CES will welcome 100,000 industry figures to Las Vegas this week, and its chief has again hit out at Downing Street’s negligence towards British startups.
Gary Shapiro, the trade show’s CEO, has doubled down on previous comments about the British government’s lack of support for UK startups, which remain underrepresented at the event.
‘Britain does not participate as strongly at CES as other western European countries like France and the Netherlands, which are really well represented,’ said Shapiro, according to a report in The Times. ‘The British presence has been spotty, which is surprising to me.’
The statement comes 12 months after a similar message warned of missed opportunities for UK tech firms, with French President Emmanuel Macron flagged as an example of how world leaders should engage with the show.
‘Macron has been to the show twice. Even in the French government, which seems to be in some disarray, we’ll have some cabinet ministers,’ said Shapiro. ‘We’ll have the prince of the Netherlands. We’ll have cabinet ministers from the Netherlands. They’re also in disarray, and that’s every government, including our own government, is having big issues in these western democracies.’
Data on the nationality of exhibitors backs up the idea of poor British representation. In 2019, more than 100 UK firms attended, but 2026’s edition will see less than 30 make the trip. This can partly be attributed to the previous Conservative administration scrapping a Tradeshow Access Programme which offered up to £2,500 in grants so SMEs could cover the significant costs associated with exhibiting.
Image: Rocio Abrego / Unsplash
More Digital Business:
£2m for health, well-being and digital programme in West Yorkshire
Leave a Reply