Philips Simplicity Event 2008, Moscow - Background information

October 15, 2008

In its fourth edition, this year’s Philips Simplicity Event – with the theme ‘Healthy People, Healthy Living, Healthy Planet’ – presents a wide range of new products and solutions that illustrate Philips focus on Health and Well-being.

Philips is also proud to present a new collection of simplicity-led design concepts that embody the brand promise of "sense and simplicity" and give an insight into future product development for a more sustainable world.

Evolution of the Simplicity Event

The first Philips Simplicity Event took place in Paris in 2005, one year after the launch of the ‘sense and simplicity’ brand promise. The Simplicity Event was designed to allow visitors – such as customers, media, government representatives and employees –¬ to experience Philips’ brand promise first hand. At the Simplicity Event, Philips showcases a series of simplicity-led design concepts to communicate a vision of how sense and simplicity could be brought to life in the future. Next to the future-concepts, the Event highlights some of Philips’ current products and services that bring sense and simplicity to life today.

The design concepts featured at the 2005 and 2006 Simplicity Events focused on identifying relevant and meaningful solutions for people within their domestic environment to simplify healthcare and lifestyles. In 2007, the Event broadened this approach to focus on the professional domain and illustrated both existing solutions and concepts in which Philips can help professionals to better ‘Care for people’s well-being’ in both the healthcare and hospitality domains. The 2008 Simplicity Event adds a new dimension of ‘Care for the Planet’ to the theme of Health and Well-being that has been the constant thread of the Event since its inception.

With each consecutive year there is a shift of balance between the number of future-looking simplicity-led design concepts and the current simplicity proofpoints. Whereas the first Simplicity Event primarily focused on the simplicity-led design concepts, at the 2008 Event some 70% of the exhibition will be dedicated to recently launched and upcoming products and solutions that truly represent the brand promise.

Philips Simplicity Event 2008: Sense and Simplicity Now

This year’s Event presents a broadened and dazzling array of recently launched and upcoming products from Philips’ Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting sectors, presented in the real-life environments in which consumers use these products and solutions. Guests will see and experience a variety of settings that bring to life simplicity innovations, through which Philips enables people to be healthy and live a healthy lifestyle while maintaining a sustainable environment.

At the Event, Philips’ solutions will be demonstrated in various environments:

• Hospital
• Hotel
• Light Street
• Fashion Store
• The Office
• Espresso Bar & Healthy Bistro
• Shaving & Grooming Salon
• Dental Care Center
• Sound & Vision
• Personal Gift Shop
• Home Lighting
• Nursery Shop
• Home Care Center

Integrated in this presentation of existing Philips solutions, visitors will also experience the 2008 Simplicity Concept Collection.

The 2008 Concept Collection - Three Key Areas of Exploration

The latest Concept Collection focuses on the theme of this year’s Event: Healthy People, Healthy Living, Healthy Planet’. A healthier environment is essential to everyone’s health and well-being. The collection’s overall aim is to increase people’s daily awareness of and contribution to a better environment. Beyond raising this level of understanding, the concepts explore solutions that deliver both emotional and tangible benefits to those who engage in responsible activities.

For the 2008 Simplicity Event, Philips researched global trends and cultural patterns, identifying the eco-societal challenges of the future and how those challenges will shape consumer living on an everyday level. Philips recognized domains in which the company has the ability to innovate and make a difference for both people and the environment, and selected three themes for exploration as part of the 2008 Concept Collection.

Conscious domestic consumption: Green Cuisine Concept
Through this concept, Philips explores the most pleasurable, engaging and educational ways to sensitize people to their domestic consumption of resources such as water, electricity, gas and even food. In addition, Philips looks to identify the kind of long- and short-term rewards that individuals may gain as a result and the motivations needed to ensure sustained, positive engagement.

Harnessing renewable energy: Light Blossom Concept
The second area in which Philips sees a significant potential for innovation is in harnessing renewable energy. By transforming its appearance throughout the day to collect energy from both sun and wind, the Light Blossom outdoor lighting concept not only provides truly green lighting, but can actually supply power back to the grid.

People would be more aware of energy consumption if they were directly involved in or confronted by the way in which their energy is generated. Through Light Blossom, Philips addresses aesthetic and real experiences to encourage the harnessing of renewable energy, while encouraging the aesthetic and ecological transformation of cities

A responsible consumption of goods: Circle of Life Concept
When shopping, people know what their goods do and that they can be disposed of when they become redundant. Philips is approaching the issue of educating consumers about products’ provenance and lifecycle and deepening the personal value of products through co-creation. The aim is to prevent the indirect production of waste by encouraging consumers to think beyond the use and disposal of goods, and make choices based on the entire chain of the product’s life.

Bringing Simplicity to life Through Design Concepts

As ever, “sense and simplicity” remains the pillar of the Philips design process. This philosophy drives Philips to make its innovations more intuitive to the consumer. This reduces the effort necessary to operate advanced products or systems and enriches the experience associated with more basic functions.

All Philips simplicity-led design concepts meet certain criteria. They answer the needs and aspirations of people and society. They are technologically viable within a three to five year timeframe. And, they demonstrate Philips commitment to improving the quality of people’s lives. Philips simplicity-led design concepts use and anticipate skills across the organization and identify new areas in which Philips has the ability to innovate, demonstrating what the company is capable of now and in the near future.

The concepts are not intended for introduction to the market in exactly the form seen at the Event. Instead, as part of its innovation enrichment strategy, Philips expands insights through the concepts and can apply elements from the concept themes that address market needs. Indeed, certain Philips concepts from past Simplicity Events are now available to consumers in real products.

For example, in 2005, an LED touch-sensitive control that changes the color and ambience of surroundings was showcased; this came to market as the LivingColors lamp that today allows consumers to create different atmospheres at home by projecting 16 million LED colors via a remote color spectrum touch circle. In 2005, Philips presented the ideas of an interaction-based energizing light solution for use in the bedroom, at work and on the move; this inspired the goLITE energizer now available. Also at the Simplicity Event in 2005, Philips brought to life the vision of a kitchen tap that provided healthy water sterilized with UV light, chilled with a cooling system and mineralized with an all-in-one cartridge; today, the Philips Intelligent Water Purifier has been launched for pure and safe drinking water.

The ability to reasonably predict our complex world of tomorrow is essential to achieving simplicity. Brilliant concepts sometimes remain ideas because their scope and potential are not fully explored. For this reason, the Philips Simplicity Event will feature concept demonstrations that enable people to see, touch, feel, taste and hear these ideas. By recreating the concept in a real-time experience with all its benefits and context, Philips can clearly communicate its vision of Healthy People, Healthy Living, Healthy Planet.