In June 2010 Professor Dr. Norbert Koubek gave his valedictory lecture. He retired after four decades in the Department of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal. In his lecture Light and its economic consequences as a fundamental phenomenon Professor Dr. Norbert Koubek refers to the innovation theory of Joseph A. Schumpeter and to the model of the so called Kondratieff waves and discusses the economic aspects of light.