February 19, 2008 – Santa Clara, CA   Strategies Unlimited continued to draw record attendance at Strategies in Light, its ninth annual business conference and exhibition on high-brightness LEDs held February 11– 13, 2008 at the Santa Cla ra Convention Center.

This year’s event attracted over 1500 participants from North America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia – 28 countries in all.  In addition, the conference was supported by 52 sponsors and exhibitors, ranging from equipment and materials suppliers to LED manufacturers to trade publications and associations.

Strategies in Light 2008, whose theme was “Emerging Applications Driving the LED Market Forward,” provided insight into the rapidly developing trends in applications, markets, products, and technologies that will affect the industry's future.  

Featured speakers included: Bas van de Kieft, Senior Vice President of Philips Lighting; Bob Smith, Director, Innovation and Advanced Engineering at Cooper Lighting; Bernard Stapp, General Manager of the Solid-State Lighting Business Unit at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors; and William M. Kelly, CEO of Nualight Ltd.

In addition, senior level executives from Boeing, Canaccord Adams, Cree,  EDG Consulting and Research, Enfis Ltd., Feasa Enterprises, Ltd., Future Lighting Solutions,  greenTbiz, Intellectual Ventures, Intematix Corporation, LED Holdings, Lemnis Lighting USA, National Semiconductor, Osram Sylvania, Pacific Gas and Electric, Pacific Northwest Na tional Laboratory, PG&E, Philips Lumileds Lighting, Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, Texas Instruments Inc., and Volkswagen of America presented at the conference.

The array of topics included: HB LED markets, illumination applications; LED video screens; automotive lighting with LEDs, utility programs for energy-efficient lighting; intellectual property issues; retail display and outdoor lighting applications of LEDs; the status of OLED technology for lighting, and more.

Conference Chair Robert Steele of Strategies Unlimited kicked off the conference with his annual overview and forecast of the HB LED market, noting that the market grew by 9.5% to $4.6 billion in 2007, a significant uptick from the 6% growth rate that characterized the market in 2005 and 2006.  He pointed out that the mobile phone application has declined in import ance, accounting for just 43% of the market in 2007, compared to 57% in 2004.  All other applications (e.g. signs, automotive, signals, illumination) together grew at a very healthy rate of 20% in 2007, with illumination applications having the highest growth rate.  The overall HB LED market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 20%, reaching $11.4 billion in 2012.

Next year Strategies in Light will be celebrating its tenth anniversary and the event will be held February 18-20, 2009 in Santa Clara. For further information on Strategies in Light, please contact Luba Hrynyk at lubah@pennwell.com, or visit us online at: < span style="color: windowtext; ">www.strategiesinlight.com.  For more information on Strategies Unlimited market research and strategic consulting services for the photonics industry, please contact Tim Carli at 650-941-3438, ext. 23 or email at tcarli@strategies-u.com< /span>.