Mar 25 2009
Sarnoff Corporation today announced the creation of Lightscape Materials Inc., the latest in a series of independent company spin-offs. Lightscape Materials has secured $3 Million in Series A funding from Wisepower Co. LTD and Foosung HDS Co. LTD to develop and market components for a breakthrough, green-friendly Light-Emitting Diode (LED) light bulb and a variety of other phosphor light products for new lighting applications.
Wisepower and Foosung HDS join Itochu Corporation, who is an early stage investor and distributor in Asia for Lightscape Materials.
“The potential for new LED-based lighting products is tremendous and cuts across many traditional industries including display and general lighting,” said Gi Ho Park, Wisepower’s Chief Executive Officer. “With Lightscape’s heritage rooted in Sarnoff Corporation’s world-class R&D, we’re confident the company can take advantage of this amazing opportunity.”
As pioneers in phosphor innovation, Lightscape Materials will leverage 60 years of expertise from the first color TV phosphors developed under RCA to diverse applications such as long persistence, EL, PDP, bio-medical, security, and LED applications.
“Lightscape Materials represents Sarnoff’s deep commitment to transitioning R&D technology into ground breaking products that make a difference in their market,” said Dr. Don Newsome, Sarnoff’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We’re proud to see Lightscape take this next step in developing world-class LED phosphors for lighting applications.”
Solid State Lighting (SSL)—light generated by LEDs—has the potential to substantially improve the lighting industry. LED lighting is already ubiquitous in backlit handheld LCD devices such as cell phones and PDAs. It also has the potential to replace cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) technology in large LCD displays such as laptops and TVs due to improved efficiency, better color rendering, a thinner profile and LEDs’ lack of mercury.
General lighting applications will benefit from LEDs’ high efficiency allowing the lamp to draw much less electricity per lumen than traditional incandescent bulbs. The rugged form allows lighting designers to break free from standard lamp designs and with bulb longevity 25 times that of a traditional light bulb, frequent bulb changes will be a thing of the past.
“Lightscape Materials will bring a business focus and technical expertise to the development of LED phosphor materials to meet the emerging needs of the LED industry, enabling LED packagers and luminaire makers to better customize LED lighting solutions,” said Gerard Frederickson, Chief Executive Officer and one of the Founders of Lightscape Materials. “Wisepower and Foosung share our vision of contributing to the growth of the SSL industry and will be strategic partners going forward.”