Technology association, and the cta sponsors the annual ces show in las vegas, the largest trade show in the world. Mr. Shapiro, you just wrapped your show up for this year. What caught your eye . Was there a theme this year . Guest well, again, the theme is really innovation. We had almost 4,000 Different Companies exhibiting, but there was so much, and a lot of it was about connectivity. How we can stay through technology connected with each other and connected safely whether its in our homes or cars. And there was a lot there about using voice as the new means of communication because the Voice Recognition technology is has expanded and improved so much this just a few years, so its almost 96 accurate at this point. Host so are we talking about internet of things . Guest the internet of things almost defined everything there because you could say its the overlay, but its the benefit of being connected, the benefit of getting information and data, making our lives better and safer, increasing production in water, transportation and health care. Its not just about entertainment, gaming, video and movie and great sound. Host was there increased interest this year because of the new administration coming in . Guest well, certainly we had a lot of policy people there from around the world including major presence of ministers from france, britain, nigeria, canada and others. But i think maybe the American Public has become so interested in politics. We had standing room only session at our sessions focusing on american issues which is very interesting. Host joining our conversation today is Michaela Ross of bloomberg. Lovely to be here. It was my first ces, so it was a great experience. Host go ahead if you have any questions for mr. Shapiro. Sure. As a newbie, everything was surprising to me, and i wondered, you have been with cta for some time. Was there anything that surprised you at this particular show . Guest well, we try to always make the show different in terms of inviting different types of people, because we believe that technology, consumer technologies is a convergence point for almost every industry. As was said, every company is now a technology company. So our opening keynoter was from carnival cruise, and they introduced a whole new way of using this little, tiny thing that you wear that gets you into your room, that says what foods you like, what drinks you like, everything about you, and it serves you. And thats a breakthrough in the hospitality industry, basically. Its not only cruising. I think itll affect hotels and travel. Also we had the ceo of under armour. Clothing is not what we traditionally do, but they talked about sneakers which determine what kind of workout you could have based on jumping. So there was a lot of to you shoulding the envelope. And that vid ya, that company was the leading gainer in the Stock Exchange last year and, boy, theyre into selfdriving cars and into video game processing, and they show the future as kid qualcomm. The Chip Companies are really the ones to look at because theyre defining the future. Absolutely. Those are two companies we have our eye on as well. When you mentioned those companies and how this was this angle of connectivity that permeated through everything, one of the things i noticed is just how a lot of this emerging technology is permeating our personal lives in new ways and how thats going to require Consumer Trust. And im wondering how much of a focus you saw in the industry, in the buzz, in the conference. Yes, theres all these really cool new gadgets, people who are in the industry lo are it, but how much of this love it, but how much is Consumer Trust going to be dependent on the adoption of these new technologies, and do you think that that is a place where the federal government might have a role in helping build that trust . Guest well, i think companies with brand names are very, very focused on it, and companies that are simply manufacturers may have less of a focus on it. Take the wearables like this fitbit. Fitbit and apple and google and samsung and others, theyre all our members, and we got together last year and said this is an issue, privacy, trust, putting things in clear language, opting out, not reselling information, keeping private information private. We have to do this as an industry, and if we dont, the federal government will step in. So privacy principles were agreed upon. We shared them with the federal government. They embraced them. And right now thats what i think industry has to do in many different areas. If were not going to solve problems, then the federal government will step in and solve them for us. And that is a great focus because, as peter said, we are looking at a new administration, were looking at a new 115th congress. Was there anything with the almost 200 policymakers or that were at the show, anything that was said that surprised you or anything that you said, hmm, maybe that agencys going to go a little different direction this year than we expected or that congressional leaders are going to do something new that we might not have expected . Guest well, i think this is a strange year because its every eight years this seems to occur where theres a whole new Administration Come anything, so the old administration, the leaders what they say is perhaps a little less relevant. The Congressional Staff and leaders that were there are more, their positions are known, and i think the big question mark this year especially for everyone is what president elect trump and his administration will do. And theres not that much in the tea lees that are out there tea leaves that far out there that will say this is good. Now, the Obama Administration when they came in eight years ago, it was a very, very difficult time period. There was one party in control, and they were, they went ramrodding very quickly on obamacare, they did it on doddfrank, they had provisions on conflict minerals, card check, they were doing things which were very anathema in many ways to business, and it was eight years of a difficult time for business, but a good time for the technology industry. They wanted spectrum, they fought restrictions on the internet. With this administration its a big im going to, i could sit here and speculate which i bet ill be asked to, but im not sure. Host well, gary shapiro, what were some of the policy discussions that were held at ces this year, some of those standing room onlies that you referred to earlier . Guest so theres many areas we see coming and its going to require cooperation with government. For example, we know were heading towards a selfdriving car. It will save maybe 35,000 lives a year in the u. S. We want to get to that point to save lives. Consumers want to get to the point where they have lower insurance, theyre protected against drunk and aggressive drivers. Many of them see the benefits of just doing other stuff while theyre driving, and then theres the green element of efficiency, fewer cars on the road, and the car companies, of course, are all over this with different strategies that are very interesting. But the federal government under president obama has been very favorable in their approach, and theyre heading in the right direction rather quickly. We hope that will continue under President Trump, and that was one of the discussions. Other areas, whats going to happen with the federal communications commission. This was a pretty Aggressive Commission under the Obama Administration, and we dont know what they will do. The department of labor was very hostile to business. This recent rule they had that everyone, including every employee of a startup could only work 35, 40 hours a week and they must get overtime was devastating to startups, and thankfully, a court threw it out. I think its incumbent to look at all these rules which have made it difficult to hire interns, made it so college kids are graduating and staying home with their parents and not getting jobs, made it very difficult to hire new people essentially. And plus obamacare layered on top of that really affected job creation on a fulltime basis in this country. And then you add that and the sharinging economy issues, and we have to focus on the future work. Also the administration, i think, start looking at jobs more holistically than the Obama Administration. Rather than just protecting kids rights and workers, talking about how you create new jobs, what are the skills we need for the next century, how can we have five million jobs open in this country but all these people throughout the country cant get jobs . Are we training people right . These are really Big Questions we think have to be addressed and will be addressed. Host you mentioned may. Whats going to happen there . Guest ing if you do go to selfdriving car, what happens to all those drivers . How can we have were very hopeful that the Trump Administration will embrace highly skilled immigration which has made this country great. We need this country great because we dont have them. Were graduating from our columns, but then were colleges, but then were kicking them out of the country. So why is it that our own kids arent going to those majors . Why is it were not training people and respecting Community College work . Why are we telling kids they can get as much debt as they want and then they can go they have to live with their parents and now were forgiving it . Were spending a tremendous amount of money on education at every level, and were not getting the return we should be getting. Were not being smart about it, and thats what well be talking about, education, training, the jobs of the future and how we transition or sharing economy jobs. Why is it the uber and lyft drivers, why cant they have portable benefits as senator mark warper or has proposed mark warner has proposed . Theres a lot of issues at the forefront. Your Organization Made jobs a focus of what youll be looking at over the next year, next administration, lots of initiatives coming from your organization. But im wondering how the broader industry is ing this issue, because is seeing this issue because i definitely think theres a discretion. It is an industry that lauds low overhead, having small work forces, especially when youre creating software, for example. And it has a reputation of creating automation that, hence, in a lot of cases takes away jobs. So im wondering, you see this as important, i think policymakers see it as important. In your book, you definitely tout innovation as an engine, but how is the industry seeing this . Do they recognize this is needed for the survival of the industry especially among startups that have a lot of their attention in places where else . Guest well, the Tech Industry contributes over 10 of gdp right now and about 15 million jobs, and thats always growing. Innovation, yes, it totally takes away jobs. For example, when the car came, all those horsedriven things went away. And right now we see changes this bank, theres not as many bank tellers, for example. This may be fewer travel agents. Theres all sorts of jobs that are going away often at the factory level, and if factories do come back, theyre going to be highly automated. But we are the leader of the world in innovation. That creates wealth. Wealth creates jobs, it creates so many other things, and every other country in the world wants to be like us. So the progress of innovation which creates and delights consumers and makes us healthier and live longer and transport easier and connect us around the world is something weve used positive, but we recognize its disruptive, and thats the discussion that has to occur. The Tech Industry, theyre not political, frankly. Theyre being forced to, and as they engage in this, ultimately, i think the Tech Industry, also u. S. Citizens and their parents, they want to do whats right for their kids and their country, and thats the appeal i think President Trump is getting a lot of. Hes getting a lot of response. We on responded immediately. I think this election taught us that theres a portion of america that does live on coasts. Were in our own bubble. And there are people that feel passed over, and we have to train those people with the skills so they can get the jobs where were looking to hire people because we are looking to hire in the Tech Industry. We need engineers, technical people, we need so many we need people that can program. We have to shift towards teaching programming, towards getting underserved kids in, also minorities. We have to be reaching it. We have to be more aggressive, and thats a challenge. Were going of to have jobs fairs, were going to have contests among our 2,000 companies to see who can create the most jobs, and were going to be investing in the various job programs we have including installers of technology as well as getting veterans in jobs which is so important. Weve invested a lot in the program, we want to expand that. Veterans, they are skilled, they get things done, they create on the spot, they have discipline. I was on a naval Aircraft Carrier overnight last year, and i was amazed. You get 5,000 basically kids who have come out of high school and theyre living together, theyre on time, and theyre learning everything that employers want, and we should be employing those people. Host gary shapiro, one of the Trump Administrations goal is the to increase manufacturing jobs in the u. S. Can these gadgets, these products that the Consumer TechnologyCompanies Put out, can they be manufactured in the u. S. . Guest well, they certainly could be assembled, intel makes chips in the u. S. And then exports them to other countries, and they come back as products. I think, to think that were going to manufacture full products from start to finish is not going to happen. Or in my lifetime at least in my lifetime. No product is made entirely in one country. Countries export what theyre good at. Most of the exporting, theyre exporting and bringing the products back. It would devastate the Automobile Industry to require everything it would devastate our industry if you require you cant do it. Ive been in factories around the world. Some of these jobs americans that have beyond a sixth grade education are not going to want to do these repetitive jobs, several hours a day doing the same thing. We cant do these jobs anymore, and we dont want to. Theyre very low paying jobs, and we do the higher skilled, higher paying jobs. And, yes, there will be more manufacturing here. I think mr. Trump is on to something big, and he has a great vision, and we should be thinking about that. But we should also be thinking about how to train people for good, higher paying jobs. The factory, repet pettive jobs are moving from western china to eastern china, moving to vietnam, laos, cambodia, theyre moving to other countries where theres low skilled, very low educated work forces where they want the jobs and they need the jobs simply to survive and to eat. What we can do as a country is train our students, our work force to get the jobs that add value because were a highly educated company. Host does cta have a position on tax policy . Guest yes, we do. Theres a lot of benefits to one of the things that makes us disadvantaged as a country to hire people in is our Corporate Tax policy is the highest in the developed world. So our companies, because of their ability to hire highly skilled people and because of their ability to pay taxes are encouraged under present law to go outside the united states. Its a really bad policy. President elect trump recognized that, and he will change it. Theres a lot of money to be gained and we could invest in structure if we allow our best and Biggest Companies and Small Companies as well. I have smaller members who think this is important too. To take all that money parked overseas because they dont want to bring it back and have it taxed, they invest in factories and just park it there. Theres almost 2 trillion or so that could come back if we just lower the Corporate Tax rate as president elect trump has proposed 10 . That would get a lot of it back. If some of that money could go to infrastructure or a bank, that would be terrific. Host gary shapiro, your predecessor, representative darrell issa, has talked about how he used to drive his dodge omni instead of a card table to display his product which, of course, became very successful and that he led ces for several years. Is that atmosphere Still Available for an entrepreneur to come in and set up a card table and say heres my product, look at it . Or is the has the industry matured to a point where we have the big five, the big six . Thats a great question. So congressman darrell issa i met because he was an exhibiter. I was in my job actually, i was a lawyer then. He was our volunteer chairman, and he served for many years on our board. But even before he came, the basic principle of our Organization Since 1982 when i first heard at my first Board Meeting was we must make the ces accessible to anyone with an idea which mean we are doing it for the smallest company. This year we had at least 600 startups. We had many more. We had a separate area for startups that was subsidized. Its in eureka park, we call it, it was the buzz area of the show, and basically everyone who exhibits they come in with an idea. We tell them dont have a lengthy business plan, get feedback for four days from potential investors, partners, retailers, media, and i promise, youll have a different idea of what your business is when you leave, and thats what happens. Weve had walmart go around and place orders, investors like mark cuban come, and thats what thats about. Our show is about innovation. No time in the history of the world has i