Advancing Tech

Whether you’re spending time this summer at the beach, the mountains or your favorite city spot — this season always flies by too fast. The best moments for me are soaking up the sun on the beach, enjoying luscious peaches, strawberries and watermelon, and biking, running or kayaking. Although we still have a few lazy days left, soon the pace of business will accelerate for autumn. 

In this issue, we look at the power of NEXTGEN TV that is providing new interactive experiences. We also examine how close we are to achieving the goal of self-driving vehicles and the promise they offer in safety, efficiencies and independence for the elderly and disabled. And for an inspiring take on self-driving vehicles, we highlight the first Indy Autonomous Challenge to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 23 that was announced at CES. Thirty student teams from over 40 universities and 11 countries, will race their Dallara AV-21 race cars 20 laps hoping to win and helping to solve “edge case” scenarios like avoiding obstacles at high speeds while maintaining vehicular control. 

There have been many lessons learned from the pandemic on the rollout of smart cities. Read some of these observations in i3’s C4 column and how the Industry can best move forward. And CTA’s Tiffany Moore recently spoke with Intel’s CDIO Dawn Jones to discuss the important benefits for companies that advance diversity and inclusion including fast-tracking innovation. 

Meanwhile, disrupted supply chains are impacting businesses around the globe, particularly from COVID-19 related problems. Cesar Remis, head of Mexico’s Office for the Implementation of the USMCA, explains how migrating from a cost-efficiency supply chain structure to a more resilient scheme can minimize the risk of future disruptions. He notes that the USMCA are ideal partners to advance the U.S.’ nearshoring and onshoring efforts for supply chain resilience. 

To wrap up, we take a look at America’s favorite products. CTA’s 23rd Annual U.S. Consumer Technology Ownership & Market Potential Study finds 4K UHD TVs and two-in-one notebook PCs saw the largest gains in home ownership. Other products making significant advances over the past year include smart home and connected fitness equipment. I3’s Market Beat column has more details. We want to hear from you, please send comments to cstevens@CTA.tech. in retail strategy. We want to hear from you. Please send comments to: cstevens@CTA.tech.