CES 2024 was a Triumph, Catalyzing the Tech Innovation Solving Global Problems

CES 2024 was a triumph! The show delivered a boost of optimism and excitement about the technology that’s changing lives today and paving the way for a better future. With 4300 exhibitors across 2.5 million net square feet – an area larger than the Palace of Versailles, the Louvre Museum, and Buckingham Palace combined – we saw products and services that are delivering on the promise of technology to make our world more sustainable and support fundamental human rights.

More, CES 2024 was truly the world’s most important and most powerful global innovation event. And when I say global, I mean it. More than 40% of our more than 135,000 attendees joined us from outside the United States – a new CES record. I spent most of CES Day 1 in Eureka Park, joining innovators and entrepreneurs at ribbon cuttings to officially kick off the show. While we work hard to keep Eureka Park affordable and accessible to anyone with a great idea, I know that many founders scramble for funding and max out credit cards to take advantage of the once-in-a-year opportunity for exposure and industry connections at CES. That goes double for our startup founders from outside the US, many of whom travel long distances to get to Las Vegas!

I enjoyed walking through the virtual garden at the Netherlands Pavilion with HRH Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau , a huge advocate for Netherlands tech innovation. It was a thrill to see big delegations and amazing new ideas at our European pavilions, as I toured through exhibitors from Italy, Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland. South Korea had a HUGE presence at CES 2024, matched by an intricate and beautifully choreographed opening ceremony. I was moved by the grit and tenacity of the Israeli and Ukrainian pavilions, full of innovators trying to make the world better even amid challenging circumstances.

When I wasn’t cutting ribbons, I spoke so much I worried I might lose my voice – a perennial CES concern. Between meetings with senior leaders from around the globe, media interviews and official welcome events and dinners, it’s not the walking that’s most taxing, it’s the talking! Luckily, I made it through my keynote and all of my keynote introductions with my voice intact, and got to enjoy many of our incredible keynotes.

Our CES 2024 kickoff keynoter, 西门子 CEO Roland Busch , electrified the audience with his vision of smart factories enabled by AI and digitization. He also leaned into a now well-established CES trend: keynote companies touting not just their own great products, but the success of partner organizations and affiliated startups. I especially loved hearing from Easton LaChappelle , the young entrepreneur and founder/CEO of Unlimited Tomorrow , which is creating human arm and hand protheses that could benefit so many.?

L'Oréal CEO Nicolas HIERONIMUS ’ keynote took attendees on a journey through 100,000 years of beauty technology and showed that beauty is for everyone, highlighting technologies like the HAPTA lipstick applicator that helps people with mobility impairments and a commitment to sustainability with a showerhead that has already saved 70 million gallons of water worldwide. I also loved post-show commentary from Guive Balooch , Global Vice President of L'Oréal's Technology Incubator, who declared CES 2024 “the best CES yet,” and shared that the “convergence of AI, IoT and sustainable tech has fueled my optimism for the future.”

HD Hyundai CEO Kisun Chung transformed the keynote stage into a construction site, demonstrating how new AI tools are improving safety, productivity, and sustainability in construction, including through partnerships with Gravis Robotics and Google Cloud .

沃尔玛 CEO Doug McMillon and his team of phenomenal executives presented how Walmart is digitizing for more sustainable operations and a better customer experience. As a first-time exhibitor, Walmart also got kudos from outlets like Gizmodo and Event Marketer for their huge and immersive exhibit space in Central Plaza, which “flew attendees along the entire supply chain.”

In conversation with Alan Murray at our Leaders in Technology Dinner, 百思买 CEO Corie Barry ’s passion for technology shone through as she spoke about the power of tech tools to support independent living and America’s growing health care needs. She also echoed our focus on enabling tech for humanity and emphasized the need for policies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

While I didn’t personally introduce our keynote conversations (featuring 英特尔 CEO Pat Gelsinger , Elevance Health President & CEO Gail K. Boudreaux , 高通 CEO Cristiano R. Amon and Nasdaq Chair & CEO Adena Friedman ), I heard incredible things from the hundreds of thousands of people who watched them live or via the web and social media. (If you missed it, you can watch all of our keynotes and – for the first time ever – ALL of the content from our 250+ conference sessions at videos.ces.tech .) I also want to give a shoutout to the person who DID introduce those keynotes, in addition to joining me onstage for the opening keynote and at ribbon cuttings: SVP for CES and Membership Kinsey Fabrizio . After 15 years’ worth of CES shows, Kinsey knows what it takes to bring a fantastic show to life.

In keynotes and across the show floor, artificial intelligence was the CES 2024 hot topic. CNN release a pre-show piece titled “What to expect at CES 2024: AI, AI and more AI” and WIRED dubbed 2024 “the Year AI Ate Vegas.” Of course, technology innovation isn’t limited to AI advances, despite what you may see in the headlines, but we did see thousands of products across the AI ecosystem.

These include chips and semiconductors – the brains for AI application and advancement – from companies like AMD , 英特尔 and 高通 , AI-enabled TVs from LG电子 and Displace and machine learning, low-code, and no code AI platforms from 英伟达 , MAUM.AI and many more. CES 2024 featured digital twins like 达索系统 ’ virtual replica of the human heart, alongside a huge number of products in health care. (Think Healthplus.ai ’s system to reduce infection risk after surgery or Withings Health Solutions ’ just-launched BeamO AI, which can measure heart health and beam information directly to your doctor.) We also saw applications in growing areas of the show like automotive, with personalized assistants from 宝马 , Mercedez Benz and 大众 , e-commerce and smart home.

But while much of the media coverage did, with good reason, focus on AI, I want to call out some other areas of CES that were especially powerful:

• I was moved to see a huge showing in the accessibility space. The show didn’t just bring together great products and exhibitors, it attracted hundreds of people from the vibrant accessibility community to test them out and offer feedback and advice.
• As we focus on the power of technology to improve lives, health tech exhibitors showed off advances that blew me away. We’re now seeing advances in health care that empower individual people to better understand their own health and help to fill the very real and frankly scary gap in health care professionals facing the US and many other aging countries.
• In automotive and mobility, CES is now very clearly THE show for OEMs, suppliers and in-vehicle systems touching autonomous vehicles, EVs, flying cars/eVTOL, micro-mobility, assistive mobility and more. (I loved seeing the beautiful cars from Honda and Turkish carmaker Togg, along with Supernal’s flying car.)
• C Space – our home for media and entertainment – saw huge growth at CES 2024, so much so that we expanded into the Cosmo hotel. This is a sign both that industry players are increasingly focused on tech innovation, and that they see CES as a premier platform.

Ultimately, the sheer size, presence and level of innovation showed in each of these areas established CES as the most powerful and (in most cases) the largest global gathering place for these individual ecosystems. Plus, in these areas and many more, the exhibits were simply EXCITING. I loved the opportunity to tour through the booths of big exhibitors like Panasonic , Bosch , 索尼 , 三星电子 , LG电子 , 约翰迪尔 , Kubota Corporation , Brunswick Corporation , Hyundai Motor Company (?????) , Kia Worldwide and so many more. Walking across the show floor, the level of excitement was unparalleled, and I heard people describe CES 2024 as the first year where the show felt like it was truly back after a pandemic that moved us to an all-virtual format in 2021 and smaller shows in 2022 and 2023. Certainly, it’s true that this show more than met our goal of making CES the world’s showcase and destination for global innovators and exhibit halls remained busy through all four days of the show.

CES 2024 was also exciting for me personally because it kicked off a year of celebrating the Consumer Technology Association ’s 100th anniversary, dating back to our origins as the Radio Manufacturers Association in 1924. Thanks to the work of our whole staff – both past and present – we’ve put on hugely successful CES shows for more than 50 years. In some ways, CES makes the world smaller – bringing the global tech community together in one place. In others, CES makes it bigger – inspiring us to dream, imagine and create what’s next.

As I told the CTA team when we gathered to toast the close of CES 2024: this show was extraordinary for so many reasons, serving as a catalyst for innovation solving global problems. That’s something everyone – not just our staff, but our exhibitors, attendees, speakers and Las Vegas hosts – should be proud of. Together, we kicked off an incredible year for innovation and technology. Now, onward to our next edition in January 2025!

For more information on the top technology trends and exhibitors at CES 2024, check out the official CES 2024 Trends Report, available beginning Friday, January 26. Armed with CES 2024 Trends Report insights, you'll be better equipped to make informed business decisions, identify where the technology industry is headed, and prepare for new growth opportunities. https://shop.cta.tech/products/ces-2024-trends-report