by Megan Burns, Director - Catalyst
Earlier this month, CES® event hosts, attendees and exhibitors from all over the world, overcame our current global pandemic obstacles to gather at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. And 2 weeks later, in New York, the National Retail Federation (NRF) was able to accomplish the same. Both events, combined, saw more than 140,000 attendees and exhibitors demonstrated perseverance and grit, with significant safety procedures in place, all determined to engage, grow and learn together. Even though not the attendance from previous years, the quality of connections and content often overcomes quantity.
However, despite a pandemic, the Azafran's Catalyst team was right there, front and center, to meet, connect, learn and develop relationships with global strategics, technology and business leaders, tech founders, thought-leaders, and entrepreneurs.
CES®, touted as the most influential technology event in the world, stands for innovators and the promise and power of technology. ‘This year’s CES® keynote speakers showcased global industry leaders and offered insider insights into the technologies changing our industry and our lives.’
Market timing is one of the key components to the success of Azafran’s Catalyst’ especially as we focus on applied deep tech to support MedTech, Robert Ford’s keynote and message hits close to home. He shared how the technology revolution in healthcare empowers patients to improve lives. He passionately shares this critical message, ‘‘convergence of health and tech will empower human lives’. Speaking of timing, how is it that Abbott is the first healthcare company to ever keynote CES?
The time is long overdue. The time is now and Mr. Ford’s presentation is spot on. As is Azafran’s investment technology focus in MedTech. Thank you Robert Ford and the Abbot team for leading Healthcare companies to innovate and lead with technology.
Additional keynote highlights and insights came from GM, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Salesforce, McDonald’s and Target to name a few. CES has graciously shared this valuable content and you can watch it here.
Want more valuable and impactful CES event and technology insights? Politico has compiled the top CES takeaways shared here.
And a special thank you to our voice technology partners Pete Erikson of Modev, Jon Stine, Executive Director of The Open Voice Network and Ian Utile CEO of Attn.live. Azafran Capital Partners was invited and I was honored to join Ian in ‘The State of Voice’ fireside chat as we explored voice and acoustic technology opportunities in 2022 and beyond.
Like our experience at CES, NRF delivered valuable content, a robust selection of exhibitors, and engaging attendees. A highlight for us was NRF's Innovation Lab. sponsored by our friends at Lenovo and hosted by Lenovo’s Head of AI, Andrea Huels. Andrea is an AI Evangelist educating Fortune 500 companies and executives to understand and leverage AI to help make smarter decisions, increase their operational visibility and improve customer experience by removing friction. Her team identifies and works with early-stage voice AI technology companies and their solutions bringing new technology solutions to clients and Lenovo’s ecosystem.
Based on these events and ongoing activities, this synergy is a good indicator of the impact of technology in 2022 and years to come. As we continue to engage the Catalyst network, we’ll continue to share valuable content and takeaways.