The Luxembourg delegation to CES Las Vegas, the biggest and supposedly most influential tech event in the world, just got back from their trip across the pond. Elodie Trojanowski, co-founder and CEO of Luxfactory and Benoit Mariscal, CFO share some impressions of their time in Las Vegas.
What were your personal highlights/takeaways from CES Las Vegas 2023?
Elodie Trojanowski: CES 2023 was a great success for both the CTA, which produces the annual technology show and the Luxembourg delegation. After two rather timid editions in which Luxfactory only participated digitally, the 2023 edition proved once more to us that the CES deserves its place as the world’s biggest tech event.
CES 2023 ended Jan. 8 with a total attendee count of more than 115,000, exceeding even the most optimistic projections of the CTA, and also welcome more than 3,200 exhibitors, about 1,000 more than last year. Thanks to our partnership with MyGlobalVillage, the members of the Luxembourgish delegation had the chance to attend to master events (French Tech evening) and great speeches (Gary Shapiro, the President of CTA even came to say a few words sharing the stage with our Consul in San Francisco. We can be proud.
Which Luxembourg companies and startups ended up going to Las Vegas?
ET: The Luxembourg delegation counted 21 members. For an event on the other side of the world, it is already a huge success for a new concept. Luxfactory and the Chamber Of Commerce were accompanied by members coming from the public sector like the Ministry of Economy, the CTIE (Centre des Technologies et de information de l’État), Luxinnovation, and some companies like ThePlaceToWish (which had the opportunity to pitch at the Swiss Pavilion) or Garage Losch. Some private investors also took part in this great adventure.
“The CES is definitely an adventure that you should experience at least once in your life.”
Elodie Trojanowski, Co-founder & CEO of Luxfactory
Based on your previous experiences at CES, was there anything that stood out in particular in this edition?
Benoit Mariscal: There was a clear focus on sustainability, energy savings and collaborative businesses and processes. Artificial Intelligence was also considered more and more, regardless of the business, segment or market. This also applied to sectors which are traditionally considered more dependent on human factors or competencies like recruitment, trainings, etc.
What advice do you have for companies which are considering participating in next year’s edition?
BM: The companies willing to participate have to know that they have a unique opportunity to show up and evidence their savoir-faire in these types of events. CES 2024 will certainly be as gigantic as it was in 2023.
Participating companies have to be well prepared and focus their preparation on what makes them unique and differentiates them from others active in the same business segment. They also have to know exactly what they are looking for when participating. What are the objectives and targets of such participation?
Being so prepared requires time and I would strongly recommend volunteering companies to anticipate as much as possible their participation in order to make their presentation or pitches as perfect, exhaustive but concise as possible.
Given how gigantic CES is and how small Luxembourg is, how important is it for Luxembourg companies to continue participating in CES? Would it not be smarter to participate in smaller tech events?
ET: The CES is definitely an adventure that you should experience at least once in your life. It is the only event that brings together so many decision-makers from the world of new technologies. But as Grégoire Yakan said in a recent article and Benoit repeats here, you have to be prepared.
It’s a real buzz of excitement. Luxembourg has been hailed by the CTA and is among the 24 innovation leaders, ranked 11th in the competition. Let’s not be ashamed to face bigger countries. Let us have the courage of our ambitions. We are leaders in the world of innovation, we are present at the CES. This is how it works. I hope that 2024 will allow us to go further with more investments, a larger delegation and perhaps a pavilion. We have nothing to be ashamed of, and on the contrary, to show that despite our size, we are among the best.
