CES 2020: It Might As Well Stand for Connected Ecosystems Showcase

CES originally stood for “Consumer Electronics Show” but hasn’t gone by that name in years.

That’s all for the best, considering that many of the technologies on display at the annual event–such as AI, robotics, and drones—have just as many business, industrial, and scientific applications as uses in the consumer realm.

Nevertheless, CES’ traditional orientation toward headline-grabbing consumer gadgetry lives on. Even a casual glance at the vendor announcements this week bears that out. For a sense of how much fun the event’s exhibition floor can be, take a gander at these news release headlines from this year’s CES:

• Smart Home Nano Gas Sensors by AerNos to Play a Key Role in Health and Wellness
• CarKitAI’s Roxie Karaoke Car Entertainment Makes Road Trips and Commute Fun Again
• Minelab Returns to CES With Host of Expedition Unknown and Unveil New Treasure Metal Detector
• Konka Debuts LED TV, QLED TV And OLED TV At CES 2020
• Lioness Launches AI Sex Toy, Finalist for Award at CES
• Raising Awareness of Premature Ejaculation, Morari Medical Introduces Wearable Prototype at CES
• HiMirror, Global Beauty Tech Leader, to Showcase Latest Innovations at CES 2020
• Vayyar HOME Gives Any Home or Senior Facility a Holistic Health and Safety Monitoring System Without the Need for Wearables
• Roborock Introduces New Handheld Vacuum, the H6, at CES
• New Weber Connect™ Smart Grilling Hub Turns Any Grill into a Smart Grill
• GE Appliances Reimagines The Home At CES 2020
• AutoPets Introduces Feeder-Robot, a Wi-Fi Enabled Automatic Cat Feeder
• Chefling and Bosch Home Appliances to Unveil the Ultimate Connected Kitchen Experience at CES
• Panasonic Receives UL’s First E-Bike Electrical System Safety Certification
• TCL Unveils New Audio Offerings including a Premium Sound Bar and True Wireless Headphones at CES 2020
• Sony Electronics Announces New 8K LED, 4K OLED and 4K LED Models, with Advanced Picture Quality and Sound Capabilities
• Linksys Unveils The Future Of Wellness And Safety With Advanced Motion Sensing Technology And In-Vehicle Presence Detection At CES 2020
• Belkin And Devialet Join Forces To Unveil A Hi-Fi Smart Speaker With Wireless Charging Capabilities At CES 2020
• Goodix to Showcase the Latest Bluetooth LE Audio Solution for True Wireless Stereo at CES 2020

However, this gadget-happy legacy obscures the fact that CES increasingly focuses on technology industry alliances, partnerships, and other ecosystem-building initiatives. This is evident in the increasing floorspace at the event devoted to gadgets within connected ecosystems such as smart homes, smart cities, and autonomous vehicles. It’s also evident in such news release headlines as the following:

• Amazon Fire TV Introduces Expanded Suite of Features and New Solution Providers for Fire TV Edition Partners
• 2020 CES: Mobileye’s Global Ambitions Take Shape with New Deals in China, South Korea
• Taiwan’s ITM debuts new blockchain attestation solution for Qualcomm and Microsoft’s IoT chipsets at CES 2020
• CEVA Debuts SenslinQ Platform to Streamline Development of Contextually Aware IoT Devices
• Samsara Luggage and Monogoto Partner to Deliver Worldwide Internet Service for Smart Luggage Users
• CloudCar Announces New Partnerships With BYTON EV And Unveils Their Latest Infotainment Cloud Platform, Starting In The New Land Rover Defender At CES 2020
• BlackBerry Collaborating with Amazon Web Services to Demonstrate Safe, Secure, and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Software Platform for In-Vehicle Applications
• Synamedia Joins Pearl TV to Collaborate within the Phoenix Model Market Initiative
• The HDR10+ Ecosystem Makes A Major Leap Forward with Expanded Support
• To Provide a Comprehensive Sports Experience, Happy Island Tech is Gradually Building a Sports Technology Ecosystem
• LG Unveils New Framework For Advancing AI Technology At CES 2020
• Chefling and Bosch Home Appliances to Unveil the Ultimate Connected Kitchen Experience at CES
• Siemens partners with Arm to accelerate the future of mobility by redefining design capabilities for complex electronic systems
• Toyota to Build Prototype City of the Future
• Uber and Hyundai Motor Announce Aerial Ridesharing Partnership, Release New Full-Scale Air Taxi Model at CES
• Tempow Launches Partnership Program for Chipset Manufacturers to Accelerate Adoption of Bluetooth LE Audio

As is clear from this last set of headlines, CES’ increasing emphasis on ecosystems makes it less consumer-focused than in the past and far more geared to “dual-use” technologies that also have commercial applications. The event’s sponsor, the Consumer Technology Association, seems to recognize that shift. That’s evidenced by the fact that the group now describes CES’ focus as “unveiling the next generation of innovation that will redefine industries, create jobs and solve many of society’s challenges.”

In other words, today’s CES is now much more than smartphones, gaming devices, and flatscreen TVs. It has become the pre-eminent event promoting the transformative potential of cloud-to-edge computing in all sectors of the global economy.

But CES is still fun for everybody. As long as CTA continues to run this annual event,  CES’ focus will probably remain on cool edge devices that demo well enough to end up on the “CBS Evening News.”

Futurum Research provides industry research and analysis. These columns are for educational purposes only and should not be considered in any way investment advice.

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Image Credit: Forbes

The original version of this article was first published on Futurum Research.