American technology thought leaders forming the Tech-pert Panel recognized the 12 most innovative products at CEATEC JAPAN 2007. The top 12 -- plus one honorable mention -- embody innovation as well as potential influence in the U.S. market in categories such as home entertainment, mobile, computing networks, and automotive. Special consideration was given to any technology that includes advancements in sustainability, alternative energy, or energy efficiency.

This independent advisory panel, announced by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) San Francisco, viewed hundreds of technologies, services and products debuting at CEATEC JAPAN 2007. The panel, led by CNET Networks' editor at large, Michael Kanellos, includes Sean Captain of Popular Science, analyst Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group, Tom Samiljan of Switched.com, and Auri Rahimzadeh of The Auri Group.

"The multitude of R&D exhibits may make it sometimes seem like a science fair, but what a science fair! There’s more gee-whiz per square meter here than any trade show I have been to here," said Switched.com editor and Tech-pert panelist Tom Samiljan. "The coolest trends [at CEATEC] for me were the ultra-slim Flat Panels and the hand-gesture-based/motion-sensitive interfaces enabled by Toshiba’s SPURS Engine and Pioneer’s 3D navigation driving system prototype, among others. The success of the Wii and its motion sensitive gameplay in the U.S. is an indication that this seemingly oddball way of controlling your TV, car or desktop is the direction many interfaces will go in the coming years."

The U.S. Tech-pert Panel formally recognized the following CEATEC JAPAN 2007 exhibitors for their innovations and contributions to the technology market:

Field Emission Technologies’ nano-Spindt Field Emission Display (FED): This Sony-spinout company debuted a 20-inch prototype high definition display sipping as little as five watts in dark scenes, and less than most LCD screens in the brightest (all pixels on) scenes. The display renders an amazing 240 frames each second – the fastest flat panel speed of any video display type.

Pioneer’s Image Recognition Car Navigation System: The system combines traditional GPS navigation with a camera and advanced image recognition software that analyzes the road ahead. And recognizing that driving should be not just a chore but a pleasure, the image recognition system even scans the horizon, decides how unique the scenery is, and proposes more interesting alternative routes when it can.

NTT DoCoMo’s Wellness Phone: NTT DoCoMo’s Wellness Phone takes readily available health-related sensors and common software applications and pulls them into an all-in-one concept phone that would likely become an icon of the booming consumer health industry in the U.S. This combination cell phone, heart rate monitor, burned calorie counter, body fat calculator and breath analyzer, estimates this information based on age, gender, height and weight. It then sends that information to a server.

Nissan's Safety and Environmental Technologies: Nissan is looking at ways to analyze traffic patterns or other cars in the vicinity to reduce accidents, improve fuel economy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Just as important, the company is studying ways to ensure that these technologies will be accepted and used regularly by customers.

1 LTD’s Beam2Me(R): This could truly change the way consumers and businesses listen to audio. The demonstration at CEATEC JAPAN recreated a living room environment where a couple could enjoy two different television shows while sitting on the same couch. Each consumer could listen to their own programming without headphones and without sound from the alternate show.

JVC’s LED Backlight LCD Television: JVC is the first to bring both together high-contrast and high-color technologies in a flat-panel TV. Plus, it uses a light-emitting diode backlight, which is mercury-free (unlike the fluorescent backlights in most panels) and energy efficient.

NEC’s FieldAnalyst with Age and Gender Recognition: This was the most controversial pick. FieldAnalyst is a software program that analyzes video feeds from a camera using a database of 10,000 faces and then tries to determine the age and gender of people passing by. The idea is to try to help malls and other public places target their marketing more effectively based on who is walking past, by getting more information about their customers through passive analysis. Passive analysis is a growing topic among start-ups in the U.S. Some Tech-pert panelists worried about the performance and, more importantly, privacy and security implications.

Sharp Electronics’ System LCD Module with Embedded Optical Sensors: Gesture sensing technology was a major theme of this year’s CEATEC and it seems that gestures will become a significant way to input data or control devices in the future. Sharp Electronics is showing off a touch screen that lets you control a phone or other device with the swipe of a finger. Or actually, three fingers.

Sony’s Rolly: The Rolly is the quintessential “only-in-Japan” gadget, but the Tech-perts think with the right marketing idea, and a considerable drop in price, the Rolly could well become the pet rock/Tamagotchi of 2008 in the U.S. "It mixes two qualities for which its creator, Sony, is known: audio and robotics, and the idea of a dancing music player could only come out of the creative and fertile minds typically found in a Japanese R&D lab."

Hitachi’s Blu-Ray Camcorders (DZ-BD7H and DZ-BD70A): The world’s first home movie camcorders featuring Blu-ray disc drives include built-in editing tools, making a seamless link from creating, to refining, to playing on a home TV -- without requiring a trip to the computer to process the video. A DZ-BD7H hard drive makes it the ultimate camcorder, capable of capturing video to portable or fixed media, and enabling the user to burn hand-out copies on either Blu-ray or standard DVD discs. A new, lower-power image sensor and an energy-efficient drive, Hitachi achieved a very useful battery lifetime of 80 minutes in a compact design.

Panasonic’s and Toshiba’s High Definition Recording on DVD Media: Panasonic and Toshiba demonstrated blue and red laser HD recorder prototypes with internal HDDs which will enable (permitted) HD program archiving to affordable red laser DVD media. This enables consumers to put up to two hours of HD on a DVD recordable disc and 6 hours (Toshiba) and 9 to 18 hours (Panasonic) on a blue laser disc.

Toshiba’s SpursEngine High-Performance Stream Processor: Spurs empowers consumers with natural motion interactions with PCs and future CE products. From real-time facial makeup and wardrobe rendering to handling hundreds of TV channels and sound sources simultaneously, SpursEngine partners may boost demand for Toshiba AVC co-processors in powerful, real-time streaming consumer-friendly products.

Honorable Mention to Fujitsu, for Accessibility and Language at CEATEC. International attendance is soaring at CEATEC, making it even more important for businesses to offer information to guests from other nations that will allow them to appreciate the products and technology demonstrations. The Tech-pert Panel would like to offer special thanks and recognition to Fujitsu for supplying the finest second-language literature, booth personnel and graphical explanations at CEATEC JAPAN 2007.

Following CEATEC JAPAN 2007, the Tech-pert Panel plans to participate in a round table discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008 in Las Vegas hosted by CEATEC and IFA to share their insights into the future of the industry.

The Tech-pert panel sponsor, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), is a government-affiliated organization that promotes mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world.

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