Tech and the innovation sector have always been strong geopolitical issues, even more so now. Who owns what? Who creates and who uses our data? At CES, these technological issues are truly laid bare for those who know how to observe what is happening in front of and behind the scenes at the show stands. RFI offers you a spotlight that can only be seen in Las Vegas on the globalized world of tech. Unfiltered conversation with expert Florence Sardas from Forvis Mazars.
RFI: What is the reason for your presence at CES?
Florence Sardas, partner and member of the Executive Committee of Forvis Mazars in France in charge of Transformations and Data: Forvis Mazars is an international audit, consulting and tax group, which could seem quite atypical for going to CES because we have no technological innovation to present as such, on the other hand, we have a determination flawlessly in bringing out the champions of tech and innovation. CES, for us, is an opportunity to meet all these startups and major manufacturers to stay up to date, and convey to our ecosystem of partners, customers and collaborators what will look like the world of tomorrow…
What does this world look like?
This is a fairly biased geographical and geopolitical vision, obviously, since it is the vision of innovation and tech at CES. However, I think that beyond that, there are choices that are made, which deserve to be questioned. We have an over-representation, for example, of South Korea, which is particularly interesting. This is an effort by Korean public and private institutions, and I spoke a lot with them yesterday, and in particular with the organizers of their different spaces, because they are really in all the exhibition halls. It’s a deliberate choice that has been in preparation for several years, and therefore it also gives us an orientation on what will happen on the Asian plate, where China is a little more discreet, although we know the power. Concerning the European presence, obviously, I welcome the French pavilion, even if there are fewer of them each year, but concerning the presence of European countries in general, there too I think we have reason to wonder. At a time when Europe and France will host the international summit on AI in a few weeks, we can question the willingness of European nations to come and speak at this type of event.
And on the official stands?
We can only be dizzy when we have an environmental conscience because it is after all a show where the consumable, the disposable, the ephemeral of technological products for which we know that obsolescence will arrive quickly reign. It is also permanent one-upmanship. We went from 4K to 8K! We just manage to reassure ourselves in the pavilions of the tech giants, where we find a speech and commitments which, for me, reassure me about the environment, about green energies. Panasonic’s presentation was particularly impressive on their commitments to environmental responsibility with 100% autonomous factories; we felt that it was sincere and that it was illustrated by concrete actions. Regarding the rest of the show, the North American prism means that I find that there is a certain disconnect with current concerns. I met Data Green, a startup from the French Tech pavilion: they build data centers that are highly optimized in terms of consumption and production. And the entrepreneur explained to me that he had very good growth in Europe, it was going very well. On the other hand, they are unable to penetrate the American market. And he explained to me that in fact, they are only interested in the business model and do not understand our value propositions. There is an education problem. And I found it interesting that he mentioned it like that, because this CES illustrates quite well the gulf in perception between countries.
At the technological level, AI is arriving in products as a new tool?
This is good news because, until now, whether at CES or at Vivatech, there was a lot of talk about it, but we didn’t see much of it. So, that’s it, we see the products. We see super interesting things in many areas of daily life. And when I think about what society this offers us for tomorrow, I tell myself that it gives us a lot of hope, particularly on all issues of longevity and personal assistance. We finally have the agents, in any case the intelligent robots, all the home help solutions which are becoming more and more powerful.
Regarding data, it’s different. I was at Slush in Finland or at Vivatech, and we immediately pitched to you the dimension of the responsibility of the algorithm, of data storage, without necessarily talking to you about the regulations, but really about raising awareness. Here, I have the impression that no one has talked about it. They tell you that they collect all this data, that it’s GPT-powered. For example, regarding pets stuffed with AI, it’s absolutely brilliant and fascinating. They observe, they film, they record absolutely everything that happens in my home, including with my children, without me knowing at all where it goes, how it is handled and what is done with it. Let’s take the example of an educational toy: yesterday, I questioned an entrepreneur about his tiny robot accessible from the age of 3. When I ask him where the stories created with it go, where the data goes, it’s a bit of a blank… And when I ask him about the world he dreams of with this toy, he tells me that it’s great because tomorrow there will be no more school. And here, I think we are going a little too far, and that we need to find the right way to do things.
And regarding Eureka Park, how do you judge the place of France and Europe?
I recommend that you take a look at the (pavilion) of the Netherlands: their orange and navy blue stand is particularly well thought out and, in my opinion, quite offensive. This is the dutch way, their way of life and we love this audacity. For France, it’s very good, but the kiosks are very small, that doesn’t allow for much demonstration. Germany is present, but a little shy, surprisingly, when you know its place. The strength of Europe, more than ever, should nevertheless make sense.
Because South Korea is absolutely stunning. They won 45% of the CES prizes. I filmed them yesterday and they are super nice and help you discover startups in a very fun and fun way. They have nevertheless been in the top 10 of the Bloomberg global innovation index for several years. There is no secret, it is the country that spends the most on R&D in relation to its GDP. So I searched: but what is the secret? In fact, there is no secret. They have not invested in a single sector, but in everything: connected objects, green technology, robotics, intelligent mobility. They knew how to surpass themselves. South Korea was only identified with Samsung, and I’m going to caricature, but still a little “kawaii”, but it’s over. We are no longer in that reality. Today, they have established themselves as a major player, in both form and substance. They are everywhere, all the time, and it is very impressive.