Meeting the UV LED Community: ICULTA 2021

ICULTA 2021 is getting closer – the forum for state-of-the art know-how and innovations in UV LED technologies and their multiple applications. From April 19 to 20, 2021, experts from all over the world will present and discuss latest results in UV LED development, irradiation systems based on UV LEDs as well as their use in industry and research. The conference and accompanying exhibition will be held online.

“We are delighted to welcome the international UV LED community to discuss challenges in bringing UV LEDs into applications”, says Sven Einfeldt, Head of the GaN Optoelectronics Lab at Ferdinand-Braun-Institut in Berlin and representative of the German consortium ‘Advanced UV for Life’. ICULTA addresses participants from academia and companies working along the complete value chain, from UV LED manufacturing to system development for the multiple applications of these semiconductor devices up to standardization activities. “Standardization is a key topic in the commercialization of UV LEDs”, explains Oliver Lawal, CEO of Aquisense Technologies and immediate Past-President of the International Ultraviolet Association. “Once this is mastered, the wide range of applications for UV LEDs can be fully exploited”.

Comprehensive program plus a special focus on fighting the coronavirus

The ICULTA 2021 program features over 50 lectures by internationally recognized speakers and close to 40 poster presentations. Due to the ongoing, global pandemic, a special focus is on how UV LEDs can successfully combat the coronavirus. To address this highly topical issue, the program chairs Jutta Eggers (TZW: DVGW - Technologiezentrum Wasser, German Water Centre) and Markus Weyers (Ferdinand-Braun-Institut) have organized a special program including two plenary talks, a SARS-CoV-2 session, and two additional sessions on disinfection and purification. “Finally, this topic is completed by the joint plenary session ‘Regulation and Standardization of UV LED Disinfection Systems’”, highlights Jutta Eggers.

Sessions on UV curing, analytics plus medical, food, and biotech applications are also part of the conference. The ICULTA program is as diverse as the multifaceted UV LED applications. The conference program also addresses current challenges and limitations. “There are still wavelength and efficiency limitations of current deep-UV LEDs that we want to explore with ICULTA participants”, Markus Weyers adds.

In an accompanying virtual exhibition, companies and organizations present their products and services around UV LED technologies and applications. A matchmaking service is additionally offered to facilitate networking among conference attendees. In this way, ICULTA continues to meet its ambition: Bringing together experts from science and industry to crosslink and to discuss the state-of-the-art in UV LED development and their broad spectrum of applications.