No rules make no circle. In the process of market economy development, "rules" imply standards. Standardization is a necessary process for the development and growth of major industries, and also a mandatory condition for participating in global market competition. As an important criterion for industrial operation, standards have a significant impact and role in the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.


Setting standards, that is, setting game rules. As an emerging industry that will dominate the lighting market in the future, LED needs to improve standardized standards to guide the steady development of the industry. At present, the global LED industry is in a "war era" of the jungle and feudal disputes. Due to issues such as lack of standards and imperfections, a series of unfavorable factors such as the lack of industrial middleware, chaotic market order, low industry entry barriers, and difficulty in market promotion are becoming increasingly prominent. As an important part of participating in market competition, what are the "difficulties" faced by China's LED lighting industry in terms of standard participation and formulation?


Exploring the "difficulties" faced by the drafting of LED lighting standards in China?

Missing standards vs. too many standards


Standards are the key to controlling the market "game" and also the prerequisite for products to enter the market. At present, China's LED lighting industry is facing a situation of lack of core technology and weak market competitiveness, and lacks leadership in market competition. Faced with the promising prospect of the LED lighting market about to "explode", standard formulation is clearly urgent.


However, the current development of relevant standards for China's LED lighting industry is not satisfactory. Industry insiders point out that currently, most LED lighting product components exist in non standardized forms. The lack of standards leads to unfounded product design, and the confusion of product technical forms leads to difficulties in upstream and downstream matching, resulting in poor interchangeability and compatibility of products, which hinders the large-scale application and industrial development of products.


Due to the unified industrial middleware standards in the LED industry, enterprises are producing and developing according to their own standards. As a result, various devices between enterprises are not compatible, which not only seriously wastes production resources, but also poses a major challenge for customers' choices, "an industry insider told reporters.


In recent years, the argument about "lack of standards" has become rampant, and many people have even attributed the industry chaos to the lack of standards. However, Li Ximing, Deputy Secretary General of the Lighting Society of Guangdong Province, holds different opinions on this: "In recent years, China has attached great importance to the standardization of semiconductor lighting from the national to local levels, and the standardization and revision work of units at all levels has made rapid progress. China's semiconductor lighting and LED standards have basically covered all aspects of the industrial chain, and the so-called 'lack of standards' circulating in the market is actually a misunderstanding caused by unfamiliarity with the current standard situation


According to Secretary General Li Ximing, in October 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China issued a notice to organize the development of the "Comprehensive Standardization Technical System for Semiconductor Lighting". The system is divided into four parts: "General Standards" and "Materials and Equipment", "Chips and Devices", and "Lighting Equipment and Systems". The three subsystems are divided according to the industrial chain links, and each subsystem is further subdivided by product type.


At present, the system involves a total of 193 standard projects, including 54 standards that have been released and implemented (41 national standards and 13 industry standards), 2 general standards, 13 materials and equipment standards, 16 chip and device standards, and 23 lighting equipment and system standards. Among them, 50 current effective standards need to be revised, 4 standards need to be revised, and 73 standards are being studied and developed (52 national standards and 21 industry standards). It has basically covered all aspects of the industrial chain, including epitaxial chips, packaging devices, product applications, and testing equipment.


Li Ximing believes that the LED lighting standard system covering all links of the industrial chain has been basically formed, and national standards, industry standards, local standards, and enterprise standards are important components of China's standard system, and they are an organic unified whole.

Technological updates vs. outdated standards


Looking at the development process of the semiconductor lighting industry, LED lighting is still in its early stages of development, with rapid technological changes and product performance improvements, which has resulted in some product standards not keeping up with the development of product performance. However, the development of basic standards such as reliability testing methods requires more in-depth research, and the formulation of standards still requires a longer cycle.


Generally speaking, standards are the standardization of relatively mature products, with a certain degree of stability and relative invariance. LED lighting, on the other hand, is an emerging industry that is still in its early stages of development. The product technology updates rapidly, and the cycle of formulating product standards cannot keep up with the speed of technological development. There are still several problems in the current LED lighting industry in standard formulation: firstly, as a coordinated product of all parties, the standard has multiple stages of formulation and revision, and the implementation cycle from drafting to publication is long, facing the situation of being outdated once the standard is introduced. Secondly, it is precisely because technological progress lags behind market development and the level of innovative research and development is insufficient that there are many gaps in the testing methods and methods for certain key indicators of LED lighting fixtures. Thirdly, in order to replace traditional lighting that has been widely used for many years, LED lighting inevitably faces the issue of application effect evaluation, such as photobiosafety, road light color indicators, and human adaptation to light color. A new round of long-term evaluation is needed, and even the scientific nature of how to select evaluation indicators has been constantly being demonstrated.


At present, the evaluation and certification methods for standards and product technology level lag behind the development of the industry. The LED industry is a strategic emerging industry, characterized by technology driven development. At that time, it was in a period of rapid technological development. The formulation of standards cannot keep up with the development of technology, and once the standards were introduced, they have already fallen behind the level of market products. Therefore, there is still a considerable difficulty in the formulation of LED lighting standards Chen Zhixiang, Executive Vice President of Guangdong Semiconductor Light Source Industry Association, stated.


In the formulation of standards, China's LED industry still faces many difficulties. The dilemma of standard formulation and revision brought about by the rapid development of emerging industries is inevitable and innate. How to alleviate conflicts and break through bottlenecks is not only a new topic in standardization research, but also an urgent problem that needs to be solved in industrial development. A sound product standard is not only beneficial for enterprises to seize the commanding heights in the market, but also a key guarantee for the development of China's LED industry. Vice President Chen Zhixiang stated that in the future, the Guangdong Semiconductor Light Source Industry Association will further strengthen the research on basic standards, product standards, and testing method standards related to LED lighting products, improve product testing standards, safety standards, performance standards, and energy efficiency standards, and safeguard the sustainable and healthy development of China's LED industry.

Chinese Standard VS International Standard


In fact, foreign LED companies have long been eyeing the development of standards in order to seize the opportunity. Currently, institutions such as the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), the International Commission on Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, the European Commission on Light Engines, Energy Star of the United States, and ISA are all developing standards for LED lighting, competing for industry discourse power.


It is reported that many international standardization organizations and international giant LED companies have placed standard issues at an important position. Countries such as Europe and America are also developing their own technical standards and testing research methods. Some international LED companies, such as Philips and Osram, actively participate in national and international standardization work while also formulating their own enterprise standards, regulating the parameters of LED lighting products, such as voltage, current, luminous flux, color coordinates, color temperature, color rendering, lifespan, and other indicators. In early 2010, the ZHAGA Alliance, a collaborative organization established by lighting giants such as Osram, Philips, Panasonic, and Toshiba, defined standards for various optical engine interfaces. At present, standardization has been basically formed, and products will also be launched in the Chinese market.


The establishment of the International Standards Alliance has had a certain impact on China's LED industry and also raised the threshold for Chinese LED enterprises to participate in global competition. Therefore, relevant industry insiders point out that in order to seize the global market dominance, it is necessary to introduce their own influential standards and guidelines.


In terms of formulating game rules, Guangdong, a major province in the LED industry, can be said to be at the forefront. In order to standardize market order and create a good industrial environment, Guangdong Province has pioneered the benchmark system and standard light component project, providing quality assurance for the promotion and application of LED lighting products in Guangdong Province, accumulating a large amount of testing data for standard formulation, greatly promoting the technological progress and product quality improvement of LED lighting enterprises in Guangdong Province, and laying a solid foundation for shaping a good industrial standard environment. At present, Guangdong Province's innovative model in standards has become a model and benchmark for other sister provinces to follow.

In addition, Guangdong Province has been continuously advancing and exploring the promotion and construction of standards. In 2013, the optical component project team studied standard mutual recognition through the Guangdong Hong Kong Taiwan LED Industry Collaborative Innovation Alliance platform, and ultimately reached a strategic cooperation agreement on standard interoperability among the three parties. In addition, during a special meeting held by ZHAGA in China in June 2013, the standard optical module project team conducted in-depth discussions with them on LED industry standards. In August, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed with the ZHAGA alliance to achieve information exchange and ultimately achieve standard mutual recognition. At present, the standard optical component project has formed a global influence.


Third rate enterprises sell products, second rate enterprises create brands, and first-class enterprises establish standards. The competition for standards is actually a market competition, where whoever masters the standards has the market discourse power. In the current competitive international LED market, the introduction of standards is particularly urgent. However, it should be noted that given the continuous development and improvement of LED technology, the formulation of standards should also be combined with the specific situation of domestic industry development. The industry is looking forward to a more orderly and standardized market.