DVN CZ Lighting Workshop – December 1-2, 2025

The 38th DVN Lighting workshop will take place in Ostrava on December 1-2, 2025. 

DVN’s first event in Czechia is coming! A full day of discussion, networking, and innovation show-and-tell.

Over the last 12 months, we have put on events in the UK and Spain, with great interest and strong response from the lighting community. Now it’s the Czech lighting community’s well-deserved turn. The industry has deep roots there, going back to 150 years ago in 1879, when the Toro company was established as an acetylene lamp maker in Novy Jicin. In 1950, the company became PAL (sometimes branded as AutoPAL, not to be confused with the present-day headlamp maker by that name in India). Ford bought PAL in 1993, and so the company became part of Visteon in 2000, which became Varroc in 2012 and OPmobility in 2023.

In the same time, Hella established a lamp plant in Mohelnice in 1993, followed by an R&D centre in 2000 in Olomouc. Then FLTC (2013), which become Wipac CZ and then Magna. ZKW (2021), Lumax (2021), and Uno Minda (2024) have operations in Czechia, as do Koito, Marelli, Mobis, Prettl, and Lightworks. This vibrant industry is supported by local universities in Ostrava and Brno; around 1,500 lighting engineers are working in this area.

The automotive industry is greatly important in Czechia, culturally and economically. It represents (2023 figures) 34 per cent of manufacturing industry and 24 per cent of the country’s exports, with 180,000 direct employees – 9 per cent of the Czech GDP. Production in 2023 was about 1,400,000 passengers cars + LCVs, making Czechia the № 3 vehicle-manufacturing country in Europe and № 10 in the world.

For this pioneering DVN event, the theme is Vehicle Lighting in Czechia: From History to New Tech & Innovation.

Paul-Henri Matha
DVN Chief Executive Officer and Lighting General Editor