WIREDGOV

Throughout day one of CES, there has been a significant focus on the potentiality, and indeed the necessity, for tech to play a greater role in addressing key global challenges. 

Leaning into the more progressive tech agenda that has been emerging over the past few years, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has for the first time given CES an annual theme, which is “Human Security For All”. This campaign, developed by CTA alongside the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security and the World Academy of Art and Science, seeks to focus energies on finding technological solutions to seven key human needs, namely food security, access to healthcare, economic security, environmental protection, personal safety & mobility, political freedom, and community security.

This renewed focus is evident across the trade show floor, where we’re seeing companies refocus their narrative so that new innovations and product launches are more likely to highlight use cases that deliver significant societal or environmental benefits. For example, companies developing new AR / VR experiences are emphasising the applicability of their products to improving access to educational opportunities. Those offering smart home solutions are much more likely to focus on how their products can enhance energy efficiency, whereas historically they may have focused on convenience or novelty. IoT and artificial intelligence innovations, that could in theory be used for a very wide range of applications, are often displayed alongside use cases that align with the Human Security For All objectives.

Aside from this overarching theme, a number of product categories or segments are generating a lot of excitement at this year’s CES. The transport and mobility sector is attracting a lot of attention as companies prepare for an “all-EV future”. While the car manufacturers themselves are here, we’re also seeing a lot of booths from companies that are building EV infrastructure (e.g. battery design, charging systems) or those that are partnering with OEMs on autonomous driving solutions. HealthTech is another sector showcasing a lot of new product development, with a range of wearables, sensors and monitors on show. Finally, the gaming sector continues to be strongly represented following its pandemic-driven boom, with more and more gaming companies incorporating elements of the metaverse and Web 3.0 into their offerings.

Spotlight on UK-based companies at CES 2023:

Each day we’re not only sharing insights around key themes and focus areas that are capturing attention on the trade show floor, but also taking the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing products and services on display by UK-based start-ups, scaleups and established tech exporters.

Tech products and services are rarely developed in isolation. More often than not, innovation is often a product of different parts of the tech ecosystem interacting with and building upon one another. 

For example, the development of a new smartphone may involve the integration of hardware components, such as processors and sensors, as well as software applications and services, such as operating systems and cloud storage. The creation of these various components and services often involves different companies, organisations, and individuals working together to bring them to fruition.

Today we’re showcasing some of the UK-based companies at CES that are developing core capabilities that serve as the building blocks for some of the most exciting developments in the tech space:

• Canonical Group is the publisher of Ubuntu, the Operating System (OS) for most public cloud workloads as well as the emerging categories of smart gateways, self-driving cars and advanced robots.

• Humanising Autonomy is developing ethical computer-vision software that understands and predicts human behaviour and can help machine learning systems to make more human-centric decisions. This software has immense capacity to enhance smart vehicles, traffic control, smart home solutions and other automated machines.

• Nyobolt is a Cambridge-based startup addressing one of the main challenges for the electric vehicle sector via their groundbreaking fast-charging battery technologies.

• SLAMcore is developing state-of-the-art localization, mapping and perception software for robots and consumer products, turning sensor data into real-time spatial understanding.

• Wejo Limited, headquartered in Greater Manchester, is the global leader in connected vehicle data providing accurate, unique and reliable smart mobility insights to help revolutionise the way we travel.

• What3words is a well-known British company that provides an easy way to identify precise locations, having mapped the globe and given every 10ft square a unique combination of three random words. They’re here at CES to showcase the applicability of their technology to the automotive sector and other industries requiring precise location data.

Meet techUK at CES 2023

If you’d like to meet with techUK at CES 2023, please get in touch with our Head of Programme for Market Access & Consumer Tech, Lewis Walmesley-Browne at lewis.wbrowne@techuk.org