Consumer Electronic Trends: Sustainable, Supportive & Safe Tech | Part 1
Consumer Electronic Trends: IFA 2023
one: Sustainable, Supportive & Safe Tech
Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show IFA (Berlin, September 1-5) welcomed influential launches and a throng of first-time exhibitors (30% of brands), creating space for new perspectives. Electronics are transcending their basic utility to form connected ecosystems for efficient homes and discreet personal support, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
1. Energy eco systems
2. Wellbeing support systems
3. Wearable assistance
Energy saving makes economic & environmental sense
As 80% of consumers want to save energy, and three in four say energy costs are the deciding purchase incentive (Miele, 2023), helping them safeguard against resource scarcity and precarious costs makes business sense. Brands demonstrated their commitment to exponentially increasing the energy efficiency of their products and revolutionising how people power their homes.
Energy Ecosystems: Numerous brands showcased energy ecosystems: holistic solutions for harnessing, distributing and storing energy. South Korean giant LG debuted the Smart Cottage, a physical prototype of a prefabricated house manifesting the brand’s ambition to power the future home with solar energy, connect every device and store excess energy on a grid for later use or neighbourhood distribution.
LG
Wellbeing Support Systems
Our homes are becoming more empathetic spaces, as tech brands integrate features that support health and wellbeing. Created with users of all abilities in mind – and boosted by personalisation and machine learning – electronics are inspiring greater confidence, independence and peace of mind.
Astute AI: In place of preset programmes, IoT and AI are syncing to create electronics that ‘learn’ and respond the more they are used, offering helpful home assistance.
The 2022 show was dominated by cleaning-robot launches. This year, we saw them universally upgraded with smart features that avoid obstacles, such as pets or crawling babies, during cleaning. China’s Ecovacs calls this “reinforcement learning”, as exhibited by its Deebot X2 Omni, which stores information about objects it might encounter in the home to distinguish whether they should be cleaned or not. The appliance is also given a novel square design to tackle infamously challenging corners.
Ecovacs
Ecovacs
Wearable Assistance
This year, we saw new concepts and upgrades for desirable and fashionable wearables that provide discreet support. Also, as Gen Alpha matures, novel products are coming to market with this generation’s safety and mental health in mind.
Design-Led Digital Aids: Brands continue to create accessible products for diverse users with style, sophistication and subtlety in mind. Munich-based Lifestein, for example, describes its eponymous sensor as a “smart gem”. The connected device detects falls and notifies emergency contacts, and its modular design enables converting it from a necklace to a brooch or bracelet to match different outfits.
Lifestein
Lifestein
Lifestein
Key Learnings
Strive for Consumer Savings
Consumers look to brands to help them save energy and reduce household bills. This influences the buying process, but it’s less of a focus once appliances are owned and used (as revealed by Miele’s study). Therefore, energy efficiency must be prioritised in product development, as well as at the point of sale, while post-purchase advice could offer new engagement opportunities.
Anticipate a Self-Sufficient Future
Industry leaders are looking further afield than appliances to consider how homes are powered and run in a holistic grid, transcending their status as electronics manufacturers to become lifestyle brands: LG and Haier are vocal about their ambitions to manage everything from energy generation, storage and distribution to heating, cooling and individual appliances.
Assist with Style & Customisation
Creating supportive wearables that are stylish and adaptable to personal tastes will make users warm to them more easily. See how accessibility start-ups are turning personal-distress buttons and hearing aids into jewellery-like objects that can be worn with confidence. Empower consumers to adapt things to work best for them, as LG does with its new kits.
Prepare for the Next Generation
As Gen Alpha matures, products that deliver streamlined digital services in safe, secure and desirable packages will win favour with parents. Apart from offering connectivity with social-media- and internet-free devices, also consider which fun and creative functionalities currently integrated into phones could be made accessible for kids with products like MyFirst Camera 10.