Digital health, streaming technologies key themes for CES 2021

Consumer Technology Association Executive Vice President of CES Karen Chupka, right, and Vice President of Sales and Business Development Brian Moon speak during an online briefing with media outlets in the Asia-Pacific region, Tuesday. / Courtesy of The Hoffman Agency

By Kim Bo-eun

Amid COVID-19, digital health and streaming technologies will be among the key themes of CES 2021, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) which produces the world's largest tech expo.

"One of the most important themes is digital health ― there has been so much new technology that has come to market because of the pandemic," CTA Executive Vice President of CES Karen Chupka said in an online briefing with media outlets in the Asia-Pacific region, Tuesday. She referred to technologies in telemedicine and digital therapeutics.

Chupka also said there will be a focus on new streaming technologies.

"This includes new ways entertainment has come to the market and there will also be sessions looking at education," she said. "Education has shifted so much this past year due to everything that happened from COVID-19 and a lot of technology and products have come out related to that."

Sales and Business Development Vice President Brian Moon noted global electronic companies such as Samsung, LG and Panasonic have seen success with home entertainment, connection and automation in the past year due to the pandemic.

"More consumers at home have helped global brands and this will continue," Moon said. "We will see more of that home entertainment announced at CES 2021."

According to CTA, these will be among the major themes amid COVID-19, along with AI, 5G, transportation, smart cities and contactless technologies.

CES 2021 will be the first CES to be held 100 percent online, running from Jan. 11 to 14.

CTA expects at least 150,000 attendees and over 1,700 exhibitors to take part in the upcoming event. Twenty companies will exhibit product launches.

Major exhibitors for CES 2021 include Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Sony, Lenovo, Hisense and TCL. Non-traditional tech companies such as Caterpillar and Procter & Gamble will also participate.

Startups will join the event as well, and from Korea there will be firms represented by KOTRA and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Interviews with industry leaders will run live from Jan. 11 to 13. CES 2021's keynote lineup includes Verizon's Hans Vestberg, General Motors' Mary Barra, AMD's Dr. Lisa Su, WarnerMedia's Ann Sarnoff, Best Buy's Corie Barry and Walmart's Doug McMillon.

Taking the huge event entirely digital has presented new challenges and opportunities for CTA.

Chupka said the major challenges included "bandwidth and to be able to handle capacity" on such scale. CTA partnered with Microsoft to develop the platform the show will run on.

While the 100 percent online event could dampen the enthusiasm of annual attendees and exhibitors, Chupka noted 2021's event also presents new advantages for participants.

Over 100 conference sessions will take place during CES.

"All CES content will have captioning, translated via AI technologies in 16 languages plus English," the executive vice president said. "It will be the first time CES content will be able to be viewed worldwide by people from all over the world in their language."

Being online will enable greater participation and easier networking, Chupka added.

"The digital aspect allows us to bring new attendees that would have never gotten to visit CES," she said. "Also, for the first time attendees can meet each other via platforms ― you will be able to chat with attendees and exhibitors by setting up instant meetings."

CES 2021 will also keep the show open for 30 days, which will enable attendees and exhibitors to connect and have meetings with each other through Feb. 15.

"Our all-digital CES is going to provide a safe and meaningful way to gather the tech industry," Chupka said.

The following year, they plan for CES 2022 to continue incorporating an online platform.

"We will be bringing a digital portion to CES 2022. We will take what we learned from CES 2021 to figure out how to bring the two worlds together," the executive vice president said, noting in 2022 there will be an expanded convention center in Las Vegas and new transportation.