Neuroscience is a key factor in innovation projects: taking into account human physiological and neurological aspects is extremely important when designing new products, spaces, educational courses, training plans and so on. This is why Neocogita started providing advisory services to companies willing to innovate in different fields and sectors: from architecture to sports, from human resources to all kind of product design and innovation.

The latest project involving Neocogita’s team is a special task light by Rotaliana S.r.l., a light design company, developed with the help of the design studio Habits and currently exhibited at Euroluce 2019 in Milan.

This lamp, called Smart+, integrates IoT, smart lights, sensors, human-centered focus, latest generation LEDs, as well as AI to provide an innovative tool to improve both wellbeing and productivity.

The name Smart+ was chosen not only referring to the high technology level of the lamp, but also to express the mission and concept behind the project. When it is in the “focus” mode, the lamp becomes a support for concentration, that is, the cognitive activity necessary when we have to be productive, decisive or simply executive, whether in the office or at home.

In this technological age, we are often required to hyper-perform and operate at the limit of our potential. However, technology also has to make us aware of the limits of a healthy behaviour. Our mental and physical well-being is essential for long-term productivity. Knowing the inner relationship we have with nature and natural light means knowing and respecting our limits, and therefore weighing our efforts.

Smart+: a special task light to increase well-being and productivity

Smart+ is a dynamic light in its intensity, distribution and colour. And by colour we mean not only its temperature (hot or cold), but also its spectral composition, able to accommodate the variability of circadian effectiveness throughout the day and therefore to respect our biological clock.

Smart+ uses a dual LED source that varies in intensity, emission cone, spectral diagram and therefore color temperature, and not only to capture the dynamism of natural light, but also to identify the different profiles of users and accompany, stimulate and modulate, for each of them, the work of concentration. It is a delicate game of calibration – through data collection and interpretation – and control, for a program of light output that takes into account the distinct needs and propensities.

A dedicated smartphone application, developed by communication company Graffiti 2000, enables a larger register of data and useful reporting indicating usage profile and long-term objectives.

Besides providing neuroscientific background for the project, Neocogita also had the role of collecting and analyzing the results of scientific research dedicated to the study of the biological aspects of the task light, i.e. those responsible for the synchronization of circadian rhythm and other related cycles. Not everyone knows that specific qualitative and quantitative aspects of light regulate not only the release of melatonin, responsible for the wake-sleep cycle, but also determine the release of other hormones, such as cortisol and serotonin, which are involved in regulating our state of alert and good mood. 

Quality lighting must ensure excellent visibility, excite and characterize the space, but above all it must respect our biological clock. Different dosages of light, through alternative paths to those linked to the suppression of melatonin, can indirectly have an effect on specific cognitive tasks.

A new branch of neurophysiological research explores these neuronal processes and assesses their involvement in the stimulation of mental states, in particular the state of vigilance. Investigating and experimenting with new ideas on the market with new ways of illuminating the environment and new interactions with users is an initiative that is also well seen by the research envirnoment.

A true celebration of the human being and his experience of use as well as of design and the lighting product itself, which makes Smart+ perfectly in line with the theme of the Euroluce 2019 exhibition and the current human-centric vision of design.