Interview with Frans Otten, Chairman, Lemnis Lighting
What it is about your company/project that makes it so special?
With a population growing to 9.5 billion, an increase in demand for energy and raw materials, we need to look at technology for solving these challenges. It also means that sharing the technology with partners around the world to increase energy saving and carbon emission reduction, albeit by sharing profit too, is the future.
In the early days, lighting was designed using the available technology and a planned obsolescence. The function was to provide light for a short time, then for the bulbs to be tossed out. Energy and raw materials were easily available, with limited consumption. And when consumers needed more products, manufacturers made more money.
We at Lemnis looked at this profit-driven model for light bulb production, and decided instead that we want to provide light. We make LED light bulbs that last more than twenty years, that are easily recycled, and that offer a level sustainability that other lighting options just can’t match.
What country best facilitates starting a tech company?
Europe is a strong, small-scale testing ground for new products, and has a vibrant spirit of innovation. The U.S. has vast technology resources and significant investment dollars. China and India offer efficient manufacturing, and also present untouched audiences for new products. Lemnis not only manufactures in China and India, we have those partners also sell within their countries. For example, Indians in rural communities can begin their use of electric residential lighting with LEDs, rather than beginning with last-generation technology. It’s local for local.
What makes an innovator?
World-wide crises in finance, global warming, food shortages, water cleanliness and other areas make it crystal clear that we all, as inhabitants of this planet, need to do things differently. Innovators are pioneers to satisfying needs for products and services that are both sustainable and profitable.
At Lemnis, we know that we could sell one billion of our light bulbs to provide the same amount of light currently produced by the four billion light bulbs now in use. When we imagine the materials, energy and labor that would be saved by not producing those extra three billion bulbs, we can see that the possibilities are endless.
All those resources could be used for solving entirely different problems, like better health care or better education. In this way, sustainable innovation could never be viewed as a front-end cost; instead it’s an enormous opportunity to reallocate resources.
How does your company contribute to improving the state of the world?
Lemnis Lighting creates global solutions. We’re solving problems better than existing alternatives, and we’re doing it in a way that protects and preserves our environment. 20% of the world’s electricity is now used for lighting, and LED’s can make a huge difference in reducing that consumption. We produce sustainable lighting that illuminates lives on every continent, and lets today’s users enjoy products that won’t compromise the earth for generations to come.