Representatives from 10 cities gather in Dubrovnik for Professional Training Session on LEDs
A Professional Training Session on LED Lighting in Cities took place on the 23rd and 24th May 2016 in Dubrovnik.
This session was organised by LUCI in the framework of the SSL-erate EU FP7 co-funded project, dedicated to accelerating Solid State Lighting innovation in Europe. It aimed to enhance cities’ awareness and knowledge on urban LED lighting and to encourage the exchange of experience and know-how amongst cities.
– learn about the state of the art information on SSL technology in an urban context;
– go into detail with examples from European city strategies ;
– exchange about the issues and challenges with European counterparts;
– learn about the urban lighting strategy in Dubrovnik and visit its lighting installations.
Gathering close to 25 representatives from 9 countries (Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Poland, Hungary, France, Netherlands and Sweden) mixing city professionals, representatives from the lighting industry and lighting designers, the session was a very good opportunity to hear from the best specialists and exchange on LED lighting for cities. One of the highlights of the session was to present lessons learned and developments in quality SSL lighting in Europe from 3 cities: Dubrovnik, Eindhoven and Lyon.
As is often the case, a lot of expertise was to be found not only on the speakers’ side, but also from the participants who took the opportunity to give their own views on LED strategy and experience from their cities throughout the session.
Many small to medium sized cities are today are modernizing their public lighting, financed by public investments and/or infrastructure subsidies from the EU. One of the main targets is of course energy efficiency and reduction of public spending, but other aspects include the improvement of the quality of life and enhancing the city with a smart lighting system.
Some topics pointed out by cities to take into account when starting LED projects are:
– LED projects have to be planned carefully taking into account the context of each city;
– It is important to elaborate on the needs of the users before the procurement phase;
– Maintenance aspects have to be taken into account from the very beginning of the project ;
– The shift towards the new technology needs a shift in the competences and skills of lighting professionals;
– Citizens should be involved, particularly regarding what kind of ambiance they want in their city;
– The need for open solutions and interoperable protocols was underlined.
See some pictures from the event
About SSL-erate
The SSL-erate project is an FP7 EU support and coordination project that aims to accelerate the uptake of high-quality Solid State Lighting (SSL) technology in Europe by bringing validated information to all relevant stakeholders (www.lightingforpeople.eu).