Our employees prove our common enthusiasm for light each and every day in many different ways. But the way to Regent Lighting and the personal development within the company are very individual. Discover the history of our talents, who every day contribute their experience to the success of Regent Lighting. 

Employees quotes

Success stories

Beat Koller

Photometry


The accredited and independent Regent test laboratory carries out sophisticated measurements not only for internal customers, but for external customers too. The range of services includes the testing of materials and components, checking conformity to standards, application and safety testing, and photometry.

In the Regent laboratory the luminaires are put through their paces, either with the help of sensitive measuring devices for light spectra or electromagnetic compatibility, in extreme situations such as the impact test or the glowing wire test or through assessment with the expert's critical eye. With customer projects the laboratory team around Beat Koller also provides very special measuring services in the construction project, such as acceptance measurements for escape routes. Hardly anything pleases Beat Koller more than to be able to assist in solving a quality or safety problem. 

"I started work at Regent 1.0 in the year 2000 and we are now at Regent 2.0." Digitisation and developments in lighting technology towards LED are presenting challenges above all to photometry and opening up new, multifaceted research areas. For example, Beat Koller is concerned with the topic of "Light in old age". He is examining what influence the special spectrum of LED light has on the visual behaviour of older people, i.e. how it is perceived with advancing clouding of the lens, which results in an increased light requirement and a higher glare sensitivity. A further topic with which he is currently actively involved is the definition of a new measurement method, the "illuminating surface".

Through his work in important scientific and standardisation committees such as the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation, Beat Koller takes an active part in expert discussions and therefore also has an influence on the development of standards. The Swiss vote even carries the same weight as that of China in the worldwide standardisation committees CIE (International Commission on Illumination), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) or ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation). The standards elaborated here ultimately influence tomorrow's products.

However, Beat Koller is also very well networked outside of his committee work. The basic prerequisites for precise measurement results are the checking and calibration of one's own measuring systems, because external environmental conditions such as the incidence of light or temperature must not have any influence on the measurement. "As head of the laboratory you have a great deal of responsibility and it can sometimes get very lonely. You have to ask yourself all the time whether you are really measuring correctly. The active exchange of information and networking with other laboratories are indispensable in order to compare measuring methods and results", says Beat Koller.

Beat Koller trains up-and-coming light planners in the areas of photometry and emergency lighting at the Swiss Lighting Association (Schweizer Licht Gesellschaft – SLG). For the internal training at the Regent Academy he holds target-group-specific training courses such as training on standards for design. "It's important to me to share my knowledge in order to make the topic of light understandable and to convey to our employees and to users how big a part safety and quality play in lighting", Beat Koller adds, and one can see how important this mission is to him and how it satisfies him.