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ne of the trends I first
O identified at the Consumer Electronics Show( CES) last year was the increase of corporate sponsorship of startups at trade shows. Enter CES 2026. This UFI-certified, Las Vegas-based city-wide event encompassed 13 different venues around the city( 2.6 million square feet / 241,500sqm), 148,000 + people, 4,100 exhibiting companies and brands, which included 1,200 startups, located( mostly) in Eureka Park, level G of the Venetian Expo. It’ s also the largest expo held in the US annually. During January’ s show, Canon, Hyundai / Kia, LG Electronics, Samsung, and the US’ s AARP AgeTech Collaborative all sponsored and showcased proprietary startup pavilions. Their investment included booth space, décor, hosted travel expenses, marketing, and more.
The vocabulary has changed When I enquired if startups were the“ new research & development( R & D) divisions” for their organisations I was told:“ These companies are innovators, not R & D. That’ s such an old-fashioned word – only used for hardware.” Another vocabulary correction was the use of“ Founder”, rather than“ Entrepreneur”, though entrepreneur still gets used by the internationals.
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The models: Cannon Americas Lab had six startups, including two from Japan. These startups were showcasing concepts for feedback( and a bit of marketing) and weren’ t yet commercially ready. Samsung’ s C-Lab is an in-house venture and startup accelerator, divided into three parts: C-Lab Inside, an internal idea and product incubation programme enabling employees to develop their ideas into business outcomes. C-Lab Outside a startup accelerator to support“ competent and promising entrepreneurs outside of Samsung”. C-Lab Family, a collaborative network built to maintain long-term partnerships with startups that have“ graduated from the Outside Lab”, and spinoffs from the Inside Lab. |
Right:
Stephanie Selesnick and Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Technology Association
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Of the 30-35 companies accepted between all the Labs annually, 15 were exhibitors at CES. AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP ®( The American Association of Retired People) was back again with two sizable adjacent spaces( over 12,000 sq. feet, upstairs from Eureka Park). One space featured a stage and seating, plus my favorite interactive experience of the whole expo. It was a self-directed journey sharing how the products exhibited in the AgeTech Collaborative pavilion( across the aisle) will affect the aging population in the future. I thought it was more effective than last year’ s Pickleball Court. It was probably significantly more expensive too.
There were 22 market-ready startups and five enterprise partners in the AgeTech( Aging Technology) pavilion. The AgeTech Collaborative has 221 Startups, 142 investors, 129 business services, 128 enterprises, and 75 test beds( beds in retirement, nursing care facilities, and hospitals for trial runs). Products ranged from wellness and prevention, care management, diagnostics( including a toilet that monitors your health based on personal waste – TMI?), and nutrition.
Selection and mentoring process: The products are from Canon’ s industry sectors they’ re already involved in: AgTech, Materials, Medical /
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28 Issue 1 2026 |
www. exhibitionworld. co. uk |