At the world's largest IT trade show, "CES 2025," set to open on the 7th in Las Vegas, U.S., the number of entries has hit an all-time high, with Korean corporations sweeping the "Best Innovation Award" representing innovative technologies across various institutional sectors. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organizes CES, awards the "Best Innovation Award" to the most innovative consumer technology products among those entered in each technology sector every year. As of the 3rd, among the 19 "Best Innovation Awards" officially announced for CES 2025, Korean products have claimed 7, taking the lead.
According to the CTA, the number of entries for the Innovation Award this year has reached 3,400, a 13% increase from the previous year. The Innovation Award is based on products released to the market from last April until this April, evaluated by a panel of industry experts based on technology, design, innovation, and social contribution. Some products that received the highest scores in each technology sector will receive the "Best Innovation Award." Among the 292 companies announced as Innovation Award winners so far, 44%, or 129, are Korean corporations. The division of Best Innovation Awards includes 7 from Korea, 4 from Japan, 3 from the United States, and 1 each from Germany, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The CTA plans to announce additional Innovation and Best Innovation Award products on the 5th.
Korean corporations have been recognized for their technological prowess in key sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital health, cybersecurity, fintech, and drones, which are the focal keywords of this year's CES. The CTA designates technology categories each year according to technology trends. Following the establishment of the AI sector last year, four new sectors have been added this year, including industrial equipment and machinery, fashion technology, beauty and personal care, and pet technology and animal welfare. Gary Shapiro, CEO of the CTA, noted, "The products that received Innovation Awards this year across 33 technology sectors demonstrate how technological innovation can change people's lives and address major global challenges."
In the AI sector, which saw about a 50% surge in entries compared to last year, the product that received the Best Innovation Award is "Booxtory," an AI-based reading platform by Woongjin Think Big. This product applies generative AI technology to read all books in any desired language. It is designed to enable people of all ages, from children who struggle with reading to adults, to easily enjoy books. The system digitalizes books in real time on mobile phones or tablet PCs, allowing users to select their preferred reading mode. For children, it adds visual effects and various sounds, or reads the book aloud with a parent's or a voice actor's voice. To assist adults who find reading difficult, it offers an "easy reading mode" that reads text in several ways based on the listener's preferences.
In the digital health sector, a tinnitus treatment device exhibited by Hanyang University's Game Research Lab received the Best Innovation Award. The "TD Square," developed by the Game Research Lab in Hanyang University's Graduate School of Human-Computer Interaction, is a digital product that combines virtual reality (VR) technology with auditory, visual, and tactile sensations to treat tinnitus. This device utilizes generative AI technology to create a customized sound avatar for individual patients, allowing them to interact with the avatar during treatment. The approach creates a virtual reality environment in which patients can feel their tinnitus sound as if it is coming from outside their ears before manipulating and controlling their tinnitus avatar to alleviate symptoms. This is the only product from a university research lab to receive a Best Innovation Award this year. Professor Kim Ki-beom from Hanyang University explained, "This product is a project developed over the past five years in collaboration with graduate students at the Game Research Lab."
In the cybersecurity sector, SK Telecom's AI-based mobile financial fraud detection and prevention technology "ScamVanguard" won the Best Innovation Award. ScamVanguard is a technology that provides AI-driven cybersecurity threat information to detect and respond to various threats that might occur on mobile devices. Its main features include detecting and notifying of phishing messages based on deep learning structures, preventing fraud on social media (SNS) using AI bots, and identifying fraudulent call patterns through machine learning. Last year, it successfully blocked approximately 1.3 million suspected financial fraud messages and calls each month.
In the headphones and personal audio sector, Samsung Electronics' premium wireless earphones "Galaxy Buds3 Pro" received the Best Innovation Award. This product offers real-time translation capabilities through an AI-based audio translation tool. It automatically detects languages through the earphones and verbally delivers translated content, allowing users to communicate without having to view a screen. In the embedded technology sector, domestic fingerprint and facial recognition technology company Suprema won the Best Innovation Award for developing the world's first on-device AI module to prevent financial crimes.
In the drone and fintech sectors, domestic startup products received the highest scores. This product operates in independent devices like ATMs and prevents financial crimes in real time using facial recognition and behavior analysis. Drone technology startup Nears Lab received the Best Innovation Award for its drone station that seamlessly integrates with police operations to carry out missions without interruption in real time. Fintech startup Ghost Pass won the Best Innovation Award for a system that safely protects personal biometric information, such as fingerprints and faces stored on smartphones, while enabling user authentication and payment simultaneously.