The lighting industry is optimistic about the coming year
The three exhibitions attracted nearly 69,000 buyers from 151 countries and regions to visit and purchase, an increase of 7% over last year. Buyers in markets such as India, Iran, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, China, Spain, Russia, Taiwan, Italy and France all recorded double-digit increases.
Zhou Qiliang, vice president of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said that from the perspective of buyer admissions and business matching figures, on-site survey results, and Hong Kong's recent export performance, the lighting industry is optimistic in the coming year. He said: "According to the on-the-spot investigation, 93% of the respondents believe that smart cities and smart homes will drive the development of the lighting industry in the next two years. Home lighting systems that can communicate or remotely control with smartphones or tablets, and mainly save electricity. Energy-efficient home, industrial and commercial smart lighting systems will become hot."
2018 sales are expected to increase by 16%
The HKTDC commissioned an independent investigation agency to visit 636 exhibitors and buyers during the Autumn Light Show and the Outdoor and Technology Lighting Expo. About 90% of the respondents are optimistic about the market performance in the coming year or think it is similar to this year. It is expected that the average sales of lighting products will increase by 16% next year.
The most optimistic markets visited were China, Japan and ASEAN. Among emerging markets, the industries most interested in developing business are China (24%), ASEAN (17%) and the Middle East (7%). In terms of products, the industry surveyed believes that home lighting (29%) has the most growth potential, and LED and environmental lighting products (24%) and commercial lighting (16%) are also seen as high.
"Light networking" into a trend
During the exhibition, the organizers invited industry leaders to talk about market trends and product trends. Based on the opinions of various experts, the function of the lamp has been transformed from lighting to "light networking" combined with the Internet of Things, becoming an indispensable part of smart home. David Barnby, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Tridonic Lighting Electronics Co., Ltd. said: "Lights are everywhere and are the best carrier for transmitting and collecting data. The combination of lighting products and the Internet of Things will become a trend, and the industry needs to accelerate cooperation with different industries to capture New business opportunities." Shanghai Pudong Intelligent Lighting Association Secretary-General Dai Zhaoliang pointed out that the future lighting products must be connected to the Internet, he said: "The industry must apply cross-border technologies including cloud platform, artificial intelligence, sensors, intelligent modules, speech recognition, software applications Programs, etc., with smart lights to achieve interoperability."