CES, the giant annual tech event formerly the Consumer Electronics Show, returns to Las Vegas this week for companies to showcase their innovations in virtual reality, robotics and consumer technology items to the media and others in the industry.
The advances for the press were on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the show will open on Thursday and continue through Sunday. The event is not open to the general public.
The return after the virtual
Organizers say their goal is to attract 100,000 attendees. That would be a stark contrast to the last two shows; For example, last year’s edition attendance fell 70% due to the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. CES 2021 was held virtually, with video broadcasts and chats.
Even if organizers hit their target this year, it would still represent a 41% drop in attendance compared to the 2020 in-person show, before the pandemic hit.
Kinsey Fabrizio, senior vice president of the Consumer Technology Association trade group, said that approximately 3,000 companies have signed up to attend the event.
These include many startups and regular visitors like Amazon and Facebook parent Meta.
more projects
“We have many new companies and projects. Over 1,000 new exhibitors for CES this year, which is on par with previous years.” Fabrizio added.
The metaverse will be a key theme. The expert said that there will be a part dedicated to Web3 technology. “There will also be shared and immersive virtual experiences. Automaker Stellantis and Microsoft have partnered to create a showroom in the metaverse. A company called OVR has created a solution where you can sniff in the metaverse. People are talking about unique ways to reach their customers and different experiences that people can have there. So that will be a big topic between exhibitors big and small,” he added.
