PENANG, 15 December 2015 - The “International Symposium on LED and OLED Technology in Conjunction with the International Year of Light 2015 (ISOLED 2015)” was held in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) organised by the Centre for Research Initiatives (CRI), Natural Sciences USM in collaboration with the Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), USA.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research And Innovation, Profesor Dato' Dr. Muhamad Jantan said in his officiating speech that the university fully supports all collaborative efforts, as it believes that the way forward into the future for all institutions of higher learning is to share resources and expertise, if it is to make any progress in its academic and research endeavours.

"This symposium serves as a good platform for researchers from the academia and the industries to exchange ideas and research advances in domains related to light emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

"These topics are very much part of the larger research agenda of the university and in recognition of the importance of this domain of study, the university has recently upgraded the Nano-Optoelectronics Research (NOR) laboratory to a full-fledged Centre of Excellence with the status of an Institute to spearhead the university initiatives in LEDs," he told.

Furthermore he added, the government has provided tremendous amount of resources for the universities and government linked corporations to accelerate the research programmes related to the development of energy efficient solid state lighting based on LEDs and OLEDs. 

"To be in the forefront in this field, the government has mandated one of its premiere development agency, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) to be its principal agency to promote this sector of the manufacturing and services economy in Malaysia and recently, MIDA has succeeded in assisting Germany-based MNC, namely OSRAM to invest 1 billion Euros to build a new LED chip plant with the capability of producing the largest and latest 6 inch LED chip in Kulim, Malaysia," he emphasised.

Explaining further, Muhamad believed that collaboration and cooperation with like-minded institutions and agencies, whether public or private, domestic or abroad, will enhance USM’s contributions to the nation and the global community and we (USM) believe there is much innovation gaps that needs to be filled to make the world a much better place to live in.

“I believe that the collaboration between the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and USM in organising this symposium will act as a stepping stone to more substantive future collaboration work, as both institutions aspire to lead innovations in LEDs. 

"Awareness of LEDs and OLEDs as sources of sustainable illumination to light up one’s environment is severely lacking in the rural areas and therefore, the initiative taken by CRI Natural Sciences and Lighting Research Centre to enhance the understanding of rural community to the potential of LEDs is much appreciated.

"In particular, the engagement project with the community of Kampung Bujang Bedong located near Sungai Merbok, Kedah for lighting survey, safety talk on electricity, and installation of LEDs in their tuition centre was a good initiative that I believe will greatly benefit the community," he added.

Also present at the opening ceremony were the Director of CRI Natural Sciences USM Professor Dr. Zainuriah Hassan, Professor Dr. Nadarajah Narendran (RPI), Professor Jean Paul Freyssinier (RPI) and Dr. Ralph Bertram (OSRAM).

Text: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah
Photo: Dzulfikar Azmi Muhamad Aripin (Isa)