LIVE FROM CES ASIA, SHANGHAI: Gary Shapiro, CEO of trade group Consumer Technology Association (CTA), applauded China’s approach to technology investment, noting the country took a successful US model and improved on it.

“China has adopted a strategy that makes a lot of sense, and is similar to a strategy the United States had, but it’s even better in some ways.” Shaprio noted China is: “investing in infrastructure, investing in education, with a focus on technology and innovation.”

The approach could be timely in a world where Shapiro said innovation presents a way to address many key global challenges during “an era of political and technological disruption”.

“The election of non-traditional candidates around the world, such as Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, demonstrates a changing landscape politically, as does Brexit. Both Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron were candidates which took major political risks, and risk taking is what entrepreneurship and innovation is all about,” he said.

Shapiro (pictured, below) said while society faces a number of challenges: “technology is in a position to help solve some of the world’s biggest problems”.

“The skills gap in education, healthcare, transportation, food production, just about every major significant problem – including even terrorism – have solutions presented by innovations, technology, sensors, self-driving cars. And that is why the wisest nations are those nations that are embracing innovation as the way forward,” Shapiro said.

Addressing the fact new technology and automation holds the potential to significantly impact the workforce, he noted it also “provides a way forward”.

“We’ve come a long way since the invention of the wheel. Since the invention of the motorised car, the aeroplane, the radio, the telegraph, the telephone, and the internet itself, and many jobs were replaced. But many of us, including almost everyone in this room, has new jobs created because of innovation and technology.”