CES 2023 swings between Web 3 and human rights

As major cryptocurrency exchanges like Blockfi and FTX crash in full view of the world, the CES 2023 will have a new space dedicated to what is known as the Web 3.0the potential next generation of the internet based on decentralization and security.

At the same time, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which every year organizes this meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, has decided that one of the central purposes of the event is the relationship between technology and human rights, for which it has affiliated with the World Academy of Arts and Science (WAAS).

“We’re doing this to show how technology can support human security or as we call it: human rights, the right to health, to a clean environment, to water, to food,” said Gary Shapiro, director of the CTA.

In a virtual conference that did not address the state of the consumer technology industry in the face of a very likely recession in 2023, CTA executives emphasized that technologies such as metaversothe networks blockchain and cryptocurrencies will be stellar in the next edition of the event that will take place from January 5 to 8, 2023.

“We are launching a new product category for Web 3.0, spanning technologies like the metaverse, digital assets and blockchain, with both show floor and conference spaces,” said Kinsey Fabrizio, senior vice president of CTA Memberships and Sales, who also revealed that this new category also comes with an alliance with the digital news site on the crypto industry Coindesk to create an interview study with members of the Web 3.0 industry.

The most recent CES edition will host 2,200 technology providers dedicated to industries such as automotivethe entertainmentthe Health and until the agriculture, with John Deere as one of the main participants in recent years. The fair will be 50% larger than in 2022, an edition that was quite limited due to the effects of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Bosch, Google, Amazon, LG, Microsoft and Samsung are among the giants that will have stands at the fair, which will also host the Extreme Tech Challenge, sponsored by the billionaire owner of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, and in which different vertical startups such as digital health, financial technology (fintech), sustainability and Web 3.0 present their ideas in front of a group of judges who will decide if they join a training in which Investors, corporations and mentors will help them raise capital and scale their new ventures.

rodrigo.riquelme@eleconomista.mx