At Philips, we strive to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation. Our goal is to improve the lives of 3 billion people a year by 2025. We will be the best place to work for people who share our passion. Together we will deliver superior value for our customers and shareholders. Inspired by the fast-growing electricity industry and the promising results of son Gerard’s own experiments to make reliable carbon filaments, in 1891 Frederik Philips financed the purchase of a modest factory in Eindhoven. Their plan? To bring cost-effective, reliable electric incandescent light bulbs to everyone who needed them.Over the years since then, we have continued to improve people’s lives with a steady flow of ground-breaking innovations.Philips began by making carbon-filament lamps and quickly became one of the largest producers in Europe. From the outset, Philips was an export-oriented company. Large orders were won in Russia, including one from the Tsar to light up the Winter Palace. In 1912, Philips became a limited company, with publicly traded shares, listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. With developments in new lighting technology fueling a steady program of expansion, Philips established a research laboratory in 1914 – the world-renowned ‘NatLab’ – to study physical and chemical phenomena and stimulate product innovation.