Five from Finland
Lighting
This notable quintet is helping the world see the light with Finnish innovations.
Much is made of Finland’s see-sawing levels of daylight during the year. Similarly, the world is also waking up to the innovative lighting solutions illuminating the future from up north.
This lighting design company targets its services to cities, buildings, construction companies and the like that want to illuminate their architecture or infrastructure. Advertising and marketing are also fields in which Valoa sees enormous future potential for light design companies.
“We no longer talk about lamps, but signals, communications and the ways in which we experience our environments,” CEO Roope Siiroinensaid in October. “It’s a whole psychological entirety.”
Here, wireless software and hardware components are integrated by luminaire manufacturers into their products and used by professionals to create and control lighting environments. The unique smart lighting control system comes with mobile apps to allow for easy configuration and management of these lights.
“If you have tunable, smart lights you can use timers or sensors to programme them based on the amount of light outside,” CEOTimo Pakkala explained to us. “Tunable lights are an upcoming trend particularly in companies which are interested in their ambiance or the wellbeing and productivity of employees.”
The ‘Q-Flow’ operating theatre light from this veteran hospital equipment supplier is highly colour accurate, enabling surgeons to detect exact tones as they operate. It also automatically eliminates shadows as the surgeon moves.
What further sets the Q-Flow apart from the competition is its unusual doughnut-like shape. The spaces between its concentric rings allow air to flow freely and be extracted by the theatre’s air filtration system, thus keeping bacteria out of the operating area.
“This is where Q-Flow is more advanced than any other light in the world,” CEO Markku Ahertoexplained last summer. “The standard, large UFO-like operating theatre lights create a vacuum on the top and bacteria is spread around the room uncontrollably.”
Reducing energy consumption by approximately 70 per cent, this automated street lighting is activated by motion detection. The wireless interlinked system works by increasing the brightness of all nearby lighting units once movement is detected.
“We are saving energy by dimming down the luminescence in areas where there is no use for light,” company CEO Santeri Oksanen explained back in 2015. “We are also reducing light pollution without sacrificing the comfortability and security gained by lighting.”
The rough conditions of a construction site require hardy luminescence. Unlike regular, fluorescent, temporary construction site lights, MBerg is an LED light, which makes it very robust, maintenance-free and gives it a longer lifetime.
“All our products have something special about them that makes them stand out,” Kati van Heerden said in our 2016 feature. “For instance, our switchboards are the ‘Rolls-Royces’ of that category. Generally, our approach is to offer high-end products rather than to compete with pricing.”