Association leaders were invited to attend the “Light and Space” national private‑exclusive tour event (Hangzhou stop).

On October 16, 2026, the “Light and Space” national private‑session tour hosted by First Design successfully concluded in Hangzhou. Shen Wei, Chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Lighting Appliance Association, attended this technical private session as a guest.

This event brought together four leading brands across the Industry / Supply chain—Cree LED, LEDiL Optics, WAC LIGHTING, and Tridonic—to seamlessly connect the entire value chain from light source to Lens, Luminaire, and intelligent systems. The program invited senior lighting designers, industry experts from within the province, and Tencent’s AI team, moving beyond formal discussions to address real‑world pain points. Focused on how light and AI can be integrated and implemented, the event fostered pragmatic co‑creation. In response to pressing issues such as excessive competition over technical parameters, disconnects between design and execution, and challenges in project commissioning and handover, attendees engaged in in‑depth exchanges through on‑site technical breakdowns and candid, two‑way questioning.

During the session, companies from across the supply chain presented on topics including optical light control, material selection for outdoor luminaires, the DALI smart control system, and LED light‑source chip technology. Meanwhile, Tencent’s AI team outlined the true limits of AI’s capabilities in lighting design, emphasizing that while AI excels at handling standardized, repetitive tasks, aesthetic considerations and engineering‑level decision‑making still rely on human designers. AI serves as an enabling tool rather than a replacement.

In the discussion segment, experts delved into five key issues: the evolution of LED chips, discrepancies between simulation results and on‑site implementation, material management for coastal salt‑spray projects, DALI system compatibility, and the boundaries of AI’s application within lighting workflows. Participants reached a consensus: chip, optics, luminaire, and driver technologies must work in concert; breakthroughs in any single area cannot be directly applied to real‑world projects. DALI functions as a foundational hardware communication protocol, while AI operates as an upper‑layer application—these two are complementary. AI can assist with documentation and parameter screening, but it cannot replace a designer’s aesthetic judgment, on‑site assessment, or engineering decision‑making.

Chairman Shen Wei participated throughout the entire discussion. Drawing on the current market landscape of the lighting Industry, he argued that, amid mounting industry pressures, stakeholders should not only strengthen their underlying hardware capabilities but also embrace the transformative potential of AI, leveraging new technologies to unlock innovative solutions for the sector.

This private session helped align language between the design and manufacturing sides, breaking down barriers between technology and design supply and demand. The Zhejiang Provincial Lighting Appliance Association will continue to monitor AI and smart‑hardware innovations in the lighting field, establishing platforms for upstream–downstream collaboration to support high‑quality development of our province’s lighting Industry.

Source: First Design