On 8 September, CEDIA held the London Tech Summit, it’s first event in the series, and first Tech Summit in over two years. HiddenWires attended to catch up with the UK’s smart home industry after a long two years of very little in-person communication.
As one of the first in-person events for the industry since the start of the pandemic, it’s safe to say the CEDIA Tech Summit, held at the Business Design Centre in London, was a popular event, and visitors and exhibitors alike enjoyed socialising and reforming relationships face-to-face.
With no less than 43 supporting brands exhibiting at the event, there was certainly a lot to see and catch up on. Alongside the exhibition were five sessions, each looking at a different topic within home automation and technology.
The event kicked off with Matt Nimmons, CEDIA EMEA’s managing director, welcoming attendees to the event and giving a short overview of what the organisation has been working on over the past year or so. Recruitment and apprenticeships are one of many focal points for CEDIA at the moment in order to encourage young adults to start a career in home integration.
Alongside that, a huge transformation is underway to update CEDIA certifications. The major updates and improvements include gaining ISO/IEC accreditation to bring the new certifications up to the highest possible quality level. The Cabling & Infrastructure Technician (CIT) certification was launched last year as the first of the new overhaul. The organisation has now launched Integrated Systems Technician (IST), its second new certification which is currently under BETA. Timelines reveal that a BETA Exam of Networking Specialist certification will be launched early next year.
Finally, the Tech Summit revealed that the CEDIA Awards 2021 would be taking place in-person this year on 11 November at Illuminate, The Science Museum, a relatively new space which has had hardly any use since its opening due to the pandemic. The event will be black-tie.
The other sessions held throughout the day covered various topics: OneAV looked at the future of communication and smart infrastructure; L-Acoustics explored the theory and application for multichannel audio designs; Blustream spoke about the evolution of technology in video distribution; and AWE gave a talk on home cinema projector technologies. All sessions were well attended with a wealth of knowledge and expertise shared throughout each session.
Between conferences, the bustling exhibition hall was filled with great business conversations, as well as a few cans of beer from the team at Gallo Acoustics! It was great to see some of the products announced over the last two years in real life, and of course, some upcoming products that will be launched soon.
The London Tech Summit is the first in a series of three events taking place in the UK. The next one will be held in Leeds on the 9 November 2021. You can register for the events and find out what brands will be attending here.