Drivers for Change

This event is part of the Luna Pro campaign, a six-month programme of events, interviews and cross-sector debates to build the business case for healthy lighting. This has been made possible by a team of six international manufacturer sponsors and a global network of scientists, regulators, industry bodies and media specialists. We are building on a social media campaign earlier in the year to raise awareness among teens of the impact of lighting on their health and well-being. These ‘Tik Tok’ style videos reached 2.5 million young people around the world with a click-through rate of up to 230% among German students.

The young people pointed out that they don’t buy the lights. It became clear that around 80% of the professionals who buy lighting for our homes and hospitals, schools and offices have no formal training. So I set out with this brilliant team to find successful business people who had invested in better-quality lighting as a sound financial decision. And it was surprisingly hard to find.

But the people I did find were passionate advocates. They were all clear that spending a bit more was good for their people, good for profit and good for the planet.

So why is it so hard to find people who are really willing to talk about how better-quality lighting stacks up in commercial terms – and then put their money on the line?

It’s a huge tanker to turn around: a fragmented sector with split incentives, a lack of transparency and a sector built on short term results to shift boxes rather than lighting solutions that integrate daylight and longer-term whole life costing.

I’m under no illusions. But the only way to do that is build bridges outside the lighting sector – thanks to people like our amazing panel today who are not only outstanding innovators, thinkers and leaders in their own fields, but also are starting to make a real difference to the way we buy lighting.