CES 2023 Will Focus on More Than Just New Tech

Barring another cataclysmic COVID outbreak, CES will be back in full force this January with a new focus on sustainability and how tech can improve the lives of people worldwide, according to the CEO of the group behind the show. 

The tech industry's largest in-person event, which takes over the Las Vegas Strip each January, is partnering with the World Academy of Art and Science in support of United Nations efforts to advance what it calls "human security" for all people. 

Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which owns and operates CES, said that term encompasses what most Americans think of as human rights, including access to food, health care, clean air and water, along with political and security rights. 

"It's pretty cool, because a lot of the companies, obviously, are focused on sustainability, which is the overall theme," Shapiro told CNET this week.

"But human security, as they call it, and human rights, as we call it, is really important for defining the future and how technology can make a difference in a very positive way."

The upcoming show marks the true comeback for CES after an intense COVID surge scrambled plans for the 2022 conference. Prior to the pandemic, CES had evolved to become one of the world's largest trade shows that reached outside of the traditional big tech and startup arenas. The automotive industry has become such a big player that one could also consider CES to be the largest auto show in North America, Shapiro said.

Food and its growth and production are also expected to take center stage at this year's event, with the CEO of John Deere scheduled to deliver one of its keynote addresses, marking a first for an agricultural company. In prior years, artificial meat from the likes of Impossible Foods headlined the conference. Health care, sports and fitness, metaverse and artificial intelligence companies are expected to be big players at this coming January's event, too.

All of that's on top of the usual lineup of new TVs, laptops and robots.

That could make for an exciting show, but it's unclear how many people will come. After being forced by the pandemic to go virtual in 2021, organizers had planned a big return for January 2022. The major companies and much of the tech media, however, pulled out as COVID surged yet again.  

CTA officials thought long and hard about whether to pull the plug on the 2022 event, Shapiro said.

"It gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, " Shapiro said, pointing to the 1 million people a day who were getting sick in the US at that time.

CES 2022 ultimately drew just 44,000 attendees and was cut short by a day. That compared with 171,000 people in January 2020 before COVID overwhelmed the US in March. Some people did contract COVID at the 2022 show, but the disaster scenario some had worried about didn't emerge, Shapiro said.

While pulling off the show was a challenge, the companies that did go, particularly the smaller ones that depend on CES to drum up business for the year, were grateful that the show did go forward, Shapiro said. Now, with COVID on the decline or flattening in much of the world, the CTA is hopeful that attendance at January's event will again rival those of the past.

While CES won't require masks or vaccinations, it is strongly recommending both. There will be other precautions in place to reduce the risks of COVID and other viruses, including keeping doors open to maximize fresh air and making the venues more of a touchless experience.

For those who can't or chose not to attend, there will be an online option this year for much of the show, just like there was the past two years. With many tech and media companies in the midst of budget cuts, along with still-high costs and inflation, that might appeal to many attendees who previously went in person.

It also prompts the question of whether there's still a place for big, glitzy and expensive events like CES. Shapiro said people were asking that well before the pandemic, but he argued that trade shows offer a unique efficiency, noting that the average CES attendee takes part in 29 meetings while at the show.

There are other, harder to define, benefits, too.

"It's serendipity, discovery," Shapiro said. "You just can't get that online as easily as you can at a trade show."