January 10, 2025 • 18 mins
As CES 2025 draws to a close, join Paul Amadeus Lane for a reflective conversation with Steve Ewell of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation. In this episode of The Tech Zone, they'll discuss the key takeaways from this year's show, focusing on the rising prominence of assistive and adaptive technologies. Steve will share his insights on how CES has evolved to embrace inclusivity and the impact this has on individuals with disabilities. Tune in for a powerful discussion on the future of technology and its potential to create a more accessible world for everyone.
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
In this world of technology, things are ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You need someone to help you out. I know someone
who can.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Come and take a journey with me.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
As we go through the.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Land of technology.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
You'll never be alone.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You'll be with Pall.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm an dance laying in the tech Zone.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Take a little trip with me and hopefully you can
see how the hood, suburbs and mainStreet are all connected
no respect can I mean we network.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Across the globe because it's the global.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Market in case, shoot it and know.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And since we all.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
About information flow, let me be the first one to
welcome you to Tech Zone with Paul Amma Dave Slane.
Let's talk tech because technology changing the game. It's so
good in the hood, it's everywhere. Now let's get into
the show because we yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Hello and welcome to this edition of the Tech Zona
to meet Paul Amadea Slane. Last day here at CEES
twenty twenty five, and it has been a fantastic ride.
We got a chance to see some amazing innovation, talk
to some amazing people and it's one of those conferences
that when you start on day one, you're like, man,
(01:34):
this is pretty awesome, and then you blink and then
it's over and done and it's our last day here.
So what is the best way that we can end
CES and our coverage here is to be joined by
an amazing individual you know who he is, the executive
director of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation, My good friends
(01:55):
to you, yol. I'm gonna welcome him on in one second.
But what has been your I guess the best thing
you've heard about CES twenty twenty five. Did you see
some innovation out there on TikTok on ig on all
social media? If so, share it with us. Let us
know what you saw that was one of those mind
(02:16):
blowing movements, because we want to know. But without any
further delay, let's bring him on right now, my good
friend Steve. You'll the executive director of the Consumer Technology
Association Foundation. Sir Steve, what's going on, buddy?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Hey Paul, It's great to see you, and even better
when I can actually see you in person here. So
we have had an incredible week at CEES twenty twenty five,
and I can't wait to uh, well, I can't wait
to get a little sweep after all this, but I
really can't wait to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
No, Steve, I hear you remember because you and I
talk about maybe five or six times throughout the year virtually,
and to finally see each other face to face, it
is really really awesome. And and Steve, you're like the
hardest working man in the accessibility business. You bring a
lot of us together to talk about some pretty amazing things.
(03:11):
And what is this CEES twenty twenty five been like
for you? What has been some of the takeaways and
what are some things out there you would like for
us to know?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Absolutely well? What I love is the theme around accessibility
and age tech has continued to grow at CEES. We've
seen incredible exhibits across the entire show for that are
talking about accessibility, talking about usability. And then we've seen
the interest in the programs that we've had here at CEES,
(03:41):
things like the fact that we do this accessibility roundtable
that I know you were able to be at at
the beginning of the show this year. You know, this
event started as like half a dozen people sitting around
talking about, you know, what's working with accessibility, what's not.
This year we had over one hundred and twenty people
in the room. So this is just showing the interest
(04:03):
and it was big global brands, it was small startups,
disability advocates from across the entire disability spectrum. So it
really showcases this is an opportunity for us to bring
the world of technology together here at the show, have
incredible discussions and build from that to create the products
(04:24):
that all of us want to use and showcase.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And Steve, I can remember when this wasn't even a
reality for us here and I remember hearing about, you know,
the small group meeting that you would have here to
see where it's at today, we're morphed into this amazing,
thought provoking conversations that we have in our community. Is
pretty pretty amazing. And Steve, to get us where we're
(04:50):
at today, to get all these big groups together, was it?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
What was it challenges to.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Kind of do that?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, it's been I mean I've been at this, just
had my thirteenth anniversary anniversary. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
It's hard to believe it's been thirteen years, but it's
been a a I'd like to say, a slow build,
but it's been a build over time. You know, it's
a matter of we weren't able to just flip the
light switch and make everything happen. But we've been able
(05:19):
to bring in partners, we've been able to build the conversation,
You've been able to help share that conversation out through
your show. But it's been every year we try to
do a little bit more. This year we did far
more than we've ever done at the show, and it's
really catching on. We're seeing companies, and what I love
is it's not the companies that we necessarily have, you know,
(05:42):
we've brought out here and to showcase. It's other companies
that are a show at the show, picking up on
the theme of accessibility in age tech and really running
with it and being able to showcase it. But you know,
we had just several incredible programs this year. I know
we've talked in the past about our Eureka Park Accessibility winners,
(06:03):
and I met with them this morning. All of them
had really incredible stories about you know, deals closed and
opportunities to get in front of different media, different investors,
others along those lines. So I always look forward to
seeing the exciting build of those startups as they continue
to grow. We did two different types of pitch competitions
(06:24):
this year, so I've talked to you in the past
about our big Pitch competition, which this year was focused
on AI and we had nine companies pitching different aspects
of AI and the ways that they could benefit either
older adults or people with disabilities. It was an incredible
show standing room only as always, and you know, we
(06:47):
had a winner Make makes Sense that technology, which has
an incredible basically came for the blind replacement. That was
our grand prize winner. We had a company called sign
Speak that was showcasing their sign language product. So both
(07:08):
of those actually happened to be Eureka Park Accessibility Contest
winners as well, but this is a completely different contest,
but they were the runner up. And then our audience
choice was a company out of Korea called Voynosis that
does a voice technology, so that was really incredible. And
(07:29):
then this year, for the first time, it was kind
of a combination of roundtable and pitch event before the
show started, and it was focused specifically on the intellectual
and developmental disability community. We worked with several different organizations
around the country, but here in Las Vegas we worked
with Opportunity Village, which is a great nonprofit that works
(07:53):
with the idd community. So they brought a number of
their members over to the show, met with several different
companies that were our finalists, and then four of those
companies pitched and we have a company called on Screen
that walked away with the grand prize there and a
company called map Habit that got the runner up prize.
So you know, once again it's all about you know,
building those connections to the community and then ultimately what
(08:16):
those will lead to as far as you know, getting
these products out there, you know, continuing to improve. And
I can't wait to see how some of these companies
that participated in that take the feedback from the I
d D community and continue to make their products better.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
And Steve, that's what it's all about, putting these amazing
companies in front of the tech world and and ones
who can really give them some constructive feedback into too,
making their their innovation truly something that can be used
by by by the community. And Steve, one thing that
I thought was fascinating too this year, all the accessibility talks.
(08:59):
The sets was on opening day which was Tuesday. That
was pretty awesome. Well, tell us about the mindset of
the the conference advisory board team that which I am
a part of, but I had nothing to do with
putting everything on that on the first day, but but
that was pretty amazing to give spotlight to the accessibility community.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Well, I was going to give you all the credit.
I assumed that was you that did that. Now, we
have an incredible conference team at CTA that puts together
you know, everything from the keynotes that we had here
that really kind of raised the bar this year, along
with all the different other panels and sessions that happened
throughout the week, so you know, they really wanted to
(09:45):
look at how we could best highlight the you know,
the accessibility tracks. We had more panels this year around
accessibility than I think we've ever had, and from what
I've heard, they've been really well attended. I'll admit that's
the one challenge is haven't had a chance to sit
in on any of them yet. But good news, they're
all recorded, they're all going to be up on the
(10:05):
CEES website. So once I get home, I'm looking forward
to catching up on a lot of great sessions. Yeah
that's me too, Steve.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
You know, broadcasting from here, it's kind of hard to
get out and see the show floor, but we saw
a little bit of it and later on the day,
we're gonna go check out some pretty cool accessibility tech
out there and to give a shout out to the community.
And Steve, what what's been kind of like your your
biggest takeaway from this SEES twenty twenty five. Was there
a moment, Was there something that you witnessed to kind
(10:35):
of give you that affirmation to say, hey, we're on
the right track when it comes to highlighting accessibility for
the assistive and adaptive technology and also the Asian adult
population and the disabled population as well.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, you know, this might seem like a little bit
of a strange, it's just a vibe, Like I really
just am getting an incredible positive vibe from people across
the entire show. You know, I'm talking to vendors and
exhibitors and they're really saying, how good of a show
that they're having, and you know, the number of connections
(11:08):
and the number of stories that get they're getting ridden
about their products. So we're hearing a lot of really
good things about that. And then actually last night, so
we have several different leaders from different disability organizations that
come to the show, and we had a dinner with
them last night and they were just raving about some
(11:30):
of the technologies that they were able to see on
the show floor. So several of them have been multiple times.
So that's the other thing that I like to look
at is Okay, you've been you know, four times. How
has it changed, how has it improved. I'm not saying
we're perfect as far as accessibility goes. There's a lot
more we can do. There's a lot more we can cover,
(11:50):
but you know, seeing that continual progress that we can
make in this space. So yeah, I'm just I'm getting
a lot of positive feedback, you know, knock on wood.
We got one day left to continue that. But things
are looking really really positive here this year.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, that's that's great news. Always positive when once come
back to see the progress that has been made and
give you that give you that feedback when it comes
to accessibility and Steve, But before before we ditch you
go and wrap this all up, is there anything else
that you can tell us about the foundation? What's going
on that we can look forward to when it comes
(12:25):
to twenty twenty five and and what do you see
as some potential roadblocks to maybe some of the progress
that we have made and accessibility? Do you see those
out there and them, So how can the community, how
can the tech world, how can the media really just
work together to make sure that we're continuing that that
laser focus to their goal.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, and I appreciate you asking that. So I think
many of your audience know. But the CTA Foundation is
the charitable arm of the CTA, the group behind CEES,
and we're focused in on how technology can improve the
lives of older adults and people with disabilities. So we're
excited for the opportunities in twenty twenty five. As with
(13:04):
any time there's changes in administration and things along those lines,
we're keeping an eye on that and seeing where there's
opportunities for philanthropy to get engaged, where there's opportunities for
us to continue to work with both the industry and
the advocates to make sure that those products are reaching
the people in need. We are deep in our grant
(13:25):
cycle right now, so we're going to be watching some
new organizations that we'll be able to support later the spring.
So I can't wait to share those and ways that
we can fund nonprofits that are really making a difference
in the need of the community. One of the other
things we did here at CES and we've been doing
this for a couple of years. Is what we call
(13:45):
our funders Tour, and this is other foundations that mostly
we work with the grant makers in aging, so a
lot of the foundations are focused on the aging side
of our mission, but they come out every year and
have a chance to see some of the trends technology
because they may, you know, they're not vcs, they're not
investing necessarily directly in the companies, but by knowing what's
(14:08):
going on in technology, you're able to whether you're interested
in food, housing, you know, social isolation, other issues that
you know so much a philanthropy needs focus in on.
Knowing what's going on in the tech world is just
critical to being more effective. Being more efficient, so we're
trying to build up a stronger coalition in that space,
(14:29):
find ways we can partner better across different foundations and
other types of funders as well. I'd just say if
any of your audience is interested in learning more about
the work that we're doing, they can look for us
at CTA Foundation, dot tech it's dot T E c H,
or look us up on all the various social media's.
(14:51):
We're probably most prevalent on LinkedIn, but we've got a
presence on most, if not all of them, so you know,
encourage people to follow us and we'll certainly be promoting
all the great work that's going on out there.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Steve. One thing I appreciate you about you is your
yeah humility. I know at our round table that we have,
you know, someone will stand up and be like, hey,
you'd like to give a shout out to our good
friend Steve, You'll and Steve, you will switch, you will
switch that subject real quick and pointed to another direction. Somebody.
I appreciate all your humility that you have. But really, man,
you know, you do a lot for our community and
(15:28):
you open up so many conversations when it comes to
a system and adaptive technologies for the aging and adult
population and the disabled community that we really appreciate what
you do.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Man, well, I appreciate that now. I'm I'm a big believer.
You put a bunch of smart people in a room
with a challenge, and it's incredible what comes out of that.
And my main goal. Everyone's asked me, you know what
is you know, are we writing white papers? Are we
solving you know, world peace and all that kind of
stuff in some of these sessions. And while I'd love
to solve world peace and that, uh, you know, my
(16:00):
main goal with a lot of these is just to
get you know, person A to meet person B, because
that way, next time there's an issue, they can go
directly to each other. They can work it out. How
we can build better partnerships, how we can better work together.
You know, whether we're in you know, industry, advocacy, you know,
support services, philanthropy, media and across the board. There's so
(16:24):
much that we can do together. And you know, now
is really a time that we as a have to
come together.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
So I appreciate you the word and spreading it. You know,
that's really critical word out about the works of these
issues to the robertect world.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Now. I appreciate Steve, and again, thank you so much
for helping me level up a lot in my career
and my side hustle as an accessibility consultant and and
really being able to use my voice you know when
it comes to change and everything has really been an
amazing ride. So Steve, do me a favor of my friends,
Stay healthy, stay safe, and look forward to catching up
and we'll we'll talk talk more about CTA Foundation CES
(17:03):
and get your view after you get a chance to
watch all the different panels that was here and get
your feedback into what you thought about. You know where
the conversation is going as well.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Well. I appreciate you having me on and I look
forward to many many future conversations with you. So thank you.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That sounds good. That is my good friend, Steve Yule,
the executive director of the Consumer Technology Association. You see
how I did that the highest greed declaration flow and
that's what I did. Thank you all so much for
tuning in to our coverage here at CES twenty twenty five.
It's really been amazing. Thank you so much for giving
(17:42):
us your feedback on a lot of our segments, and
we look forward to talking to you more about tech.
So stay healthy, stay safe, and remember I love you
all the life. Take care.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Everyone in this world of technology is ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
You need someone to help you out.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
I know someone to have to be alone, You'll be
with I'm gonna gay slaying in the text Zone
In this world of technology, things are ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You need someone to help you out. I know someone
who can.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Come and take a journey with me.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
As we go through the.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Land of technology.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
You'll never be alone.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You'll be with Pall.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm an dance laying in the tech Zone.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Take a little trip with me and hopefully you can
see how the hood, suburbs and mainStreet are all connected
no respect can I mean we network.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Across the globe because it's the global.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Market in case, shoot it and know.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And since we all.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
About information flow, let me be the first one to
welcome you to Tech Zone with Paul Amma Dave Slane.
Let's talk tech because technology changing the game. It's so
good in the hood, it's everywhere. Now let's get into
the show because we yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Hello and welcome to this edition of the Tech Zona
to meet Paul Amadea Slane. Last day here at CEES
twenty twenty five, and it has been a fantastic ride.
We got a chance to see some amazing innovation, talk
to some amazing people and it's one of those conferences
that when you start on day one, you're like, man,
(01:34):
this is pretty awesome, and then you blink and then
it's over and done and it's our last day here.
So what is the best way that we can end
CES and our coverage here is to be joined by
an amazing individual you know who he is, the executive
director of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation, My good friends
(01:55):
to you, yol. I'm gonna welcome him on in one second.
But what has been your I guess the best thing
you've heard about CES twenty twenty five. Did you see
some innovation out there on TikTok on ig on all
social media? If so, share it with us. Let us
know what you saw that was one of those mind
(02:16):
blowing movements, because we want to know. But without any
further delay, let's bring him on right now, my good
friend Steve. You'll the executive director of the Consumer Technology
Association Foundation. Sir Steve, what's going on, buddy?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Hey Paul, It's great to see you, and even better
when I can actually see you in person here. So
we have had an incredible week at CEES twenty twenty five,
and I can't wait to uh, well, I can't wait
to get a little sweep after all this, but I
really can't wait to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
No, Steve, I hear you remember because you and I
talk about maybe five or six times throughout the year virtually,
and to finally see each other face to face, it
is really really awesome. And and Steve, you're like the
hardest working man in the accessibility business. You bring a
lot of us together to talk about some pretty amazing things.
(03:11):
And what is this CEES twenty twenty five been like
for you? What has been some of the takeaways and
what are some things out there you would like for
us to know?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Absolutely well? What I love is the theme around accessibility
and age tech has continued to grow at CEES. We've
seen incredible exhibits across the entire show for that are
talking about accessibility, talking about usability. And then we've seen
the interest in the programs that we've had here at CEES,
(03:41):
things like the fact that we do this accessibility roundtable
that I know you were able to be at at
the beginning of the show this year. You know, this
event started as like half a dozen people sitting around
talking about, you know, what's working with accessibility, what's not.
This year we had over one hundred and twenty people
in the room. So this is just showing the interest
(04:03):
and it was big global brands, it was small startups,
disability advocates from across the entire disability spectrum. So it
really showcases this is an opportunity for us to bring
the world of technology together here at the show, have
incredible discussions and build from that to create the products
(04:24):
that all of us want to use and showcase.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And Steve, I can remember when this wasn't even a
reality for us here and I remember hearing about, you know,
the small group meeting that you would have here to
see where it's at today, we're morphed into this amazing,
thought provoking conversations that we have in our community. Is
pretty pretty amazing. And Steve, to get us where we're
(04:50):
at today, to get all these big groups together, was it?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
What was it challenges to.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Kind of do that?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, it's been I mean I've been at this, just
had my thirteenth anniversary anniversary. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
It's hard to believe it's been thirteen years, but it's
been a a I'd like to say, a slow build,
but it's been a build over time. You know, it's
a matter of we weren't able to just flip the
light switch and make everything happen. But we've been able
(05:19):
to bring in partners, we've been able to build the conversation,
You've been able to help share that conversation out through
your show. But it's been every year we try to
do a little bit more. This year we did far
more than we've ever done at the show, and it's
really catching on. We're seeing companies, and what I love
is it's not the companies that we necessarily have, you know,
(05:42):
we've brought out here and to showcase. It's other companies
that are a show at the show, picking up on
the theme of accessibility in age tech and really running
with it and being able to showcase it. But you know,
we had just several incredible programs this year. I know
we've talked in the past about our Eureka Park Accessibility winners,
(06:03):
and I met with them this morning. All of them
had really incredible stories about you know, deals closed and
opportunities to get in front of different media, different investors,
others along those lines. So I always look forward to
seeing the exciting build of those startups as they continue
to grow. We did two different types of pitch competitions
(06:24):
this year, so I've talked to you in the past
about our big Pitch competition, which this year was focused
on AI and we had nine companies pitching different aspects
of AI and the ways that they could benefit either
older adults or people with disabilities. It was an incredible
show standing room only as always, and you know, we
(06:47):
had a winner Make makes Sense that technology, which has
an incredible basically came for the blind replacement. That was
our grand prize winner. We had a company called sign
Speak that was showcasing their sign language product. So both
(07:08):
of those actually happened to be Eureka Park Accessibility Contest
winners as well, but this is a completely different contest,
but they were the runner up. And then our audience
choice was a company out of Korea called Voynosis that
does a voice technology, so that was really incredible. And
(07:29):
then this year, for the first time, it was kind
of a combination of roundtable and pitch event before the
show started, and it was focused specifically on the intellectual
and developmental disability community. We worked with several different organizations
around the country, but here in Las Vegas we worked
with Opportunity Village, which is a great nonprofit that works
(07:53):
with the idd community. So they brought a number of
their members over to the show, met with several different
companies that were our finalists, and then four of those
companies pitched and we have a company called on Screen
that walked away with the grand prize there and a
company called map Habit that got the runner up prize.
So you know, once again it's all about you know,
building those connections to the community and then ultimately what
(08:16):
those will lead to as far as you know, getting
these products out there, you know, continuing to improve. And
I can't wait to see how some of these companies
that participated in that take the feedback from the I
d D community and continue to make their products better.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
And Steve, that's what it's all about, putting these amazing
companies in front of the tech world and and ones
who can really give them some constructive feedback into too,
making their their innovation truly something that can be used
by by by the community. And Steve, one thing that
I thought was fascinating too this year, all the accessibility talks.
(08:59):
The sets was on opening day which was Tuesday. That
was pretty awesome. Well, tell us about the mindset of
the the conference advisory board team that which I am
a part of, but I had nothing to do with
putting everything on that on the first day, but but
that was pretty amazing to give spotlight to the accessibility community.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Well, I was going to give you all the credit.
I assumed that was you that did that. Now, we
have an incredible conference team at CTA that puts together
you know, everything from the keynotes that we had here
that really kind of raised the bar this year, along
with all the different other panels and sessions that happened
throughout the week, so you know, they really wanted to
(09:45):
look at how we could best highlight the you know,
the accessibility tracks. We had more panels this year around
accessibility than I think we've ever had, and from what
I've heard, they've been really well attended. I'll admit that's
the one challenge is haven't had a chance to sit
in on any of them yet. But good news, they're
all recorded, they're all going to be up on the
(10:05):
CEES website. So once I get home, I'm looking forward
to catching up on a lot of great sessions. Yeah
that's me too, Steve.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
You know, broadcasting from here, it's kind of hard to
get out and see the show floor, but we saw
a little bit of it and later on the day,
we're gonna go check out some pretty cool accessibility tech
out there and to give a shout out to the community.
And Steve, what what's been kind of like your your
biggest takeaway from this SEES twenty twenty five. Was there
a moment, Was there something that you witnessed to kind
(10:35):
of give you that affirmation to say, hey, we're on
the right track when it comes to highlighting accessibility for
the assistive and adaptive technology and also the Asian adult
population and the disabled population as well.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, you know, this might seem like a little bit
of a strange, it's just a vibe, Like I really
just am getting an incredible positive vibe from people across
the entire show. You know, I'm talking to vendors and
exhibitors and they're really saying, how good of a show
that they're having, and you know, the number of connections
(11:08):
and the number of stories that get they're getting ridden
about their products. So we're hearing a lot of really
good things about that. And then actually last night, so
we have several different leaders from different disability organizations that
come to the show, and we had a dinner with
them last night and they were just raving about some
(11:30):
of the technologies that they were able to see on
the show floor. So several of them have been multiple times.
So that's the other thing that I like to look
at is Okay, you've been you know, four times. How
has it changed, how has it improved. I'm not saying
we're perfect as far as accessibility goes. There's a lot
more we can do. There's a lot more we can cover,
(11:50):
but you know, seeing that continual progress that we can
make in this space. So yeah, I'm just I'm getting
a lot of positive feedback, you know, knock on wood.
We got one day left to continue that. But things
are looking really really positive here this year.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, that's that's great news. Always positive when once come
back to see the progress that has been made and
give you that give you that feedback when it comes
to accessibility and Steve, But before before we ditch you
go and wrap this all up, is there anything else
that you can tell us about the foundation? What's going
on that we can look forward to when it comes
(12:25):
to twenty twenty five and and what do you see
as some potential roadblocks to maybe some of the progress
that we have made and accessibility? Do you see those
out there and them, So how can the community, how
can the tech world, how can the media really just
work together to make sure that we're continuing that that
laser focus to their goal.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, and I appreciate you asking that. So I think
many of your audience know. But the CTA Foundation is
the charitable arm of the CTA, the group behind CEES,
and we're focused in on how technology can improve the
lives of older adults and people with disabilities. So we're
excited for the opportunities in twenty twenty five. As with
(13:04):
any time there's changes in administration and things along those lines,
we're keeping an eye on that and seeing where there's
opportunities for philanthropy to get engaged, where there's opportunities for
us to continue to work with both the industry and
the advocates to make sure that those products are reaching
the people in need. We are deep in our grant
(13:25):
cycle right now, so we're going to be watching some
new organizations that we'll be able to support later the spring.
So I can't wait to share those and ways that
we can fund nonprofits that are really making a difference
in the need of the community. One of the other
things we did here at CES and we've been doing
this for a couple of years. Is what we call
(13:45):
our funders Tour, and this is other foundations that mostly
we work with the grant makers in aging, so a
lot of the foundations are focused on the aging side
of our mission, but they come out every year and
have a chance to see some of the trends technology
because they may, you know, they're not vcs, they're not
investing necessarily directly in the companies, but by knowing what's
(14:08):
going on in technology, you're able to whether you're interested
in food, housing, you know, social isolation, other issues that
you know so much a philanthropy needs focus in on.
Knowing what's going on in the tech world is just
critical to being more effective. Being more efficient, so we're
trying to build up a stronger coalition in that space,
(14:29):
find ways we can partner better across different foundations and
other types of funders as well. I'd just say if
any of your audience is interested in learning more about
the work that we're doing, they can look for us
at CTA Foundation, dot tech it's dot T E c H,
or look us up on all the various social media's.
(14:51):
We're probably most prevalent on LinkedIn, but we've got a
presence on most, if not all of them, so you know,
encourage people to follow us and we'll certainly be promoting
all the great work that's going on out there.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Steve. One thing I appreciate you about you is your
yeah humility. I know at our round table that we have,
you know, someone will stand up and be like, hey,
you'd like to give a shout out to our good
friend Steve, You'll and Steve, you will switch, you will
switch that subject real quick and pointed to another direction. Somebody.
I appreciate all your humility that you have. But really, man,
you know, you do a lot for our community and
(15:28):
you open up so many conversations when it comes to
a system and adaptive technologies for the aging and adult
population and the disabled community that we really appreciate what
you do.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Man, well, I appreciate that now. I'm I'm a big believer.
You put a bunch of smart people in a room
with a challenge, and it's incredible what comes out of that.
And my main goal. Everyone's asked me, you know what
is you know, are we writing white papers? Are we
solving you know, world peace and all that kind of
stuff in some of these sessions. And while I'd love
to solve world peace and that, uh, you know, my
(16:00):
main goal with a lot of these is just to
get you know, person A to meet person B, because
that way, next time there's an issue, they can go
directly to each other. They can work it out. How
we can build better partnerships, how we can better work together.
You know, whether we're in you know, industry, advocacy, you know,
support services, philanthropy, media and across the board. There's so
(16:24):
much that we can do together. And you know, now
is really a time that we as a have to
come together.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
So I appreciate you the word and spreading it. You know,
that's really critical word out about the works of these
issues to the robertect world.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Now. I appreciate Steve, and again, thank you so much
for helping me level up a lot in my career
and my side hustle as an accessibility consultant and and
really being able to use my voice you know when
it comes to change and everything has really been an
amazing ride. So Steve, do me a favor of my friends,
Stay healthy, stay safe, and look forward to catching up
and we'll we'll talk talk more about CTA Foundation CES
(17:03):
and get your view after you get a chance to
watch all the different panels that was here and get
your feedback into what you thought about. You know where
the conversation is going as well.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Well. I appreciate you having me on and I look
forward to many many future conversations with you. So thank you.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That sounds good. That is my good friend, Steve Yule,
the executive director of the Consumer Technology Association. You see
how I did that the highest greed declaration flow and
that's what I did. Thank you all so much for
tuning in to our coverage here at CES twenty twenty five.
It's really been amazing. Thank you so much for giving
(17:42):
us your feedback on a lot of our segments, and
we look forward to talking to you more about tech.
So stay healthy, stay safe, and remember I love you
all the life. Take care.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Everyone in this world of technology is ever changing, rearranging.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
You need someone to help you out.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
I know someone to have to be alone, You'll be
with I'm gonna gay slaying in the text Zone
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