• CEATEC is Japan’s largest IT and electronics show, now in its 25^th year.
• This year’s theme was “Toward Society 5.0”, with a heavy emphasis on AI.
• The show was jointly hosted with Japan Mobility Week, highlighting the increasing use of ICT technologies in the automotive industry.

Often described as Japan’s equivalent of the Consumer Electronics Show, the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) this year attracted over 800 exhibitors, including most of Japan’s large ICT vendors and an increasing number of startups and foreign companies. While the show is not as big as it was during Japan’s electronics manufacturing heydays, it still attracts over 100,000 visitors every year and much industry and media attention.

Unsurprisingly, AI took center stage at CEATEC 2024, which was held from October 15 to 18 near Tokyo. Using AI, and increasingly GenAI, to automate tasks to address Japan’s population decline and labor shortage was an overarching theme and there were several examples of such tools, particularly for B2B use and metaverse applications.

Japan also promotes ‘Society 5.0’, which it sees as the successor to smart city technology. ‘Society 5.0’ heavily uses IoT to create more efficient infrastructure and government services, something which was heavily featured at the show via a variety of new sensor technology, wearables and software.

Japan’s ambitions to re-emerge as a major player in the semiconductor industry were also palpable with most of the country’s larger players participating in this 25^th edition of the annual trade show. Finally, at the Japan Mobility Week section of the event, most of the country’s automotive manufacturers exhibited their latest solutions for electric- and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Counterpoint Research sent a team of analysts to the event. Some of the exhibits which caught our attention included:

NEC Automated Traffic Accident Detection & Analysis: NEC showcased its latest innovations with GenAI applied to smart city infrastructure. One solution uses an AI-connected camera with an LLM to automatically detect car accidents and then automatically create a report of the incident. The company expects to commercialize the service within one year.

NEC AI Camera Healthcare Analysis: Another innovation highlighted by NEC was its new AI-controlled health monitoring solution. Using only 10 seconds of video, the solution is able to determine a user’s pulse and blood oxygen level among others. It could see widespread use in hospitals and retirement homes.

Source: NEC

Panasonic Refrigerator AI Camera: Panasonic had a large presence at CEATEC this year. One of its featured solutions was a smart refrigerator that uses AI. Using multiple cameras, it can recognize different types of vegetables and can alert consumers when they should be consumed. The current version can distinguish 45 different types of vegetables and comes at a time when the Japanese government is considering legislation to reduce food waste.

Source: Panasonic

Vixion ViXionV1S: The award for the best innovation of CEATEC 2024 went to Japanese startup Vixion, which demonstrated its smart glasses at the show. The device is innovative in that it uses an algorithm to automatically adjust a user’s vision depending on what they are looking at. The company intends to make smart glasses that will be easy to use for those with visual impairments and which will reduce eyestrain due to extensive use.

Source: Vixion

Aroma Bit e-Nose: Japanese startup Aroma Bit displayed its 5Q-SSM (QCM) smell sensor which is able to detect molecules in the air and convert smells into a digital format. These types of sensors could be used, for example, to notify a grocery store when fruits and vegetables have spoiled, or a smartphone user could identify a type of perfume before purchasing it.

Source: Aroma Bit

JVC Kenwood AI-assisted True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earphones: JVC Kenwood demonstrated wireless earphones with a forward-facing camera and AI functionality. In the demonstration, the device, using an LLM, was able to identify an object when the TWS user asked “what is this”. The device is also able to do things like recognizing someone’s face.

JVC Kenwood Brainwave Analyzer: Another innovation from JVC Kenwood was a device that can monitor and analyze brainwaves. The device can measure EEG readings and convert brainwaves into images and video to determine the user’s mental state. Although the technology is still in development, it is expected to have broad applications in the healthcare industry.

TDK Spin Memristor: Most of Japan’s semiconductor manufacturers were present at CEATEC 2024 to demonstrate their latest innovations. There is a huge need to reduce the power consumption for AI usage, especially on devices. Hence, TDK unveiled its spin memristor, which is designed to mimic the synapses of the human brain. The analog memory element uses only 1/100^th of the power of a conventional chip.

Toyota Portable Hydrogen Cartridge: Toyota had a large presence at the Japan Mobility Week section. The company was heavily promoting its recent developments related to hydrogen-powered vehicles. Toyota debuted for the first time in Japan its portable hydrogen cartridges, which work like gasoline cans and are significantly lighter than previous storage solutions to the extent that they can be carried by hand.

Source: Toyota

CalTa Inc. TRANCITY Digital Twin Software: Enabling everyone to create digital twins is a key need for the Society 5.0 concept. TRANCITY released its automated digital twin creation solution at the show. Users are able to create 3D models of cities by simply uploading a video to a web browser.

Source: CalTa Inc

Conclusion

• Japan is clearly making inroads into the B2B IoT space by applying more advanced technologies such as LLMs and advanced sensors to existing solutions.
• The country’s semiconductor industry is also making a big push in the AI space and seems confident that it can mount a comeback in the space.
• The ultimate success of the country’s tech sector depends on to what extent Japan can integrate new technologies such as AI and IoT in the automotive sector.