CES Asia 2019: Wrap Up

SHANGHAI, CHINA -- After three intensive days, CES Asia 2019 has come to an end. Transformative technologies took over the Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China giving attendees a glimpse of what will revolutionize the Asian marketplace, disrupting industries, and improving lives around the world.

The three-day conference program featured a full schedule with sessions from over 150 executives from global brands including APTIV, IBM China, Mobvoi, Deloitte, WeRide, and SAP.

“At CES Asia 2019 we saw a convergence of industries.” -Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, CTA.

Top executives covered a wide range of topics, including smart mobility, machine learning, digital health, blockchain, artificial intelligence, vehicle technology, virtual reality and augmented reality, and sustainability.

In its fifth year, CES Asia 2019 hosted the largest exhibition floor to date, making it evident that the event has already become the most influential meeting point in order to experience the innovation hitting the Asian market today.  

“At CES Asia 2019 we saw a convergence of industries,” said Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, CTA. “From global tech leaders to fashion, travel and tourism visionaries, it’s clear that tech innovation for the Asian marketplace is accelerating at a lightning speed and spurring new partnerships and growth on a global scale.”

More than 550 companies from across the entire tech ecosystem exhibited at CES Asia. In addition, 115 startups from seven countries presented their disruptive products. Switzerland had a strong presence with over 24 Swiss companies at the show. Japan, Korea, and the United States doubled their presence in comparison with last year. For 2020, many others will double their efforts as well.

“CES Asia 2019 has been very successful for Nu Skin Enterprises. This is our first effort to present our automated controlled environment agriculture technology to the world,” said Brent Petersen, marketing and communications, Nu Skin Enterprises. “Asia is a very important market for Nu Skin, so based on the tremendous success and interest in our products during the show we’ve decided to double our exhibition space for CES Asia 2020.”

“BoCo is changing the future,” said Dr. Zhou Xinhong, CEO, BoCo. “CES Asia provided us the platform to showcase our mission – to use advanced bone conduction technology to build a better relationship between people and sound.”

CES Asia Keynotes: Industry leaders take on innovation

Global industry leaders presented their views and discussed the future of innovation and trends that will redefine the industry. Dr. Chang Huang, co-founder and VP of Horizon Robotics, unveiled Horizon Robotics’ advancements in edge computing and the company’s strategy for future AI applications. Dr. Huang introduced joint optimization and flexible features of the Horizon algorithm, chip, and compiler.

Nobu Ide, president and CEO of Wacom, unveiled the company’s vision for the future of digital ink. Ide showcased innovative solutions in Extended Reality (XR) to enable XR drawing in open and 3D environments. Ide also highlighted the importance of partnerships to empower designers with creative freedom. He made reference to some of Wacom's strategic partnerships including those with Gravity Sketch, Magic Leap, Staedtler, BIC, Leapie, and iFLYTEK.

Wong Hong, president of Greater China and Singapore at Delta Air Lines, talked about the responsibility to envision future technology revolutions in order to keep up with customers’ growing needs. He shared his views at a keynote panel discussion focused on Technology Innovation in Travel and Tourism. The panel was moderated by Michelle Toh, multi-platform editor at CNN.

During the same panel, Helen Huang, president of Greater China at MSC Cruises, highlighted how IoT and AI are paramount to enable broad connectivity and personalization opportunities, allowing companies to optimize services and customer experiences.

CES Asia conference sessions: Technology used to solve global challenges

The Tech4Good: Innovate Locally, Impact Globally panel addressed the potential that technology possesses to solve global challenges. The panel discussion was presented by Citypreneurs, a UN-backed platform for impact-driven innovation.

The panel explored sustainable ventures and frontier technologies aiming to achieve sustainability through strategic partnerships at the smart city level. There was also an Innovation and Sustainability panel, The Power of Diversity, that was presented by Ladies Who Tech. It focused on the role China is playing as an innovation hub.

Experts and visionaries shared their views on the power that the convergence of diversity, innovation, and sustainability has to make the world a better and more sustainable place.

With the lights of the show fading and the exhibitors packing robots, drones, and small urban mobility vehicles into boxes, we left CES Asia.

We left the show with the certainty that despite the endless difficulties we experienced trying to get Wi-Fi due to the Internet blocks in China, we could see first hand that China is a step ahead in technological advancement and consumer technology adoption.  

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