The Award Ceremony of International SSL Alliance (ISA) 2024 “Global SSL Award of Industry Development Outstanding Contribution” (AOID) was held in the morning of Nov. 20, 2024, at Suzhou International Expo Center, Suzhou, China, during ISA General Assembly 2024.

The award of AOID has been incepted since 2021. A total of 19 individuals and organizations have been awarded so far.

Mr. Xiaoming JIN, Co-Secretary General of ISA, Former Director General, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology, China moderated the ceremony and revealed the winners.

In the year of 2024, a total of five SSL industry leaders were awarded.

The fourth winner went to Mr. Santosh Agnihotri, heading Quality & Technical operations of Orient Electric limited, a CK Birla group company in India.

Serving the industry from last 30+ years in R&D, Quality & Technical Compliances, currently heading Quality & Technical operations (Lighting and Switchgear business) of Orient Electric limited, a CK Birla group company in India. I have engineering and MBA/ M. Phil (Management) background, driving technical operations and compliances at group level.

Brief introduction of the outstanding achievement of Mr. Santosh Agnihotri

Contributions to the industry are mentioned as below:

•       Chairperson of Electric Lamps and Components Manufacturing Association (ELCOMA) Technical committee, which represents all major lighting brands in India.

•       Technical Committee member in Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power.

•       BIS committee member for ETD23, ETD43, ETD49 on behalf of ELCOMA (Lighting Association).

•       Participating in many Standard formulation committees for compliances with BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards)

•       20+ Articles published in Illumination (Lighting Industry Magazine) on different topics like standards and regulations, Star labelling Compliances, surveillance and check testing, e-waste regulations, future of DOB technology, sustainability beyond lighting etc.

•       Lifetime member in ERDA (Electrical research and development Association)

•       Make Orient brand as First Indian brand to get energy star ratings as 3 & 5 Star in India.

•       First in India to have the approval from BEE, (Ministry of Power) for five-star 9W LED Bulb.

•       Two times National award winner for energy conservation (NECA Award) our 9W Self Ballasted LED Bulb awarded as the most energy efficient equipment of the year 2021.

Jury Comments

1. Lifetime involvement in Indian standardization, compliance testing and product development.

2. Santosh has made major contributions to the development of the lighting industry in India through his role with ELCOMA, his support of the Bureaus of Energy Efficiency and Indian Standards and his articles in the Illumination magazine.

3. His contribution for SSL in committees to promote SSL many years in India is well recognized, but not enough information to make further judgement.

4. Standardization and technical regulation for such a huge market as India is a very difficult task. Mr. Santosh Agnihotri has done an outstanding job in this direction.

Mr. Santosh Agnihotri delivered his acceptance speech via video recording at the ISA 2024 General Assembly.

Mr. Santosh Agnihotri said it was honored to accept “Global SSL Award for Outstanding Industry Development” 2024. It was a recognition for his contributions to SSL development, and it was truly humbling to be acknowledged alongside such remarkable leaders and innovators.

At Orient Electric, they believed that learning was a continuous journey, and they took pride in fostering an environment where growth and skill developments were encouraged at every level.

The SSL industry had an exciting future with immense potential, and he was excited to be part of its journey.

We would like to congratulate Mr. Santosh Agnihotri being awarded this honor and thank him for his outstanding contribution to the global SSL industry.

Global SSL Award for Outstanding Industry Development

● Accept excellent applications

● Judged by worldwide authoritative experts

● Worldwide circulation and promotion

● Manifest outstanding leadership of people and organizations

ISA would like to invite the interested enterprises, organizations, research institutes and business leaders in the field of SSL to make their application of this award in 2025, with the aim to demonstrate these who made contribution to promote the process of advancing this industry and application, inspire new thinking, encourage the peers, and work together to promote SSL into a new period of development.