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Setting standards for OLED lighting Hampered by South Korea and Japan Conflict
July 12, 2020
OLED lighting has been an on-again off-again technology that while will certainly have a place in the world of residential and commercial lighting, has been far too expensive to generate the excitement needed to move the technology into a truly commercial mode. One issue that is necessary for OLED lighting to gain credibility, aside from price, is that of standards, which are absolutely necessary if the technology is going to be used as an architectural component. Without such standards it would be hard for architects and designers to spec out OLED lighting, other than as a one-off, and without that ability the odds are that they would choose another lighting modality.
The problem with setting standards for OLED lighting is a conflict between South Korea and Japan, two leaders in the field. The South Korean government is now forming a new consortium between the Korea Optical Technology Institute, The Korea Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Testing, and the Korea Lighting ICT Institute to ‘lead the international electrotechnical committee TC34 international standard.” Japan, who came into the standards project late but took a joint leadership role, recently announced that ‘the deliberation of international standards has been initiated regarding the performance requirements for flexible OLED panels proposed by Japan’, which South Korea took as an affront because it did not mention Korea’s participation or its contribution to the proposed standards, which the Korean government insists were originally proposed by Korea in 2010.
Rather than work together, it seems that both countries are speeding up their proposals for such standards with time being spent on coming up with an ‘aggressive overseas response strategy’ to push their opinions when submitting them to the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) next month. The IEC, around since 1906, is the world’s leading organization for the preparation and publication of international electrical standards and expects to publish OLED lighting panel performance standards in 2021.
Of course, OLED lighting would be far better served if South Korea and Japan could use their expertise collectively, rather than trying to gain some sort of nationalistic credibility, but the two countries have been battling over issues that go back to World War II, most recently with Japan limiting the export of Hydrogen Fluoride to South Korea, a key component used for etching semiconductors. OLED lighting, while certainly a viable lighting medium, needs to find ways to reduce production costs to give it an opportunity to become a product that can be mass produced at a cost effective rate, a situation where both countries would benefit. Standards would certainly be a first step, but it seems that the process will be riddled with political and national issues that will slow the development of this technology. We would typically say how much better it would be to put aside political and national differences and get on with OLED development, but given our country’s position in world markets it feels like it might be a bit like the pot calling the kettle black…
July 12, 2020
OLED lighting has been an on-again off-again technology that while will certainly have a place in the world of residential and commercial lighting, has been far too expensive to generate the excitement needed to move the technology into a truly commercial mode. One issue that is necessary for OLED lighting to gain credibility, aside from price, is that of standards, which are absolutely necessary if the technology is going to be used as an architectural component. Without such standards it would be hard for architects and designers to spec out OLED lighting, other than as a one-off, and without that ability the odds are that they would choose another lighting modality.
The problem with setting standards for OLED lighting is a conflict between South Korea and Japan, two leaders in the field. The South Korean government is now forming a new consortium between the Korea Optical Technology Institute, The Korea Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Testing, and the Korea Lighting ICT Institute to ‘lead the international electrotechnical committee TC34 international standard.” Japan, who came into the standards project late but took a joint leadership role, recently announced that ‘the deliberation of international standards has been initiated regarding the performance requirements for flexible OLED panels proposed by Japan’, which South Korea took as an affront because it did not mention Korea’s participation or its contribution to the proposed standards, which the Korean government insists were originally proposed by Korea in 2010.
Rather than work together, it seems that both countries are speeding up their proposals for such standards with time being spent on coming up with an ‘aggressive overseas response strategy’ to push their opinions when submitting them to the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) next month. The IEC, around since 1906, is the world’s leading organization for the preparation and publication of international electrical standards and expects to publish OLED lighting panel performance standards in 2021.
Of course, OLED lighting would be far better served if South Korea and Japan could use their expertise collectively, rather than trying to gain some sort of nationalistic credibility, but the two countries have been battling over issues that go back to World War II, most recently with Japan limiting the export of Hydrogen Fluoride to South Korea, a key component used for etching semiconductors. OLED lighting, while certainly a viable lighting medium, needs to find ways to reduce production costs to give it an opportunity to become a product that can be mass produced at a cost effective rate, a situation where both countries would benefit. Standards would certainly be a first step, but it seems that the process will be riddled with political and national issues that will slow the development of this technology. We would typically say how much better it would be to put aside political and national differences and get on with OLED development, but given our country’s position in world markets it feels like it might be a bit like the pot calling the kettle black…
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