I joined DVN exactly two years ago, after summer break 2023. It was a totally new life for me, after more than 25 years at big OEM lighting departments, developing lamps and vehicles, working with big teams to make each lamp as nice and performant as possible, at a ‘reasonable cost’ or with a ‘high value for money’—within the budget, design wishes, and supply chain and geopolitical constraints. I developed lamps with most of the world’s lighting suppliers.
I am now on the other side of the room. I do not develop anymore, and product development is something that I miss a bit. But at the same time, what a pleasure it is to gather all the lighting community, to continue to federate it and continue what Hector Fratty did perfectly since 2009. I just try to continue what he created with humility, enthusiasm, and creativity. When we see the success we get, I think we are on a good trajectory, thanks to all DVN members, DVN readers, and your active participation in our workshops and events.
Feel free to write me if you have ideas, proposals, or questions. We are open to new things. Like the first DVN event we will do in Czechia this year, as suggested by a super enthusiastic lighting engineer from that part of eastern Europe, where there is a long and rich tradition of creative and resourceful engineering.
I hope you had a nice summer holiday. We are ready to restart for a long second part of 2025, with our next events in September (Michigan) and October (Shanghai). A lot of things happened during summertime and I have selected some of them for this newsletter.
During our trip to Japan, we had the honour to be invited by Koito officers to visit their headquarters in Shizuoka to talk and listen about the vehicle lighting landscape. We had a frank and open discussion with R&D, Senior Managing Corporate officer Takayuki Katsuda, and Managing Corporate officer Kenichi Yoshioka.
Michael Hamm took also time to write a deep dive into the intriguing European HEIDI project; read on to see it.
Welcome back,
