By Lionell Go Macahilig
From January 8 to 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Consumer Electronics Show, more popularly known as CES, fires the opening salvo for another exciting and transformative year in consumer technology. Now celebrating its 50th year, CES remains as the world's largest and most influential consumer tech show where next-generation innovations are unveiled and introduced to the marketplace.
Spearheaded by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the trade association which represents the $398 billion consumer technology industry of the United States, CES serves as an ideal platform where business leaders and pioneering thinkers from different parts of the globe get a chance to collaborate with one another and showcase their products that will set the pace of technological advancements in the months and years to come.
This year, CES is anticipated to be attended by more than 180,000 delegates from 150 countries. Attendees will get a chance to witness innovations from more than 4,500 exhibiting companies, including manufacturers, developers, and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content, technology delivery systems and more. With 11 official venues, CES spans more than 2.5 million net square feet of exhibit space, and features 24 products and more than 20 marketplaces.
At this age of the Internet and social media, the influence of CES is further felt. For instance, from the period of January 7 to 12 last year, CES 2018 received approximately 49 million views of Snapchat Live Story and one million mentions across different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Last year's CES also received a mindboggling 71.7 billion potential media impressions in January 2018 alone.
CES 2019 is geared toward gathering the entire technology ecosystem to solve some of today's most pressing societal challenges, encompassing 5G connectivity, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, smart cities and resilience, sports, robotics, and more. These will be thoroughly discussed in a conference program consisting of more than 250 sessions to be participated by 1,100 speakers. This year's roster of keynote address speakers includes LG Electronics President and Chief Technology Officer Dr. I.P. Park; IBM Chairman, President, and CEO Ginni Rometty; and AMD President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lisa Su.
CES 2019 is set to feature brand new and expanded exhibit areas: NEW RESILIENCE allows visitors to discover how technology keeps the world healthy, safe, powered, fed, and secure. NEW ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS covers analytics, consulting, integration, cybersecurity, ecommerce, and mobile payment. CES SPORTS ZONE explores the latest innovations impacting athletic performance to fan engagement and the business of sports on and off the field. SELF-DRIVING TECHNOLOGY puts you in the driver's seat of autonomous vehicles. C SPACE gives a glimpse of where tech and entertainment converge, and how tech is changing the future of brand marketing and entertainment. SMART CITIES explores how these emerging developments influence policies, transportation, cities and towns, and the entire planet. And there's EUREKA PARK which uncovers 1,200 of the world's most promising tech pioneers at CES's home of startups.
The Manila Bulletin is an official media partner of CES 2019 and its tech news team is in full force for the coverage of this major consumer tech event. Stay tuned for the highlights and sidelights of CES 2019 as the week unfolds by checking out our regular updates on the website at https://technology.mb.com.ph/ and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MBTechNews/.