THE LINE-UP of speakers has been named for next month’s LuxLive 2020 Digital Festival and includes world class designers Mark Major, Dean Skira and Robyn Goldstein, scientists Christopher Cuttle and Stephen Lockley, and tech innovators Sami Salomaa and Szymon Slupik.
LuxLive – which takes place on Wednesday 11 November and Thursday 12 November 2020 – will have a central theme of Health and Wellbeing and is divided into four main strands: Emergency Lighting, Smart Lighting, Workplace and Lightspace, focusing on lighting in architecture.
Each strand will take centre stage at certain times throughout the festival and will deliver compelling content.
Here’s our top 10 speakers not to miss:
1 MARK MAJOR
Mark Major, co-founder and director of London-based lighting design practice Speirs + Major will explore his relighting of the 900-year-old Norwich Cathedral at 1.20pm on Thursday 12 November.
2 DEAN SKIRA
Dead Skira, director of Skira Architectural Lighting, will present a session called ‘The simple Trick that created a dramatic office exterior’ and in it he will look at the clever use of an exterior ‘blade’ fitting to create a dramatic and dynamic lighting installation at a prominent office development in Zagreb.
The design used IP-rated fittings with 360 degree blade optics – the iGuzzini Trick luminaires – to illuminate the brise soleil, which in turn acts as a secondary reflector. The talk takes place on Thursday 12 November at 2pm.
3 ROBYN GOLDSTEIN
Robyn Goldstein of HLB Lighting Design will walk us through the lighting at the global headquarters of cybersecurity firm Akamai Technologies in Massachusetts at 11.40am on Thursday 12 November.
Drawing inspiration from the idea of network connectivity, the Akamai HQ features a concept that begins in the lobby, with lines of light guiding people throughout the 19-story building along a continuous mile-long path, known as the ‘AkaMile’.
This high-concept design is both visually stunning and energy efficient, designed to both LEED v4 and WELL v2 Gold certification levels.
4 CHRISTOPHER CUTTLE
Christopher ‘Kit’ Cuttle, the well-known lighting scientist and educator, will argue that it’s time to replace the lumen in his presentation at 12.40pm on Thursday 12 November. 
The lumen, a measure of lighting since the 1920s, is outdated and needs to be replaced – but with what? Cuttle will explain why the notion of a fundamental unit of light is no longer tenable and how it could be revised.
5 & 6 STEVEN LOCKLEY AND SAMI SALOMAA
Steven Lockley, associate professor of medicine in the sleep medicine department at Harvard Medical School will discuss ‘why circadian lighting is important’ with Sami Salomaa, the founder of Nordic lighting startup Light Cognitive, at 2.10pm on Wednesday 11 November.
Dr Lockley and Salomaa discuss how we can benefit from circadian lighting. Circadian lighting is smarter and more realistic than ever before – allowing us to benefit from convincing artificial skylights and natural light features in all spaces.
7 SZYMON SLUPIK
Szymon Slupik, CTO and co-founder at Silvair will join Alan Jackson, ‘chief evangelist’ at Helvar and Paul Drosihn, general manager of The DALI Alliance (DiiA) in a panel discussion entitled: DALI-2® and Bluetooth® mesh: A game changer?’
The organisations behind Bluetooth mesh and the DALI-2® protocols have worked together on a specification for a standard interface, allowing DALI® light fittings to talk to Bluetooth mesh wireless lighting controllers and accelerating the development of intelligent and connected lighting systems.
8 LARA JIAD
Lara Jiad, associate in the lighting team at WSP, will explore street data and connectivity.
Jiad currently has a number of trail sites in the UK looking at highway sensors that monitor drainage to help local authorities with maintenance.
9 SOPHIE PARRY
Sophie Parry, technical applications consultant at the Society of Light and Lighting, will give a vital and timely presentation on emergency lighting entitled: ‘Your responsibilities under the law’. She will run though our current obligations to ensure compliance in terms of emergency lighting standards, testing and maintenance, including the new ‘points of emphasis’ additions to the regulations. It takes place on Wednesday 11 November at 9.30am.
10 RUTH KELLY WASKETT
Hoare Lea associate Ruth Kelly Waskett will explore lighting for productivity and wellness and outline a comparison briefing for end users. She will answer questions such as: What is difference between colour-tuneable lighting and circadian lighting and how do they apply in a workplace? What are the measurable benefits to occupants of using these systems? Are they worth the investment in terms of productivity?
Colour-tuneable white LEDs are currently fashionable for offices – but do they deliver any real circadian benefits?
Waskett will explore the issue with reference to real-world installations.
11 & 12 ELETTRA BORDONARO AND MANEL KHALE
Bordonaro and Khale will explore ‘light and the social impact’ in a special ‘Women in Lighting’ session.
Bordonaro, the founder and creative director of Light Follows Behaviour, will discuss how light enables us to evaluate the inequalities in public space and how it can be a vehicle to improve the society we live in.
Khale, of Makali Design, will speak specifically on a ground roots project using solar lighting to tackle problems caused by the recent devastation in Beirut.
In addition to the headline acts, the event will also offer sponsored keynote presentations as well as case studies and interactive learning.
The Emergency Lighting strand includes presentations of the responsibilities of building owners under the law, how to do a risk assessment, emergency lighting for social housing, how to manage emergency lighting across an estate and emergency lighting controls.
The Smart Lighting stream sponsored by Bluetooth will look at how to monitor social distancing using the lights, how circadian lighting transformed life at a Derby care home, the lighting controls behind the City of London become a ‘smart city’, the compatibility of DALI-2 and Bluetooth mesh and what it means for lighting control, and how street lights that monitor air quality and footfall.
The Workplace track will focus on lighting for productivity and wellness. Seminars will explore how to light to the WELL v2™ pilot standard as well as some high profile case studies.
The event will also allow one-to-one meeting facilities, roundtable discussions, video presentations, live polling and Q&A sessions throughout.
The popular Lux Awards will close the festival as it makes its digital debut edition in the award’s celebrated history.
LuxLive is being supported by Bluetooth, Thorlux Lighting, the Lighting Industry Association, the Society of Light and Lighting, the Institution of Lighting Professionals, Women in Lighting, the Wi-Sun Alliance, Helvar and the Digital Illumination Interface Alliance.