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Members in Focus: DITRA Solutions

DITRA Solutions is a European developer and manufacturer of intelligent lighting control hardware and software, headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal. The company’s origins date back to 2005, and the team includes around 70 specialists working across engineering, software development, project implementation and international markets.

DITRA Solutions became a Regular Member of the TALQ Consortium in July 2026. In September 2026, DITRA Synergy and DITRA Gateway successfully achieved TALQ certification.

Max, what is your role in DITRA Solutions?

Max Fonner, CEO DITRA Solutions

As CEO of DITRA Solutions, my role is very hands-on. I stay closely involved in product development, working with our engineering team on new solutions and improvements, while also keeping a close eye on how the market and customer needs are evolving.

For me, the best way to understand those needs is to stay close to real projects. I regularly work with customers, partners and our teams on site, because this often reveals what a project actually requires beyond the initial brief. With more than 70 products across street, architectural and entertainment lighting, an important part of my role is helping connect those requirements with the right technologies and solutions.

What inspires me most is seeing how these decisions ultimately shape real spaces, making infrastructure smarter, safer and more responsive to the people who use it.

What is the service offer of DITRA Solutions?

DITRA Solutions develops and manufactures lighting control hardware and software for three main areas: street and smart city lighting, architectural and media façade lighting, and entertainment. Our portfolio includes more than 70 products, from luminaire and cabinet controllers, gateways and sensors to architectural and media controllers, converters and other control devices.

We support projects from solution design and product selection through commissioning and ongoing technical support. For cities, our offer goes beyond lighting control. DITRA Synergy is our TALQ-certified Smart City platform designed to bring different parts of urban infrastructure into one environment. It combines street lighting management with asset inventory, maintenance workflows, monitoring and analytics, while open APIs allow integration with other municipal systems and services.

This gives cities the flexibility to start with lighting and gradually expand the same infrastructure into a broader Smart City ecosystem.

Why did your organization joined the TALQ Consortium?

DITRA Solutions shares TALQ’s vision of open standards that enable cities to integrate lighting infrastructure with different systems and solutions. This approach closely aligns with the philosophy behind DITRA Synergy and reflects DITRA Solutions’ commitment to open, interoperable smart city ecosystems.

What are the biggest challenges for smart cities in the next 5 years?

I think Smart Cities will face three major challenges over the next five years.

The first is making sure that the technologies cities invest in today can adapt as their needs and the market evolve. The second is trust. With more technologies and suppliers to choose from, cities need to know that the solutions they select are secure, interoperable and reliable, and that the companies behind them will be able to support these systems over the long term.

The third is proving the real value of Smart City investments. Moving from a successful pilot to a city-wide deployment requires a clear business case and measurable results, whether that means lower energy and maintenance costs, more efficient operations or better services for citizens.

Ultimately, Smart City technology has to solve real problems and deliver benefits that cities can clearly see and measure.

What do you personally like within TALQ?

What I personally like about TALQ is that it turns the idea of openness into something practical. We have always believed that Smart City systems should be able to connect with third-party technologies and evolve over time. This is also how we have developed DITRA Synergy, with an open API for integration with other city systems.

What TALQ adds is a common language between different vendors. Instead of interoperability depending entirely on custom integrations, cities can combine technologies from different suppliers within a standardized framework. For me, that is a very practical way to give cities more flexibility and freedom in how they build their infrastructure.

Your favourite TALQ function?

I do not have one particular favourite. What I find most valuable is how TALQ is growing to cover a wider range of Smart City use cases, making it easier for different systems and technologies to work together as part of one connected urban infrastructure.

And your favorite TALQ moment?

Definitely the moment DITRA Synergy became TALQ-certified. Only 49 days passed between joining the TALQ Consortium and completing the certification, which made it especially memorable for us.

For me, it was a great reflection of how focused and well-coordinated our team can be, and also a strong confirmation that the platform we had already built was aligned with the principles of openness and interoperability that TALQ represents.