Live from CES 2026 in Las Vegas…the first day of CES Media Days preceding the big show always covers a context-setting report on Tech Trends to Watch. This is one of my annual go-to programs which helps orient media and industry analysts with a lens on CES’s key tech categories and some hard data on market size and growth expectations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I’ll focus on the health/care specifics in the trend forecast, let me first update you on the overall technology market revenues for the U.S. which are estimated at $565 billion for 2026. Even with tariff impacts and global market uncertainties, CTA expects a growth rate of 3.7% across software/services and hardware — with software/services growing at an even higher rate of 4.2%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s driving growth and innovation are three megatrends: CTA calls out,

  • Intelligent transformation, where AI and machine learning are transforming companies and industries beyond “digital transformation.” This week at CES 2026, we expect to hear stories from every company about their adoption of AI whether in products, in enterprise-wide adoption, or industrial processes.
  • Longevity, with technology adding life to years and not just year to lifespan. (Lots more on this below); and,
  • Engineering tomorrow, building with platforms, personalization, and partnerships. Think AI-informed Industrial Revolution scaled construction, municipal projects, and agriculture; upgraded power regimes; and, infrastructure reinforced with blockchain for security, quantum for scalability, and AI and robotics for simulation.

Now, to the health/care trend implications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CES 2026 will have a focus on longevity in the context of health, aging, and human/personal sustainability. The forecast points to the fast-growing GLP-1 ecosystem, which is transforming industries beyond medicine — consider food systems, retail, fashion, hospitality, and mobility among them. Increasingly, CES has had pharma representation in education sessions and on the show floor, and the category of GLP-1s extends influence and reach across many sectors convening at CES.

In addition, Longer Living counts on precision medicine, again turbocharged with smart application of AI that can develop recommendations that get to the N of 1 health citizen, and remote care like telehealth and virtual care platforms that can democratize care, extend to under-served populations, and conserve scarce and burned out clinicians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Longer Living, consider Better Living — which leverages technology for helping people live better lives through accessibility, bolstering mental (and social) health and wellness. Note that this year, CES 2026 will feature an Accessibility Stage (sponsored with Verizon) which will host panels and speakers keen to solve big social challenges (e.g., neurodiversity, taboos around mental health, disabilities, hearing loss, and so on). Kudos to the CTA team for using the word “inclusivity” in this discussion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, consider Smart Living which re-imagines our homes as health hubs and spaces that bolster our longevity. From lighting and security to heating and climate management as well as water hygiene and conservation, the home becomes the renewed site for our own and our families’ well-being, and that of our communities.

Also consider the automobile as a platform that can also boost health, safety, and mobility that channels peoples’ access to work and social touchpoints. Here, we also expect to learn about growing autonomous vehicles which enhance peoples’ ability to get around.

These are but a handful of the many insights the CTA team developed for the 2026 Tech Trends to Watch. Stay tuned for more #CES2026 coverage this week here on Health Populi and in hundreds of other media channels: there are about 6,000 media and industry analysis attending CES this week, so tune into your favorite trade publications and major media outlets to track the issues in which you’re most interested. There are countless content creators here this week, which is another key trend to keep your eye on.