A South African company has clinched a deal to distribute a revolutionary lighting technology able to suppress bacteria in the air and on surfaces using a narrow spectrum of visible light.
The licensing agreement covering the innovation named SpectraClean involves Johannesburg-based Genstar Emergency Lighting Solutions (GELS) and Hubbell Lighting, a lighting manufacturer headquartered in South Carolina, USA.
GELS director Drew Donald highlights the crucial timing of the transaction, given South Africa’s halting emergence from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Indeed, every person, every industry and all government have a moral and economic obligation to develop new methods of thinking to prevent similar negative spinoffs from the next health crisis.”
GELS’s licence agreement with Hubbell enables GELS to assemble the relevant control board in South Africa, with the 405 nm chips being supplied exclusively by Hubbell. Accordingly, GELS has appointed a KZN manufacturer to populate the board. Donald says such an arrangement contains positive ramifications for employment in particular and for the KZN economy in general.
He explains that the SpectraClean technology cleans every area of a room, at different rates based on the distance from the light source and the time taken to disinfect the relevant area. “Laboratory experiments and case studies show a more than 90% microbe reduction in treated environments in one day. In actively used facilities, SpectraClean continuously reduces microbes at all times and significantly reduces the frequency of manual chemical cleaning. Unlike UV-C, SpectraClean is harmless to humans, materials and surfaces. The ramifications are immense, both in term of hygiene, safety and cost savings.”
He expects the initial agreement with Hubbell to yield many additional benefits to GELS owing to Hubbell’s position as the exclusive licensee to selected applications of Scotland’s University of Strathclyde lighting technology.
“Strathclyde’s high intensity, narrow spectrum lighting technology boasts a world class research team at the cutting edge of global innovation. Its close ties to Hubbell and our new association with the Americans bode well for prospective new horizons,” he believes. “Our licence allows us to link the technology back to the University of Strathclyde such that we will participate in any new research/developments.”
David Early, director at Hubbell Lighting Components, says: “With more than 130 years of experience illuminating and electrifying the world, Hubbell has a rich history of making product innovations that support customers in key markets and industries.” He maintains that the South African deal will provide added global coverage to Hubbell’s suppression of harmful bacteria growth.
“Instructively, our lighting technology provides significantly greater reductions of bacterial pathogens in the environment than can be achieved by cleaning and disinfection alone, providing a huge step forward in preventing the spread of infection.”
The agreement with GELS covers all of southern Africa.
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