Consumer Technology Association
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| Formation | April 16, 1924 (as Radio Manufacturers Association) |
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| Type | Trade Organization |
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Members
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2,200 companies |
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Key people
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Kathy Gornik; chairman |
| Website | http://www.cta.tech |
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), formerly Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), is a standards and trade organization for the consumer electronics industry in the United States. CTA works to influence public policy, holds events such as the International CES and SINOCES, conducts market research, and helps its members and regulators implement technical standards. CTA is led by Gary Shapiro.
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a major technology trade show held each January in Las Vegas. The CTA-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new product announcements.
The first CES was held in 1967 in New York City. It was a spinoff from the Chicago Music Show, which until then had served as the main event for exhibiting consumer electronics. The event had 17,500 attendees and over 100 exhibitors; the kickoff speaker was Motorola chairman Bob Galvin. From 1978 to 1994, CES was held twice each year: once in January in Las Vegas known as Winter Consumer Electronics Show (WCES) and once in June in Chicago, known as Summer Consumer Electronics Show. In 1998, the show changed to a once-a-year format with Las Vegas as the location. CES is one of the largest and longest trade shows held in Las Vegas, taking up to 18 days to set up, run and break down.
SINOCES is a tradeshow held annually in the Chinese city of Qingdao in Shandong. The original organizers of SINOCES appropriated the CES trademark without the permission of CTA. CTA later successfully negotiated for joint sponsorship of the event. SINOCES serves as a platform for both Chinese and American companies to introduce new products into the Chinese market. SINOCES also serves as forum for Chinese electronics companies and their counterparts from overseas.
CTA launched The Innovation Movement, a broad based group with more than 200,000 members, in order to spur economic growth and technological innovation. CTA provides Innovation Movement members with tools to contact their members of Congress via social media in support of policies that the group says will advance American innovation and increase the strength of the economy. The Innovation Movement is active on issues including international trade, immigration, deficit reduction, broadband deployment, and intellectual property.
CTA believes that "spectrum is the oxygen of innovation." CTA supports legislation to allow the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions in order to obtain 500 megahertz of new radio spectrum for wireless broadband internet services. CTA supports making this spectrum available for licensed and unlicensed use. In March 2011, CEA and CTIA sent a joint letter to Congress in support of voluntary incentive auctions. In February of the same year, the two groups also released a white paper on freeing up broadcast television spectrum for use by wireless broadband services.
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