Silicon Dragon Puts Huawei and Baidu In The CES 2020 Spotlight

In the wake of the U.S.-China tech cold war, large Chinese brands and even long-time China venture investors are noticeably low profile at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas starting early this January. That’s perhaps understandable given the ongoing tensions over China’s rise as a technology innovator, its threat to Silicon Valley dominance and ongoing regulatory issues over Chinese tech investment in the U.S.

But Silicon Dragon is putting two prominent Chinese tech companies in the spotlight to do fireside-style chats at its CES 2020 happy hours event, January 7., 5-7pm.

Executives from Baidu will describe the company’s latest forays beyond search into advertising and sales partnerships to increase awareness of Chinese digital marketers through links to Hollywood and leading social networks. Huawei will be present to discuss how the Chinese telecom giant is developing its own operating systems for smartphones, its roll-out of 5G systems and the impact of U.S.-China conflicts on its business and leadership position. Meanwhile, KPMG‘s global and technology leader Tim Zanni will put it all in perspective with an outlook on disruptive technologies, big tech’s impact,  and hot spots for innovation around the world.

Elsewhere at CES 2020, I’ve managed to unearth quite a few examples of launches and showcases of tech products from the Greater China region. Many of them fall within smart city or smart home devices. Here’s a few that have caught my attention.

From China’s Silicon Valley or Shenzhen comes TV brand Skyworth, which will unveil two smart TV models that combine IoT and AI and put large TV screens a central part of smart homes with interconnected devices and home appliances.

From Taiwan’s innovations in smart tech, we get a peek at four breakthrough startups. Mindtronic offers up a digitalized, advanced driver-assistance system that functions with AI. Ultracker showcases a virtual tour camera for taking ultra-high resolution 360 photos from commercial and interior design photography. Noondoe turns charging stations in parking lots into smart electric vehicle charging locations that can generate additional revenue. CyberLink spotlights its facial recognition engine that spans several applications such as authentication, safety, and data analytics on visitors.

The Hong Kong Science Park is bringing Meridian Innovation, a pioneer in low-cost temperature sensors for smart appliances, to the show. Co-founder Hasan Gadjali will explain how the technology works at Silicon Dragon’s event @CES2020, January 7.  Started just three years ago, Meridian has raised $10 million in venture capital to scale to 25 employees across four locations globally. Several other promising Hong Kong startups will be on hand to strut their stuff.

From Japan, we’ll be seeing three Tokyo-based startups. Aeronext Inc. is a research lab that relies on original center-of-gravity control technology for developing drones and flying robots. FutuRocket will showcase simple, easy AI cameras for small businesses. GROOVE X will display LOVOT, an affectionate family robot. Finally, mui Lab Inc, an IoT startup from Kyoto, will unveil a design interface that borrows calming concepts from Taoism philosophy. This sounds very cool, and will be necessary after days of touring ’round CES.