Game Changer Profile

Hicham Sabir, Open Innovation Leader for North America at Philips Lighting Read insights

Hicham Sabir is the Open Innovation Leader for North America at Philips Lighting. He holds an Engineering Degree from French Engineering School Arts et Métiers and a Master of Science in Applied Physics from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Prior to his current position, Sabir worked in Philips Lighting’s R&D and venture teams to build up Philips’ LED Lamps portfolio, professional systems and connectivity solutions. Sabir says the iconic global brand is responding to a profound disruption – connectivity – not only with leading connected solutions and optimized illumination but also with transformative new business models.

In addition to its market-leading suite of lighting products for both B2B and B2C environments, Philips Lighting offers data-enabled solutions in an extraordinary diversity of applications – from helping building managers optimize their office spaces, to guiding retail shoppers to sale items with game-changing accuracy, to improving safety and livability for smart cities.

“Lighting is ubiquitous,” says Sabir. “It’s everywhere people are. Imagine connecting even a small percentage of this lighting, you will end up with the largest connected IoT network in the physical space. Our ambition for Philips Lighting is to be the lighting company for the Internet of Things, turning light sources into data points to connect more devices, places and people through light.”

Sabir says the company is achieving transformation through a collaborative approach to innovation that includes partnerships with expert vendors in new technologies and use case applications to achieve their maximum potential through lighting infrastructure.

He told BPI that the applications and value emerging from its data-enabled services are such that it is no longer optimal for traditional procurement or lighting executive teams to explore partnerships on their own – because other departments’ stakeholders, from IT and finance to sustainability and marketing, stand to benefit directly from the data-enabled solutions. 

“From our Philips CityTouch connected street lighting solution to the category leader for connected home lighting, Philips Hue,– connectivity is driving innovation use cases throughout the entire Philips Lighting portfolio,” he says.