From Sony‘s SUV and a fully robotic John Deere tractor, the Consumer Electronics Show, which runs through Saturday, is showcasing the latest technology and innovation. As expected, there are a plethora of gadgets on display, but many of the big tech brands are using CES as a platform to spotlight sustainable initiatives as well as visions for how innovation improves the lives of consumers.
LG Electronics said Wednesday that it is presenting “its vision for an enhanced lifestyle and a better future for all.” Company chief executive officer William Cho is hosting the “LG World Premiere” presentation, which will introduce the company’s “diverse innovations for the new year and detail its continuing efforts to create a more inclusive user experience and sustainable tomorrow.” Pegged “The Better Life You Deserve,” LG’s vision aims to emphasize the company’s “ultimate goal to elevate all aspects of daily life with technological and design innovation.”
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But what does that look like? To start, the initiative centers on offering upgradable appliances where consumers can add on additional features to an appliance without having to buy a whole new one. The upgradable features are also designed to create a more personalized appliance for consumers. Think of it as adding a custom suite of apps to an iPhone.
The appliances include full-size TVs and wireless displays “that go anywhere in the house to deliver the ultimate viewing experience of a traditional TV.” Air care and purification appliances are also being showcased as well as an indoor gardening appliance so home cooks can grow their own greens.
There’s also a sustainability angle to LG’s offerings at CES. The company is touting energy-saving innovations “built into the InstaView refrigerator and its ‘knock twice to see inside’ transparent door” as well as the increased use of recycled materials in packaging. There’s also a reduction in the number of plastic components in LG products.
“Beyond 2022, LG expects to introduce more than 600,000 tons of recycled plastic into its manufacturing processes and increase the recovery of electronic waste to 8 million tons by 2030,” LG noted.
Also on the sustainability front is Panasonic Corp., which unveiled its “Green Impact” initiative. The company describes it as “a commitment to reducing CO2 emissions generated from its own business operations and value chain as well as expanding our contributions to reduce CO2 emissions of society.”
Panasonic Group CEO Yuki Kusumi said first, the company commits to reducing the CO2 emissions “of all operating companies to net-zero by 2030. But as we have seen, we have a far greater emission in the form of electricity consumption by our products. So we will reduce this by developing new technologies and solutions to increase their efficiency.”
Kusumi said in a statement that Panasonic will also reduce the CO2 emissions “of society, through providing our energy-saving solutions and clean energy technologies to business-to-business and business-to-government customers. This is the category called ‘Avoided Emissions,’ the standards of which are being discussed at the International Electrotechnical Commission.” Kusumi said the company will “strengthen our efforts in this area toward 2050, aiming to accelerate the society’s transition to clean energy, which will also accelerate the reduction of CO2 from our own value chain.”
In other tech news, Adyen, the global payments platform, said it has launched mobile Android point of sale terminals in the E.U., the U.K. and the U.S. “The devices represent a fundamental change in the role of the payment terminal, functioning as an all-in-one solution, eliminating the need for separate cash registers, barcode scanners and customer facing displays,” the company said, adding that the terminals come with an app management system that allows merchants “to upload and manage the apps they use every day, for inventory management, loyalty programs, returns and more.”
Adyen said the launch of these multipurpose terminals “will not only reduce the cost of their hardware but also help businesses drastically improve in-person customer experiences.”
Jan-Pieter Lips, head of unified commerce at Adyen, said shoppers increasingly “want to pay for products, tickets or their meal where they are, without standing in lines. Existing mobile POS solutions typically involve multiple pieces of hardware. Our all-in-one Android terminals combine the flexibility of the Android platform with the security of a PCI-certified payment terminal.”
Lips said convenience is key in providing the best customer experiences, “and these terminals help merchants meet that standard. Additionally, the use of these devices allows the merchants we work with to run a lean operational set-up, forgoing the need to install separate systems to make it all work.”