Light Middle East convention celebrates U.N. International Year of Light in Dubai

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2015 the International Year of Light, and to honor it the Light Middle East exhibition will open this year in Dubai, with a more global focus.

The International Year of Light is intended to raise global awareness of light-based technologies that provide sustainable solutions to worldwide challenges in energy, education, agriculture, communications and health.

Light Middle East, the region’s biggest lighting design and technology expo, is an official sponsor of the U.N. International Year of Light. The exposition took on the sponsorship role to honor the eleventh century Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham, considered to be the father of optics.

The U.N.’s focus on light comes at a perfect time, as 2015 marks the thousand-year anniversary of al-Haytham’s ground-breaking seven volume treatise on optics. The “Father of Optics” was born in 968 in present-day Iraq and was a pioneering thinker who made important contributions to the understanding of vision, optics and light.

Al-Haytham’s ideas influenced European Renaissance scholars that helped bring the continent out of the Dark Ages.

“Ibn al-Haytham is a revolutionary scientist from a thousand years ago whose life and work have been underappreciated, yet they have more relevance today than ever before,” said Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East and organizer of Light Middle East.

Light Middle East 2015 runs Oct. 6 to 8 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center. The exposition is also celebrating an anniversary as this is the convention’s tenth installment.

The three-day event will draw more than 350 exhibitors from 27 countries.