across the entire LED and lighting supply chain, from enabling components to test tools, and from controls to lighting end products. Yet we continue to evaluate the categories and remain flexible to allow the awards to reflect the changing focus of the technology and trends that drive the SSL market each year. For example, at our inaugural event back in 2015, we saw smart lighting emerging as a significant trend, and the winner was a human-centric luminaire from Arborlight that mimicked a daylight spectrum. Fast-forward into 2016 and you’ll see that the categories were separated to distinguish networking and controls technology from tunable lighting, accommodating the diversity amongst the entries and the fact that tunable products were becoming a force to be reckoned with on their own. This year, submissions converged under one category called “smart and connected SSL technologies” because not all smart products in SSL are luminaires. Sensors and modules add value at the individual fixture level, yes, but additional networking hardware and software tools can also deliver building- or city-wide system management, monitoring, and analytics to better manage space and environmental conditions, improve traffic control and security, and streamline maintenance.

The Sapphire judges, as always, had their work cut out for them. Each entry was considered upon its own merits while taking into account what might constitute a “perfect” SSL product in the intended application. Scoring ranged from 0–5 Sapphires. To achieve a score of 3 Sapphires, an enabling technology or lighting product was expected to be suitable for commercial deployment. Higher scores were given to products that were judged to perform efficiently and reliably, contribute to profitability, and demonstrate ease of use. (See a shortlist of the finalists.) In our upcoming coverage, we will disclose those products that received a score of 3.25 Sapphires or higher; additional scores and judges’ comments will be made available privately for all entrants.

“The quality of products in this year’s submissions has really stepped up from previous Sapphire entries. It is a great indication of where the lighting and controls industry is headed,” noted SIL co-chair and Sapphire judge James Highgate.

We at LEDs Magazine, along with our esteemed judges and colleagues, are inspired by the number of advances that arrive in the market each year. The continuing stream of innovation in this exciting SSL industry demonstrates the union of engineering solutions with evolution in form and function. We can’t wait to see what the coming year will bring. But first we will reveal this year’s Sapphire Award winners.