Cigref went for the 4th time to the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. This year, the association took a delegation of some sixty digital executives to this unique event. The seventeen member companies represented were led by Bernard Duverneuil, Chairman of Cigref, and accompanied by Jean-Pierre Corniou, Partner at Sia Partners.
Ahe months following the ESC's return are an opportunity to clarify, give meaning and put into perspective all the observations and information received during the five days of stand visits, conferences, keynotes and exchanges between participants. These reflections allow a better understanding of the event as a whole and to extract from it the structuring and constructive elements for companies and our society.
The Cigref delegation benefited from high-level private presentations by players from a few key sectors, such as Softbank Robotics on the interactions between humans and robots, Orange on 5G, Alibaba on the emergence in France of this Chinese giant. The director of strategy of Samsung Electronics also spoke to the delegation to present the permanent transformation of this large international group.
China and artificial intelligence
Two observations that particularly caught the attention of the Cigref delegation at CES 2018: The impressive rise of China, and the omnipresence of artificial intelligence, almost commonplace in the aisles of the CES. While French Tech occupies a large part of the startup space, and Google's ads invade Las Vegas right up to the monorail, large Chinese companies are now pre-empting the central space, to the detriment of Japanese and former Western champions. Following on from previous editions, autonomous vehicles, connected objects and smart home players were particularly present at CES 2018, and the new space dedicated to the smart city also showed the increase in initiatives and debates in this sector.
