Ukraine Tech signed on to exhibit in the Eureka Park startup pavilion at CES 2023, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro posted on LinkedIn Wednesday. Some 15 Ukrainian companies made their CES debuts at this year's January show. “Amid significant destruction and tragic loss of life in Ukraine, it's truly inspiring to see Ukraine's tech sector persevere and continue to produce amazing innovations,” Shapiro said. He referenced technology’s power “to not just make our lives more convenient, but also safer and more secure,” saying Ukraine Tech is a “powerful example of that principle in action."

Nominations are open for the CES 2023 “media trailblazers” program, awarding 20 young tech journalists or digital content creators with all-expenses-paid trips Jan. 3-8 for the Las Vegas show, said CTA Tuesday. The program is open to journalists who have been working with their current outlets for three years or less, say the official rules. Sept. 16 is the deadline for nominations, and a “committee of CTA team members” will pick the winning entrants by Oct. 11, said the association.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge will return to CES 2023 Jan. 7, the show’s second to last day, said CTA Monday. The main goal of the competition, limited to CES attendees, is “advancing technology that will speed the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems,” said the association. Transportation will be available to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Convention Center, said CTA.

More than 100,000 attendees helped Leap22 “leapfrog into first place among international technology events” as it wrapped its inaugural four-day run Thursday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said show organizer Informa Friday. Leap22 was “a breakthrough success, attracting the biggest audience for a technology event in recent years, surpassing even CES, and setting a new record for most attendees to a new platform,” said Informa. The show drew more than 700 exhibitors, “including the world's leading technology companies,” plus 1,500 startups and more than 500 international speakers, it said. It plans a 2023 installment Feb. 6-9, also in Riyadh, it said. CES 2022 drew about 2,300 exhibitors and more than 40,000 attendees, said CTA, which didn’t comment Monday on the Leap22 announcement.

COVID-19 booster shots “were not available for most Americans in the US until November and globally their availability was spotty and only in certain countries,” emailed CTA President Gary Shapiro Friday on his association’s rationale for not requiring boosters at CES 2022. He declined to be interviewed and agreed only to take written questions, and only on boosters: “In December, we encouraged boosters and flu shots but did not require either.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded eligibility for boosters to all U.S. adults Nov. 19, about seven weeks before the opening of CES 2022. “CTA made major and precedent setting decisions” on health and safety measures for CES 2022, said Shapiro. “In the summer of 2021 we announced we would require vaccines. I am unaware of any large trade show that had taken that step. We required masking. We widened aisles and took other social distancing and hygienic measures. In December, we announced we would provide free tests for attendees to use before attendees got to the show floor, during the show and prior to international travel.” Despite media reports about COVID-19 infections on the CES 2022 show floor, it’s unknown how many in-person CES 2022 participants tested positive at first-aid stations in the Las Vegas Convention Center and other show venues because the Southern Nevada Health District can’t release data without knowing the names of the licensed vendors that did the tests; CTA won’t identify the vendors, citing contractual agreements (see 2201190003). Shapiro didn't respond to our questions Friday about the rationale for canceling the fourth day of CES 2022, in a decision it attributed to COVID-19 health and safety precautions, plus when that decision was made and with how much notice to exhibitors. CTA announced the decision on New Year’s Eve afternoon, five days before CES 2022 opened.

CTA is canvassing people who registered for CES 2022 but never picked up a badge about their reasons for not attending the show. Respondents who were emailed questionnaires Tuesday were asked to “check all that apply” among nine common reasons for skipping the event, of which one was: “I was concerned about COVID-related issues.”

The in-person IDC analysts breakfast originally planned for Thursday at the Westin Las Vegas during CES 2022 was rescheduled for Jan. 13 and “moved online,” said the research company. Organizers didn’t respond to questions about whether the live event was shelved due to COVID-19 or low CES 2022 attendance. “The last two years have seen dramatic shifts in the way consumers engage with products and services and the companies that provide them,” said an IDC descriptor. The event, now virtual, will “explore what comes next in critical areas such as consumer devices, gaming, online activities and spending, the evolution of business models, and the importance of brand trust,” it said.

Samsung shares with policymakers “the common goal to enhance cybersecurity” but warns that “a prescriptive, fragmented approach” to legislation on ransomware and other cyberthreats would be “problematic,” Eric Tamarkin, director and senior public policy counsel, told a CES 2022 cybersecurity workshop Friday. “We are taking great strides in industry” on cybersecurity, and “the partnership between government and industry is strong,” said Tamarkin. “We are engaging every day with a number of agencies,” including the FCC and Department of Homeland Security, he said. Through a “whole slew of different public-private partnerships, we are in the trenches every day, working on these challenges together,” he said. The U.S. and its allies need to continue to show “leadership in advanced technology as we have since the end of World War II,” said former Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, now managing director of tech investment bank Allen & Co. “One of the things that gives me hope,” said Hurd, “is that despite the political atmosphere in which we’ve been operating for the last couple of years, when it comes to the threat of China, it’s a bipartisan recognition, it’s a bicameral recognition of that issue.” Hurd endorsed CTA’s decision to move forward with CES 2022 amid the rapid spread of COVID-19's omicron variant. “CES is an example of how we have to continue to figure out how to do things in tough situations,” said Hurd. “This is our new normal. We’re going to have to figure out a way to evolve, get better and grow and work together.” He urged the conference audience in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall to “give it up for CES for continuing the show and doing this and having us all out.”

Universal Electronics Inc. unveiled at CES remote control SoCs in its QuickSet portfolio that use exceptionally low-power, energy-harvesting technology, the company announced Thursday. The new SoCs’ processor architecture and memory optimization deliver up to 2.5 times the processing power of current-generation SoCs, allowing for more “power-hungry” features without compromising battery life, it said. The SoCs deliver up to 80% lower power consumption, resulting in battery life up to 10 times longer, depending on remote architecture, it said. The platform supports integrated energy-harvesting circuitry that recovers energy already present in the home, including natural and artificial lights, RF from wireless devices and other energy sources. It also supports various energy storage and charging options with configurable, efficient power management that the company says enables “true self-powering.” UEI sees energy as “the currency for connected devices in the home, effectively eliminating the need to replace batteries in future products,” said UEI Senior Vice President-Product and Technology Arsham Hatambeiki. UEI will offer two products in the family: the UE961, with support for Bluetooth LE connectivity, and the UE962, which adds support for the built-in energy harvesting capabilities. In the next phase, UEI will launch a multiprotocol SoC, adding 802.15.4 compatibility, it said.

Rapid COVID-19 tests like Abbott Labs’ BinaxNOW antigen self-test kits will typify “the future of testing,” said Abbott CEO Robert Ford in a CES 2022 keynote Thursday. “These simple tests will become more widely available to do at home,” he said. “They’re going to talk to our phones. They’re going to communicate with our doctors. The future of decentralized and democratized testing will enable us to have the right test at the right place at the right time, and will give everyone actionable next steps.” Abbott will manufacture more than 70 million BinaxNOW test kits this month, he said. CTA procured an undisclosed volume of BinaxNOW kits for free distribution to CES 2022 audiences at badge pickup locations in Las Vegas (see 2112170033). Health innovation “has certainly taken on a new urgency” since an in-person CES last convened in Las Vegas two years ago, said CTA President Gary Shapiro, introducing Ford to the Venetian Palazzo Ballroom stage before a live audience. “Without incredible innovations in health tech,” including COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, “we just wouldn’t be sitting here together in this room,” said Shapiro. Ford’s big keynote announcement was to tease about a forthcoming “line of products” called Lingo fashioned from the research findings that Abbott compiled when it developed the diabetes monitoring devices now being used by 3.5 million patients, he said. He called Lingo a “new category of consumer biowearable sensors” that Abbott is developing to “track key signals in the body to better understand what it’s telling us.” Lingo will enable the measurement of the body’s “biomarkers” for glucose, lactate, ketone and alcohol for a comprehensive read of “metabolic health,” he said. “Your body is constantly talking to you, and now it’s time to listen.” Abbott will share more details about Lingo products “when we can, and also when and where they will be available,” said Ford.