European Sign Summit Programme June 23rd 2010, Munich 10.15-11.00
Registration and Coffee
SESSION ONE: Meeting future challenges 11.00-11.15
Welcome and Chairman’s Opening Remarks Luc Steegmans, ESF Vice President
11.15-11.50
KEYNOTE: The future challenges of sign making What will the signs of the future look like? What will they require from our community? Environmental sustainability and price competition from overseas – threat or opportunity? David Pitt, Group CEO, Principle Group
SESSION TWO: Light sources matching your application 11.50-12.15
LED – a grown up technology Exploring new applications for LED technololgy Luc Steegmans, Vice President, ESF
12.15-12.40
Discharge Lighting after Mercury In an attempt to cut the carbon emissions and to lower the bill for imported energy our governments push us to use 'energy saving lamps' which are discharge lamps with fluorescent coating. But to manufacture that type of lamp, like standard fluorescent lamps or cold cathode lamps such as commercial 'argon-filled' neon, minuscule quantities of mercury are indispensable. Although extensive recycling programmes are put in place for manufacturers and public alike that mercury is still seen as a threat to the environment. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Mercury is being banned from all manufacturing processes wherever possible, from barometers to switches, but is still tolerated for discharge lamps because there is no alternative yet. Scientists around the world are working hard to find alternatives as the clock is ticking. Are we there yet? What kind of life will there be for the illumination and sign industry after mercury is eventually banned? Dr Spiros Kitsinelis, Light Source expert
12.40-13.05
Neon, saving energy with a bright future. In recent years the industry has undergone a tsunami of commercial information about new lightsources that would help us to save energy and would last forever. Have we been caught by surprise and did we forget about the proven reliability of Neon and cold-cathode lighting? Certainly not. New techniques have been developed to produce brighter and longer lasting neon, consuming even less energy. While impartial research shows there is marginal difference only between the energy consumption of these new cold cathode products and the new lightsources, our new approach make it more eco-friendly than ever before. Join us to learn more about this and other exciting novelties in Munich. Fausto Martin, R&D Engineer
13.05-13.30
Electroluminescence: new applications in the advertising industry. Somewhere it rings a bell, electroluminescence. Several years ago we saw the first examples but the technology was not quite ready yet. The revolution of