Shahrzad Rafati, Founder & CEO of BroadbandTV, shares her thoughts on CES 2015

Written by Shahrzad Rafati for Vancity Buzz

Drones and wearable technologies were everywhere – we saw drones of all sizes. Hubsan showed everything from its latest H4 Pro drone to its mini offerings, but the wearable technology that stood out most to me was the Visijax LED cycling jacket. A simple yet innovative piece of technology, the safety benefits here are huge. The wearer simply raises their arm to signal and the jacket flashes to clearly show drivers where the cyclist intends to turn. Simple but effective, and it looks great too.

It was exciting to see the smarter wearables incorporating artificial intelligence to make them increasingly adaptive. Wearables are truly moving forward and AI is playing a significant role in their evolution.

The megatrend at this year’s show was the Internet of Things with a whole range of major players vying to connect the growing number of technologies, with smart home technology, and smarter and driverless cars stepping into the spotlight.

A few of my favourites from CES 2015 include the Mercedes-Benz F018 self-driving car, and the Parrot Pot – a smart flower pot that waters your plants for you.

I participated in two panels with major players from the digital content industry and the general consensus was that technology is absolutely crucial to success at scale. Whether you are a small independent content creator, or a major content owner, you need technology to understand and reach your audience and to gain the right viewership, with mega-platforms such as YouTube continuing to innovative and drive the industry forward.

CES continues to evolve and impress, and is always a special event for me because it was here that I had the original idea for BroadbandTV. I don’t see the event slowing down and I hope that a few fresh ideas were born from up-and-coming entrepreneurs that we’ll see on the show floor in the coming years. If you haven’t been to the show yet be sure to check it out!