Following is a text version of Jim Brodrick's opening presentation video from the February 2011 DOE SSL R&D Workshop in San Diego, California.

Narrator: Solid-state lighting has crossed the threshold into the traditional lighting market.

James Brodrick, Lighting Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy: We're about where Thomas Edison was about 1910-ish and the products do perform to a certain level but there's still a lot more potential there.

Narrator: Quality LED products are becoming available for a number of applications, but many are designed simply to replace the lighting we use today. The greatest potential for energy savings and lighting performance will be seen in luminaires specifically developed for LEDs. These purpose-built products aren't bound by the constraints of conventional lighting, but instead are driven by "outside the bulb" thinking.

Jim Brodrick: You'll soon be finding lamps or luminaires that you've never seen before because solid-state lighting offers a totally different form factor and plus very, very high efficiencies.

Mark Hand, Director of Engineering, Innovation, Acuity Brands Lighting: As we produce luminaires with solid-state lighting technology inside, we've got quite a few different challenges with the entire system.

Mark McClear, Business Development Director, Cree: You take into account the thermals, the optics, the drivers, and the lamp as an integrated unit and you put it all together to deliver the value that the customers see.

Steve Paolini, Chief Technology Officer, Lunera Lighting: We really have to continue to make improvements in all those areas, not just the LED... the LED gets the lion's share of the press because it's the part that actually takes the electrons and converts them to photons, but those other pieces are equally important.

Kevin Dowling, Vice President of R&D, MC10: All of these are being addressed today by the science that's going into the creation of these devices, but we're still seeing some headroom, opportunities to further improve them.

Narrator: After years of research and development, the OLED is now poised to enter the general illumination market. Although challenges remain to improve OLED output, lifetime, and efficiency, the technology will offer a whole new range of lighting options.

Jim Brodrick: Most of the OLED research for white light started in the early 1990's and they've improved very, very quickly.

Joseph Shiang, Chemist, GE Global Research: If you had told me 15 years ago that you could have an organic material that would light up for 20,000 hours, I would have said that you were absolutely insane, it'll never happen, organic materials are simply not robust... but they do that today.

Mike Hack, General Manager of OLED Lighting, Universal Display Corporation: Looking at the form factors and some of the feedback we've been getting from designers and architects on the nature of the light quality and the thinness of the light, I think can have a significant impact once this technology really takes hold in the marketplace.

Joseph Shiang: The entitlement is actually there... we can actually do it. It's just a matter of us being able to execute and do all the right things in our lighting systems.

Jim Brodrick: Each approach, OLEDs or LEDs, will find various market niches where they offer unique advantages... advantages that don't exist in today's lighting.

Mark McClear: We're going to keep innovating... that never stops.

Christian Wetzel, Wellfleet Constellation Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: How far can we take this solid-state lighting technology? This is just amazing, when light is just around everywhere for us and lighting is so crucial and we use so much energy in lighting.

Jim Brodrick: The value statement, for the consumer... like, "why do I want to buy this," is only going to get better and better.

Narrator: Research and development in solid-state lighting has advanced at a rapid pace, opening the door to innovative new lighting solutions. Efficient, effective products are coming to market… And new questions have emerged…
What research should we pursue?
Where can the technology take us?