Partnerships between academic institutions and commercial companies deliver extraordinary results.
The academic and commercial sectors were perceived as incompatible in Slovakia, until now. Today these two sectors have a much closer relationship than anyone could have imagined. The public/private sector partnership between Slovak University’s Institute of Electronics and Photonics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and OMS is proof positive that these partnerships produce extraordinary results.
1On July 10th, 2012, OMS opened a new showroom at its headquarters in Dojč, near Senica.
OMS is an industry leader in lighting fixture production and as a supplier of complex lighting solutions to customers in 122 countries worldwide. As one of just a few companies in this industrial line of business, it has its own research and development department. In an effort to continually achieve better results and offer customers the most modern technological solutions, it proposed a collaboration with Slovak University’s Institute of Electronics and Photonics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. The offer received a positive response and last October, the partners created the basis for their collaboration – a successful project called LED Lab.
The main goals of this cooperation were to: a) nurture bright academic minds with high technical levels of education to focus on designing the management and realisation of new LED lights b) develop high-quality products at reasonable prices with functionality that surpass the competition c) submit patents resulting from research and development d) develop organic LED and lighting fixtures.
The LED Lab, the showcase of the collaboration between these industrial and academic partners, is building the foundation for educating the lighting industry’s future specialists and qualified experts. OMS understands the quality of the Lab has a direct impact on the calibre of these future industry leaders. Therefore, OMS has invested in building and purchasing devices for a specialised lab on the university premises aimed at applied research in the area of micro-electronics. The university students will have the opportunity here to learn everything about the technical aspects of lighting, from basic terms through to lighting fixture design and programming lighting systems. They will also deal with the development of electromechanical interfaces, electronic design and/or programming, from planning to implementation. The entire experience is designed to prepare students for the industry.OMS presented the first results of this collaboration at Light+Building 2012, the world’s largest trade fair for lighting and building services technology in Frankfurt am Main. It presented two highly technologically advanced products. The first product was Modul Razzor, a lighting fixture with a moveable light intensity distribution curve without any moveable parts. The second product displayed was the intelligent lighting management system, OMS Central Power Source (CPS). Enabling customers to substantially reduce energy costs, OMS CPS delivers a degree of lighting management system that previously required high installation costs. Among its most notable features, the CPS system can be implemented into existing wiring.
A non-traditional combination of "aesthetics, design and modern technology." MODUL Razzor, with full LED backlighting, presents the latest generation of the LED light sources.
OMS and Slovak University’s Institute of Electronics and Photonics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology are currently working on five joint projects. One example is their collaboration on the development of the integrating sphere, a measuring device that is available on the market for approximately 80,000 EUR. The goal of the project is to manufacture a device of a higher quality for a substantially lower price (5,000 EUR) under the proviso of maintaining the quality and accuracy of the measurements. They are also working on optimising OMS’ goniophotometer device. The goal of the project is to develop a smaller scale version that would measure LED light sources and their characteristics with secondary optics of a refractor type (lens). They are also continuing development of an Elite version of the OMS Central Power Source (CPS) system, intended for the most demanding customers.
The cooperation between the academic sector and OMS is a direct connection to the industry and also means a certain rate of dynamics in the framework of R&D. "The applied commerial research is, compared to basic research, substantially more dynamic, with a strong focus on achieving the final output," says Ing. Jozef Martaus, PhD., OMS, s. r.o.
The partnership between OMS and the Slovak University of Technology is endorsed by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the project scheme, “Centre of Collaboration for the Transfer of Innovative Technologies from Research to Industry”. The financial model consists of a financial contribution from the industry partner, OMS, and a matching financial contribution from the Slovak Research and Development Agency. To date, OMS has invested 115,000 EUR into its framework and will invest an additional 120,000 EUR by the end of this year.
Author: Marcela HeglasováBratislava, September 13, 2012Link to original post