East Meets West: Innovation is Alive at CES Asia 2016

The second annual CES Asia^TM, surpassed last year’s event by all measures and reinforcing the show as the premier platform for launching technology in the Asian marketplace. More than 375 exhibiting companies from 23 countries exhibited across a show floor that spanned 32,000 gross square meters, expanded from two exhibit halls last year to four this year. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, and co-produced by Intex Shanghai, CES Asia 2016 is Asia’s premier technology event and will return to Shanghai June 7-9, 2017.   

“CES Asia 2016 was a resounding success with world-class exhibitors, inspiring speakers, innovative products that will better our world,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association. “It was a true international gathering representing the entirety of our global industry,”

The global technology ecosystem had three days of show-and-tell here this week as the latest in 3D printing, robotics, wearables, drones, vehicle technology, virtual reality, smart home and more was on display. Exhibitor participation increased by 75 percent over the inaugural event and exhibitors represented the global tech industry with 38 percent of participating companies headquartered outside of mainland China. Participation from U.S. companies increased significantly, with 40 U.S.-based companies exhibiting, an increase from 22 companies in 2015. And the show floor is primed for 2017, with 135 companies already signed up to exhibit and more than 65 percent of this year’s space already accounted for, up considerably over last year.
 
“CES Asia allowed me to experience the latest in technology such as drones, connected home devices and a wide variety of VR technology that is being offered by Asian manufacturers,” said Alexandra Harding, director, vendor management, Ingram Micro Consumer Technology Solutions Division. “As these are growing categories, it is important to be able to seek out new opportunities and I was able to accomplish this at the CES Asia show.”

The halls of the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) were bustling with more than 32,000 attendees, up 11 percent from 28,682 attendees in 2015. Numbers for 2016 will be confirmed in the coming months after the show is officially audited by a third-party, independent source. CES Asia draws senior-level buyers, distributors, manufacturers, engineers, product designers, CTOs, CIOs and investment managers from around the world.

“While exhibitor demand for the show’s expansion into four halls made CES Asia bigger, the breadth of people, industries and countries that came together this week made it better,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, CES and corporate business strategy, Consumer Technology Association. “No other show outside of CES brings so many industries together to network, form partnerships and ultimately get business done.”
 
With more than 1,000 members of the media in attendance, CES Asia reaped worldwide media coverage. The show saw the introduction of exciting new products, collaborations and services and expanded the CES exhibitor base, as 57 percent of exhibitors did not exhibit at CES 2016. Major product announcements this week garnering global attention included:

• 360: 360 Intelligent Camera 1080P
• BMW: iFuture concept car
• Garmin: Forerunner 735XT multisport watch
• Intel: Collaborations with Razer’s Razer Blade gaming laptop, Tencent’s TGP box and Lenovo’s smart shoe, in partnership with Vibram.
• JD.com: A new generation of Dingdong AIUI speech recognition along with the DingDong open platform.

New for CES Asia 2016 was Startup Park, a dedicated destination showcasing ground-breaking innovation from 64 startups with exhibitors from China, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and the United States.  

“The experience is overwhelming,” said Tomas Mika, regional sales manager at Woolet, a U.S.-based startup who showcased their smart wallet within Startup Park. “We do sales in the U.S., Europe, and we just wanted to expand to Asia and it has been overwhelmingly awesome…we had just so many people come over and talk to us.”
 
The CES Asia Conference Program featured more than 100 speakers and 50 sessions, including keynotes from top executives from Alibaba and JD.com on the second day of the show and conference sessions discussing drone policy, sustainability and smart home technology.  

During Alibaba’s CES Asia keynote debut, Yin Jing, president of Alibaba Group’s Tmall 3C and Home Appliance Business Unit, introduced their ‘perfect business model,’ which includes buying, sharing, messaging and social. He gave the audience a sneak peek of how Alibaba will help customers shop online in the future with 3D technology. Jing was joined by his colleague, Xiaoming Hu, president of Alibaba Cloud, who emphasized Alibaba’s focus on innovation and showcased the company’s new Internet of Things (IoT) platform, which was unveiled last month. Hu noted, “Alibaba hopes to be an ecosystem accelerator, to connect IoT and everything beyond cloud services.”

Smart technology is indeed driving innovation in the logistics and retail sector, as evidenced by Chen Zhang, CTO of JD.com, who took the keynote stage and said, “JD is not only a retailer, it’s a tech company that utilizes big data, cloud technology and smart hardware business.”  Eric Wang, president of JD.com’s JD Smart division, reiterated JD.com’s emphasis to move from being a retailer to a technology leader. Wang shared the company’s S.O Smart Ecosystem, a collaboration with smart product manufactures to increase value for consumers. “In the past few years, smart business has grown by leaps and bounds,” he said. “The number of interconnected devices will reach 6.4 billion in 2016. We are opening our resources to conventional manufacturers to redefine smart products.”

CES Asia featured all four of China’s top retailers, with Suning and Yihaodian joining Alibaba and JD.com as exhibitors. No other event in the world, including CES, has all major Chinese retailers participating together.

Recognizing Asia as a diverse and unique region, CTA’s Senior Director of Market Research, Steve Koenig, provided insights on technology adoption trends in the region during the Consumer Tech Ownership and Market Potential in Greater China conference session. In terms of early technology adoption, Koenig noted that China was leading the region, followed closely by Vietnam. To encourage growth outside of China, Koenig suggested that technology vendors should consider offerings that are lower priced, provide more features and have the ability to facilitate interpersonal and professional life goals.  

Moderator Doug Johnson, VP, technology policy, CTA chaired a lively discussion during the Drone Policy and Innovation session where panelists addressed the safety applications, technology hurdles, regulatory policy issues and the need for partnerships and collaboration when it comes to building out the drone market. Michael Faro of MOTA, John Linney of Yuneec USA and Jessie Mooberry, humanitarian drone consultant, agreed that governments and societies need to strike the right balance when it comes to rules for drones so that the world can realize the tremendous benefits of the technology. The panelists touted various  ‘real-world’ use cases for drone tech including humanitarian missions, geo-location search and rescue, agricultural surveillance and more as the group agreed that building safeguards into products is one approach to get out ahead of regulation.
 
The content industry came together at CES Asia through three panel sessions focused on advertising in greater China and globalizing Chinese brands, new entertainment platforms and the burgeoning co-production marketplace.

The final day of CES Asia also featured The Best of CES Asia Awards, presented by ZOL. The program focused on breakthrough products that further innovation and technology evolution. The products that took home the top prizes include:

• Best VR Product: PIMAX 4K 
• Best Wearable: Intel/Lenovo F2 Exercise Shoe
• Best Transportation Product: BMW iVision Future Interaction
• Best Connected Home Product: DingDong Smart Speaker
• Best Drone: Yuneec Typhoon
• Best Digital Audio Product: Phillips Fidelio E6
• Best Television Technology: Hisense LT100K7900A
• Best Personal Computing Device: Huawei P9
• Best Startup: Avaz Free Speech and totwoo
• Best Innovation (Disruptive Tech): Shanghai Qingtech Eye Control
• Best Offbeat Product: COWA Robot Suitcase
• Best Maker-Friendly Technology: ITO Film
• People’s Voice Award: Garmin Fenix3
• Best of the Best Award: Intel Realsense

For the latest news and information, including show highlight videos, visit CESAsia.com.

For questions about exhibiting at CES Asia, contact Brian Moon at bmoon@CTA.tech or +1 703-907-4351.
  

About Consumer Technology Association:

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™ is the trade association representing the $287 billion U.S. consumer technology industry. More than 2,200 companies – 80 percent are small businesses and startups; others are among the world’s best known brands – enjoy the benefits of CTA membership including policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. The Consumer Technology Association also owns and produces CES^® – the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA’s industry services. 

About CES Asia:

Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™ and co-produced by Intex Shanghai, CES Asia is the premier event for the consumer technology industry, showcasing the full breadth and depth of the innovation value-chain in the Asian marketplace. Key global businesses come to this new event to grow and reinforce their brand by showcasing the latest products and technologies to consumer tech industry executives, foreign buyers, international media and a limited number of consumers from China. Attendees have exclusive access to some of the largest brands from China and around the world, while celebrating the innovation that defines the consumer technology sector. 

About Intex Shanghai:

Intex Shanghai Co., Ltd is the sub joint venture company of CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade) Shanghai, which started in 1992 and is jointly invested by Shanghai Hongqiao E&T Development Zone United Development Co., Ltd., CCPIT Shanghai and Istithmar P&O Estates FZE. As a prominent producer of tradeshows in China, Intex owns a venue in Shanghai, manages various exhibition venues outside of Shanghai and also organizes and co-organizes 10 international trade shows throughout China. Intex Shanghai is the vice chairman of SCEIA, the Deputy Director of CAEC and the member of UFI and has a stand-out reputation in the domestic exhibition industry. Find Intex Shanghai online at www.intex-sh.com.