The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is being held in Las Vegas from January 7 to 10, 2025. What should we expect from this 57th edition which will bring together all the elite of global tech? Matthieu Deboeuf-Rouchon, head of Capgemini's Innovation center of excellence and author of Consumer Electronics Show survival guide: How to organize, experience and optimize your visit to the world's largest Tech show! knows the CES well. He has already covered it ten times and now supports companies there. 20 Minutes asked him about the evolution of this unmissable innovation event.
Does CES in Las Vegas remain a showcase for manufacturers?
Over the course of its fifty-seven editions, this show has evolved, but remains a sounding board. Historically, this meeting was about cassettes, VCRs, DVDs and Walkmans. But for 15 years, the reality of CES has been to have been able to open with Eureka Park a zone dedicated to start-up. This is undoubtedly what saved him: developing the link between the hardware and the softwareintegrate technological building blocks, connectivity and intelligence into a physical object.
Is French Tech still very active there?
Yes. Between 130 and 150 French start-ups that we support should be present in Las Vegas this year. We ensure that they are packaged with extremely defined objectives, in optimal conditions in the face of global competition. They are trained, clear in their message, but today play in a new category. Yesterday's somewhat “high-tech gadget” vision has been supplanted by today's corporate intelligence, even if the euphoric side of CES remains.
Faced with success stories like those of Withings or Netatmo, certain start-ups that have attended CES have also failed…
Sometimes, at CES, the “sauce” doesn’t work… or the “sauce” is sold! Not all start-ups are intended to become businesses, but may be sold or even merged. This is the very essence of these young shoots.
We also discover projects on their stand that may never see the light of day. We are still waiting for CES to discover “products”, and it is more difficult to imagine a techno brick which will later be deployed in finalized equipment… which we will perhaps see more of , at the IFA show in Berlin!
What will be the major trends at CES 2025?
It is obviously on the side of AI that the focus will be on, but also on AI through digital health, and how this intelligence will impact the world, the individual and the planet in an increasingly society. more connected.
Health, the real filter of this show, will be very oriented towards chronic diseases by spreading in the environment of the connected home, like with pebbles to be placed in our toilets to carry out urine tests. Underlying this is the convergence of AI and other technologies to help us live better, longer.
Beyond that, AI will develop in our interiors, our smart homeswith intelligent equipment, but also an increasingly strong dimension of the individual and their environment.
You are part of the CES Awards jury, what have you already spotted for the general public?
There are a lot of new products or exciting projects, like Powerfoyle, a material that we cut, which generates energy and which can be integrated into a bicycle helmet to provide LED lighting without a battery. Also, the electrically assisted E-Skimo touring skis to facilitate movement in areas with a steep slope. Or Inverse 3, a kind of 3D mouse with haptic feedback, which can be very practical for distance training. There is also the Pocket Rocket bike with its rocket-like appearance, which echoes the needs for sustainable mobility. Or WIRobotic's ultra-mobile exoskeleton.
And I can't help but talk about the Ropet, a sort of little robot to place on a bedside table, an AI assistant in the form of a ball of hair, with which we will interact.
Alexa, OK Google, SIRI, is it already a thing of the past?
No, we must not underestimate what we callApple Effect: or how a large company that has fallen behind can, in six months, regain control thanks to its formidable industrial capacity. This is the exceptional strength of all giants!
Can we “survive” at CES when we are an exhibitor or visitor?
Yes, but with great difficulty! This show remains extremely relevant for exhibiting, announcing and seeking an ultra-interesting sounding board, while until after the end-of-year holidays, the industry is going through a downtime.
For us Europeans, the reality is that there is a 9 hour time difference between France and Las Vegas, when you add up the meetings and meetings. On site, the taxis say that we are nice in tech, but that we work all the time and that we don't have enough fun! For us, CES is a bubble of confinement. We rest from midnight to 3:00 a.m. and the rest of the time, we live in the living room.
We therefore undergo the CES if we have not prepared for it. It is imperative to have created the conditions so that 80% of the program is established in advance, combining meetings and visits. The remaining 20% must be devoted to discovery…
Will technology save the world?
What seems important to me is to consider techno as a means at the service of the human condition, in the broad sense. We will not solve problems without resorting to science and engineering. These reports are necessary to outline tomorrow's solutions.
So no, the little Ropet robot will not change the world, but there are perhaps technologies inside to be integrated into other eco systems. The CES is necessary to create bridges, with a 360° view, to know what we are going to do with it.
