Johan Lembre

As Chief Technology Officer of Fagerhult Group, Johan combines in-depth technical expertise with a clear vision for the future. He is leading the Group’s strategic shift into an era of smart lighting, where connectivity, sustainability and intelligent environments work together. Johan Lembre is basically building the digital backbone for Fagerhult Group’s future, focusing on connected solutions and resource efficiency as well as driving knowledge development in the market. 

How has your work on smart lighting progressed in 2025? 
During the year, we have taken a number of important steps aimed at strengthening the Group’s offering, in both indoor and outdoor environments. One key milestone was the acquisition of Capelon, which provides us with a solid foundation as regards smart outdoor lighting. With its established customer base, where more than 60 of Sweden’s municipalities are already using Capelon’s solution, we now have a strong platform for continued growth across the Nordic region and the rest of Europe. In order to accelerate skills development within our sales organisation, we have launched a digital training programme that focuses on smart lighting. Several of our brands have now made this a mandatory training element for their sales teams.

We have also assumed an active role in driving open standards, such as Real Estate Core (REC). Open standards, where data can be shared in a structured way, will not only facilitate integration between systems in a building, but also help to demonstrate the benefits of smart lighting. For example, they can provide detailed occupancy data to optimise the energy consumption of different property systems.

What has been key to increasing customer value this year?
An important element has been the further development of our service offering for smart lighting. For large customers with high sustainability ambitions, the potential for smart lighting to contribute to broader efficiency improvements is increasingly being recognised. Services that share occupancy data are providing an entirely new picture of how premises are actually used, leading to energy savings and more efficient property management, such as better control of heating, ventilation and use of the building’s spaces. 

What role do your technology platforms play in developing and scaling smart lighting within the Group?
Through our technology platforms, Organic Response (indoor) and Capelon (outdoor), we are centralising the Group’s expertise in respect of smart lighting in a shared organisation. This is providing us with the strength to build a scalable business model that drives growth and innovation across the entire Group. 

From an innovation perspective, what are you focusing on going forward in order to achieve your goals in the coming years?
We are continuing to work towards our ambition that every luminaire we sell will be able to be connected and have an integrated sensor, providing our customers with full access to the benefits of smart lighting. By integrating smart technology with our luminaires at an early design stage, we are realising this vision. In this respect, new technology in the form of radar sensors will be able to contribute many new possibilities and extend the use of smart lighting to new application areas. 

It will also be key in helping our customers to meet the requirements of the upcoming EU Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD), including through energy reporting and savings. Here, we are already creating measurable benefits for our customers through Organic Response. Outdoors, we are continuing to build on Capelon’s strong position and their open platform, which is not only enabling municipalities and cities to halve their energy costs for lighting, but also to take steps towards smart, connected cities.