Enventys Partners and the USPTO had substantial presence at an active CES 2024
It is amazing to see the diversity of startups, the products they launch, and the unique cultural flavor of the innovation.
BY JEREMY LOSAW
The last time I attended the Consumer Electronics Show—the most popular and widely attended tech event in America—was two years ago. It was ravaged by last-minute pullouts by big tech companies due to COVID concerns.
This year’s show was better than ever: well attended (official count of 135,000), vibrant, and a visual feast for the tech enthusiast. Key takeaways from CES 2024:
Enventys Partners booth
We went big for CES 2024. Our massive 40’ x 20’ booth was at the entrance of the Eureka Park area of the show, perfectly positioned for showgoers to hear about our world-class product development and marketing service.
We shared the booth with three other companies that serve entrepreneurs: Story Box (digital content creation), Easy Ship (All-In-One Shipping Tool for eCommerce), and Retail Bound (agency that launches brands with retailers). The goal was to provide the ultimate resource for those looking to launch and scale their physical product business.
The Enventys Partners team also partnered with Daymond John of “Shark Tank” fame to host a pitch competition. More than 130 entrepreneurs jumped into the pitch booth and did a 90-second pitch for their product. Daymond also stopped by the booth to meet the team and sign a few autographs.
Eureka Park hosts the world
The Eureka Park area of the show, on the ground floor of the Venetian casino, is reserved for startups and university innovations. It has always had a strong international presence, represented this year by companies from France, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Israel, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Thailand. These country-sponsored booths accounted for approximately 75 percent of the floor space in Eureka Park.
It is amazing to see the diversity of startups, the products they launch, and the unique cultural flavor of the innovation.
However, the increase in overseas innovation has significantly reduced the number of domestic exhibitors. When I started going to the show seven years ago, most of the Eureka Park floor were U.S.-based companies. It would be great to see domestic innovation make a comeback in 2025 and beyond.
Innovation trends
One emerging, heartwarming trend to see was the rise of enablement technology (covered elsewhere in this issue). This included devices dedicated to improving the lives of differently abled people—including low-cost prosthetic fingers and haptic devices for blind people to enjoy live sporting events.
These types of devices tend to be overlooked because the markets are smaller than those aimed at the general population, It can be hard to procure funding to develop these devices.
There seemed to be a rise in devices aimed at geriatric care: monitoring devices for elders, belts with airbags to protect hips during falls, and gyroscopic gloves to stabilize hand tremors for Parkinson’s patients.
It was great to see these focuses.
The AI factor
With the rise of AI, there is a blinding number of startups trying to combine AI tech with hardware.
We saw some interesting applications, such as a liquor pouring head that uses AI to predict inventory requirements and calculate usage trends for restaurants. However, AI still seems to be in its infancy in terms of good execution and applications.
USPTO presence
The United States Patent and Trademark Office had a massive booth in Eureka Park to highlight the power of IP in the physical and tech product world, and highlight funding opportunities. The USPTO had an area devoted to startups that had been the beneficiaries of grant funding, and another area to show the subtle difference between real and counterfeit consumer products.
A ton of USPTO staff was on hand to answer questions. I took home some good advice and resources to share for some of my overseas inventors.
Power1
Most years, Enventys Partners has one or more clients exhibiting. This year was no exception.
John Merenda exhibited his Power1 modular phone case for iPhones. His latest phone case design leverages the USBC port of the newest-generation iPhones to create a wireless charging dock for AirPods and Apple Watches. The phone case also has accessories aimed at digital creators, such as a battery bank and external memory, so one can shoot high-resolution video all day.
Enventys Partners has worked with Merenda for about five years on various iterations of the technology. It was great to see him in anticipation of his launch on Kickstarter soon.