CES 2021: Seven Trends To Watch For At The Virtual Show Where Virtually Anything Is Possible

CES opens on Monday January 11th and courtesy to Covid-19 this year’s show will be a little different than previous years. Instead of the tech exodus to Las Vegas this year we’ll all be sitting in our offices or at home dialing in to enjoy the annual tech-fest virtually.

But what can we expect from the first virtual Consumer Electronic Show and which sectors are going to be the stars of 2021 and beyond? A great indicator of what to expect at CES is the keynote lineup, and this year’s looks even more impressive than previous years, with CEOs from Verizon, General Motors GM , AMD, and Microsoft MSFT , as well as keynote interviews with Best Buy BBY , Mastercard MA , Accenture ACN and Walmart WMT .

Car Makers Talk Transformative Mobility

Once again the automotive industry finds itself front and center at CES, but it’s not all about tech in cars. The automotive industry is trying to navigate their own way through a complete transformation in mobility and the car is just part of the future mobility mix. General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra will present the opening keynote address sharing GM's transformational strategy to advance mobility for communities around the world. Laying the foundation for an all-electric future is just the beginning.

The automotive industry has been the rising star at CES for the last decade. In fact, Las Vegas in January has become a key part of the event calendar for the industry with many companies using the show to debut new products and more importantly new solutions. The automotive industry is dealing with a whole lot of challenging dynamics. The shift to electric and new players like Tesla TSLA and Rivian are just part of the challenging environment they find themselves in. Multimodal mobility, autonomous driving, shared ownership, and smart cities are all changing the role of car makers and they are all looking at transformative solutions to stay relevant. Gone are the days of introducing a new model and hoping for the best.

5G Still A Big Story

We’ve been getting excited about 5G every January for a few years now. It’s been talked about as a game changer for just about every industry. High speeds, huge capacity and zero latency have been touted as the answer to everyone’s connectivity needs. Hans Vestberg is chairman and chief executive officer of Verizon Communications VZ and has been an avid promoter of 5G and a lovely participant at CES for the past three or four years. He, like many, believes that this kind of reliable connectivity will accelerate the adoption of technologies that depend on edge computing and near instant cloud-to-everything communications.

It’s All About The Ecosystem

A clear trend over recent CES events has been the potential and the challenge of the ecosystem play. It doesn't matter if it is for a smart factory or a smart city, a smart home or a smart supply chain, the elements can only truly add value if they are part of a digitally enabled ecosystem that shares data, communicates in real time and allows the user to make better, more informed decisions, faster.

Ecosystems are the glue which holds smart machines together in a smart factory, and smart manufacturers in a smart digital manufacturing ecosystem. Whilst isolated smart devices, products, apps and solutions, are all very impressive, it is the ecosystems, the interconnectivity and the interoperability that truly adds value and possesses the ability to change the way things are designed, made and delivered to the end user.

The Future Is More Autonomous

Robots - of various forms and functions - and autonomous systems will play an increasingly important role in our lives. Autonomous driving has already captured the popular imagination, but autonomous systems will become more pervasive, from drone deliveries to robots that will be able to safely perform a growing range of functions on factory floors.  Advances in autonomous systems have the potential to transform not just our daily experience, but also supply chains and manufacturing. Kathy Winter, VP of Intel’s INTC Autonomous Transportation and Infrastructure Division, will debate these issues with leading representatives of the robotics industry in an aptly named session, “Robotics to the Rescue”.

Humans Centerstage: The Future Of Work, Education and Training

The future of work is another well-established theme that has been transformed and accelerated by the pandemic. Companies have had to learn to manage a larger share of their workforce remotely, to ensure a new level of safety on their factory and office floors, and to train and retrain workers at an even faster pace; meanwhile the education system has had to scramble to make remote learning work. 

This CES will have a session dedicated to new AR, VR and AI solutions that can transform the way we learn. These could accelerate not just school learning, but also training, retraining and upskilling by companies. One of the key lessons of 2020 has been that even as we make fast progress on robotics and AI, humans remain centerstage and a skilled workforce remains essential. 

The Hidden Power Of AI

Some of the most publicized achievements of AI may give the impression that the hype on AI is...well, overly hyped. Should we be so impressed by how quickly an AI can master Go if it cannot then find us a Covid-19 vaccine just as fast? But the truth of course is that AI does a lot of the hard, hidden work that allows some of the most powerful and productivity-enhancing technologies, from autonomous driving to a range of Industry 4.0 innovations. IBM’s IBM CTO Bridget Karlin will speak in a session dedicated to highlighting the multiple ways in which advances in AI are powering progress across a range of new technologies. 

The Evolving Magic Of Supply Chains

The Covid-19 pandemic has been just one of the disruptions that have hit global supply chains in recent years, coming on top of trade wars, geopolitical shocks and natural catastrophes. Companies are now painfully aware that some of these disruptions are here to stay (trade tensions) while others may unfortunately recur, and new ones can never be ruled out. Managing supply chains in a more flexible, adaptable way becomes more essential than ever, both to bring products to consumers and to keep innovation going. Manufacturing platforms can play a key role and have already become an essential element of the landscape. David Gold, President of Hisense USA, has deep experience in supply chain management and will be sharing his insights on stage.

Buckle Up For An Innovation Roller Coaster

This year CES is an innovation in itself - for the first time the entire event has moved online. Can this show of shows deliver the razzmatazz we expect without the lure of Las Vegas? Let’s hope so. What is clear is the world has had to be innovative in 2020 to survive and even thrive in the face of such challenging times. The pandemic has shown the amazing creativity of those involved in design, in engineering, and in manufacturing, and this is their time to shine.