The International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT), Manesar, today hosted the sixth International Symposium on Lighting (iSoL) at Centre 2. The dynamic development of lighting technology and new demands of the global automotive sector meant that there was special emphasis on lighting measurement and testing at this year’s event. Over 800 delegates attended the two-day conclave.

ICAT, which has been associated with automotive lighting research and testing since 2006, has helped transform iSOL into a knowledge sharing platform for all industry stakeholders. This year’s symposium saw 24 technical papers being presented in six sessions over two days, covering topics like intelligent lighting systems, silicon base LED technology, upcoming optical technologies, EMC measurement in lighting technologies, plug-and-play LED technology, automatic controlled light philosophy, lighting measurement for LEDs and related regulations, and high security registration plates, the Indian industry perspective in changing lighting technologies, standards and directives and lighting design.

The inaugural session was attended by Arjun Ram Meghwal , minister of state for parliamentary affairs and Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Guests of Honour – Maruti Suzuki India’s CV Raman; Honda Cars India’s Praveen Paranjape; FIEM Industries’ Dr JK Jain;  UNO Minda Group chairman NK Minda; India Yamaha Motor’s Yasuo Ishihara; Dinesh Tyagi, director, ICAT and Dr Madhusudan Joshi, DGM, ICAT and Convener - ISOL 2019.

The minister reiterated the need to promote the make in India initiative on the pillars of Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, robotics and 3D printing technology. He also observed the importance of LED technology and suggested its widespread implementation to save energy and improve illumination all over the country. He congratulated ICAT for its emergence as a world-class centre for testing and R&D in the field of automobiles.

Dinesh Tyagi, director, ICAT, in his inaugural address, apprised the audience on the latest technological developments in automotive lighting and the advancements that ICAT has made in testing and R&D, and also how ICAT plans to assist OEMs and lighting component suppliers.

The symposium has also included an exhibition in which automotive OEMs, component manufacturers, system suppliers and service providers showcased their products and services to promote self-reliance, encourage designers and promote innovation in the automotive lighting industry in India. There were more than 30 companies showcasing automotive lighting-related components and a display of 14 vehicles from OEMs. ISOL offered a good industry platform for networking opportunities to component and equipment suppliers, manufacturers and OEMs.

There were two panel discussions on ‘Intelligent Lighting: The Road Ahead’ and ‘Road Safety in Dark hours: Assisting and Alarming Technologies’. The conclave also saw awards being conferred to various companies for ‘Innovation and Excellence’.