Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
CEOs to flock to Las Vegas for CES 2020
By Baek Byung-yeul
Chung Euisun, Hyundai Motor Group executive vice chairman
By Baek Byung-yeul
Business leaders of Samsung, LG, Hyundai, SK, Doosan and other large conglomerates here will leave for Las Vegas in January to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), company officials said Sunday.
The CES, which will be held from Jan. 7 to 10, is arguably the world's largest tech fair. Since its start in 1967, the event has been shaped as a fair that guides the electronics trends.
But, an increasing number of non-traditional tech companies are participating in the CES as the convergence of IT and other industries has been accelerated in recent years, according to the officials.
Not only CEOs of IT giants Samsung and LG, but also leaders from non-IT business groups are joining the show to showcase their cutting-edge products and services and seek new business opportunities.
Park Jeong-won, Doosan Group chairman
“The emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and fifth-generation (5G) networks are no longer a matter of electronics companies thanks to the convergence of IT and non-IT industries. This is why non-traditional IT companies are trying to join the CES fair,” an official from one of the top conglomerates said.
“We can see those technologies being applied to many other products such as vehicles, construction equipment and even furniture. The CES is a great place to show off their new technology-powered products and better understand industry trends.”
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun will attend the forthcoming event. For the leader of the country's largest carmaker, the CES has been a place to reveal his vision of the company and the car industry since 2015.
Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung Electronics president
Hyundai gained attention at CES 2019 as the group unveiled the world's first real-time emotion adaptive driving system, which refers to a technology that enables a vehicle to recognize the driver's biological signals and offer a personalized vehicle cabin space according to the driver's emotional state.
For the 2020 event, Hyundai is scheduled to show off its flying cars, also known as personal air vehicles, in a bid to take the lead in future mobility technology.
SK Group Executive Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won will also attend the event along with CEOs of the group's affiliates such as SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun, SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho and SK hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee. The SK affiliates will set up a booth together and promote their technologies used in the mobility industry.
Kwon Bong-seok, LG Electronics CEO
Park Jeong-won, chairman of Doosan Group, is also scheduled to appear for the first time. The chairman will promote the group's hydrogen fuel cell drones and unmanned technology powered- construction equipment.
CEOs of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics will participate in the show to show off their latest technologies and products.
Kim Hyun-suk, president of Samsung's consumer electronics division, will give a keynote speech at the fair to share the firm's AI strategy and appliances.
Kwon Bong-seok, a newly appointed CEO of LG Electronics, and LG Display CEO Jeong Ho-young will also join the event.
The upcoming CES is expected to feature more than 4,500 companies, which will showcase products and services in numerous topics including 5G, IoT, blockchain, health, robotics, home appliances and self-driving vehicles. More than 170,000 attendees from 160 countries will take part in the show, according to the organizer.