techUK @ CES 2024 - Day 4 - UK companies building the future of industry

On our fourth and final day at CES 2024, the world's largest technology trade show in Las Vegas, USA, we shift our focus to explore the latest developments in the realms of industry and infrastructure.

While CES often captures headlines for its displays in consumer entertainment and automotive sectors, the show's significance transcends these well-known domains. It serves as a crucial platform for innovators in manufacturing to showcase novel approaches aimed at enhancing efficiency and unveiling new possibilities for potential B2B clients. While these exhibitors may not immediately attract attention like the flashy consumer tech displays, it is within their solutions that industry leaders seek the key to unlocking productivity gains and steering the next phase of economic growth.

As within the consumer technology realm, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning feature prominently within this year’s displays, with a focus on how the rapid progress being made in these emerging technologies can be paired with IoT solutions to enhance efficiency within smart factories and warehouses connected via 5G infrastructure. Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies are being leveraged for training, design, and maintenance purposes, enabled not only by headsets but also ever-more sophisticated haptic technologies that can create the sensation of physical touch.

The show also features new capabilities in robotics and automation, exploring applications such as robotic arms, drones, and autonomous systems for various industrial processes. In particular we are seeing more sophisticated robots that are more capable of navigating complex physical environments. These have applications not only in industry but also within the service industry by serving food and beverages or supporting retail experiences.

With the show regularly occurring one or two months after the latest round of COP, there is always a heavy focus on tech-enabled sustainability, as well as advancements in materials science and more efficient manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing. The aforementioned advancements in robotics also create new possibilities within the environmental space, for example we saw a number of autonomous vehicles capable of water clean-up activities such as green algae removal, as well as several smart solutions for removing microplastics from residential and industrial graywater.

UK Companies Building the Future of Industry

Given the sector’s importance to both economic growth and environmental goals, it’s really encouraging to see many British companies at this year’s CES demonstrating technologies that can contribute to more efficient and sustainable manufacturing and logistics, as well as the connectivity infrastructure needed to enable these advancements.

One of the most interesting new possibilities we’ve seen promoted is the deployment of sound technology to transform materials without physical contact. London-based AcoustoFab are the forefront of this research, demonstrating mid-air ultrasound manipulation capabilities with potential applications within laboratory research, healthcare, manufacturing, and entertainment. Deus Robotics have been pitching efficiency gains to potential clients with their complete warehouse automation solutions, including eye-catching ‘moving robots’ and ‘sorting robots’. Hertfordshire-based Imagination Technologies are at CES to meet with electronics manufacturers that could benefit from their market-leading IP processor solutions, and Matter are tackling the environmental threat of microplastics by offering highly efficient and sustainable filtration to the laundry and textiles industry for onward recycling.

All AI and IoT powered manufacturing innovations are reliant upon effective connectivity infrastructure and network tools, and a number of British companies at CES are active in this space. Canonical Group are showcasing an operating system for public cloud workloads with potential applications to smart gateways, self-driving cars and advanced robots. InFlux Technologies, based in Cambridge, are promoting a Web 3.0 solution to help clients build decentralized applications with increased flexibility, scalability, and censorship resistance.

Finally, great ideas will only get off the ground if they’re able to find investment at the right stages of their development, and we’re pleased to see Etc., the digital startup arm of major British telco BT Group, here to explore potential partnerships.

Meet techUK at CES 2024

If you’d like to connect with techUK about our presence at CES 2024, please get in touch with our Head of Programme for Market Access & Consumer Tech, Lewis Walmesley-Browne at [email protected]

Check out our other posts in this series:

Day One @ CES 2024 - Strong UK presence in Smart Transportation & Mobility

Day Two @ CES 2024 - UK innovation in digital health and wellbeing

Day Three @ CES 2024 - New lifestyle and media tech from UK companies