DVN got started in 2006. For the first two years weekly newsletters and monthly reports went out to a very small number of Gold members who knew me by association or reputation, but maybe didn’t have much reason to believe this new Driving Vision News company would gain traction. It was very difficult to persuade the lighting community that the likes of DVN is a valuable, needed entity. My say-so wasn’t enough. So I made and pulled a lever not just to tell but to show the lighting community: I organised the first DVN Workshop.
Attendees of the 1st DVN workshop in Stuttgart |
It was held in Stuttgart in 2008, with a rubric of how to strengthen community links and to use differing positions to challenge ideas and visions. We were only 18 attendees around a table, and I’m proud to say 11 of them are still here in the lighting and DVN communities, though some have changed affiliate companies.
I was and remain very grateful to Wolfgang Huhn, Ingolf Schneider, Thorsten Warwel, Kamislav Fadel, Michael Hamm, Rainer Neumann, Claus Allgeier, Ralf Schäfer, Jens Fisher, and Prof. Khanh, who helped me to succeed with the workshop and then with DVN as a whole.
I still remember three common visionary points of consensus amongst all participants. (Remember, this was 10 years ago, just one year after SOP of LED headlamps on the Lexus):
- Safety without style is not enough. Users do not consider lights as safety systems, but still look for style and design perception.
- Regulations are too complicated and not understandable by most of the users. Example: the complicated regulation of AFS functions
- LEDs have a good image of technology and we have to use them to the maximum practicable degree.
As we approach the ten-year anniversary of that first DVN Workshop, I think it’s very fitting to organise a DVN Workshop in Germany—in Munich, this time—to celebrate a decade of disruptive innovations and DVN’s role in facilitating their realisation.
An exhibition area of about 500 m2 will take place in the Atrium of the Hotel, next to the conference hall. Coffee breaks and lunch will be served in the Atrium where all booths will be located. You can choose to showcase your company and present your latest products & services and create privileged contacts with this unique international gathering of targeted decisionmakers in your field. Booth booking will close as soon as the 5 last booths locations will be reserved, forwarned is forearmed!
Sincerely yours,
DVN President
PS: We want to correct a mistake from our last week Newsletter: M. Jürgen Hager from Osram was awarded “The best presentation award at ISAL 2017 “and not M. Yuya Takahashi from Stanley who shared with M. Martin Hofer, BMW, and M. Jonas Kobbert, DU Darmstadt, the award of “Best paper Nominees”.