The DOE Solid-State Lighting Program engages with hundreds of research partners, from universities and national laboratories to large companies and small start-ups. Partners are heavily involved in program planning via workshops, working groups, and topical meetings.

Three key partnerships support Solid-State Lighting Program activities:

  • The Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance (NGLIA) partners with DOE to enhance the manufacturing and commercialization focus of the DOE portfolio by utilizing the expertise of this organization of SSL manufacturers. NGLIA members provide support and input to DOE via topical meetings, working groups, and other events. Learn more.
  • The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) partners with DOE to work collaboratively to improve the quality and efficiency of lighting through science and engineering. DOE provides technical support and leadership on IES committees, and DOE and IES collaborate on stakeholder events including workshops, symposia, and webinars. Learn more.
  • The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) partners with DOE to provide their professional designers and specifiers with specific, actionable technical information they can use to ask tough questions of their vendors, and thereby exert significant influence on technology development. IALD provides expert speakers for webinars, workshops, and symposia. Learn more.

In addition to the research partnerships created via annual competitive funding opportunities, the Solid-State Lighting Program funds advanced lighting research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where the team collaborates with universities, institutes, other national laboratories, and individual researchers to support specific studies or study elements. Field research project teams revolve around lighting installations in buildings, facilities, municipalities, or other properties and typically involve building owners/operators, lighting designers, specifiers, manufacturers, manufacturer representatives, and electric utility or energy-efficiency sponsors in some cases. Lighting product and system evaluations in PNNL labs or test beds involve lighting and auxiliary equipment purchased through normal market channels or donated or lent by technology developers and manufacturers. 

The Solid-State Lighting Program also collaborates with other federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Defense (DOD), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and more.

In addition, the Program provides technical assistance and support for active working groups that bring experts together on a regular basis to address a specific topic or need: