By Rebecca Vaughn
The judging for the CES 2026 Innovation Awards has wrapped up in early October, and industry attention is turning to the expert jury and the design trends they’ve helped surface. Organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), this year’s competition drew a record number of submissions – over 3,600 entries in 2025, with further growth expected for 2026. Spanning more than 30 product categories, from AI-driven gadgets to sustainable tech, the entries highlighted where consumer innovation is headed. Notably, the Artificial Intelligence category saw nearly a 50% surge in submissions, underscoring how AI-powered user experiences have become a mainstream focus in new products. As the judging phase concludes (Sept. 18 – Oct. 3, 2025), observers are eager to hear insights from the jury on these emerging themes in technology design and engineering.
One juror in particular is drawing notice: Yueling "Linda" Lai, an internationally recognized product and user experience (UX) designer who served on the CES Innovation Awards 2026 panel. Her inclusion reflects the rising prominence of human-centered design expertise in tech innovation forums. Being invited to join the CES awards jury is a significant milestone as it’s not a role one can simply apply for, notes the CTA, which selects judges based on their proven expertise and impact in the field. Lai’s appointment to the jury, an invite-only honor bestowed by CTA, underscores how design leaders are now helping to define what cutting-edge technology looks like. The judging panel for CES 2026 comprised respected experts from around the world, including designers, engineers, analysts, and media members, reflecting CES’s stature as the world’s largest tech event (drawing 150,000+ professionals annually). Lai’s role on this panel not only highlights her personal achievements, but also signals a broader shift: tech industry awards are increasingly considering user experience and design excellence as key criteria alongside technical innovation.
Lai’s selection comes amid growing international recognition of her work. In addition to the CES Innovation Awards, she currently serves on the juries of the Orpetron Web Design Awards and the VAND Design Awards, both global competitions in the design world. As a multi-award-winning designer herself, Lai holds prestigious accolades including the Red Dot Design Award, the A’ Design Award, and the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA). These honors place her among a new generation of designers whose work garners worldwide acclaim. Industry insiders note that CTA’s decision to tap figures like Lai, who has one foot in Silicon Valley product design and another in the international design awards circuit, speaks to the CES Awards’ desire to incorporate diverse design perspectives. Lai’s presence on multiple judging panels underscores her rising influence and voice in the global design community.
Lai was the lead web interaction designer on the award-winning "XYG Window" project, a cross-cultural visual design initiative praised for artfully blending Eastern and Western aesthetics. That project garnered multiple prestigious awards on the global stage, demonstrating Lai’s ability to create designs that resonate across cultures. Her broader professional experience reflects a similar human-centered, globally minded approach. As a Senior Product Designer at TikTok, Lai led end-to-end user experience initiatives that impacted hundreds of millions of users worldwide. She is known for innovating with an understanding of people and culture, effectively bridging users and technology through thoughtful design. From developing AI-driven ad platforms at TikTok to championing inclusive design at international conferences, Lai has built a portfolio that connects technological advancement with cultural and human considerations.
With these accomplishments, Yueling Lai is increasingly seen as an emerging global voice in product design, UX strategy, and cross-cultural innovation. Her appointment to the CES Innovation Awards jury this year is being framed as part of a larger narrative: the expanding role of designers in guiding the future of tech. Having a designer of Lai’s caliber on the panel signals that CES, long known for its engineering marvels and gadget debuts, is placing greater weight on human-centric, culturally resonant design in evaluating innovation. Industry observers say this trend is unmistakable: today’s groundbreaking tech products are judged not only on their technical specs but also on how elegantly they solve real human problems and adapt to diverse cultural contexts. In fact, the very recognition of projects like AlzCare (Lai’s Red Dot-honored caregiving app) was noted as a broader shift in the design landscape – a growing understanding that the most meaningful innovations are those rooted in empathy and aimed at the greater good. Lai’s prominence on high-profile juries like CES underscores this shift. It exemplifies how the tech industry’s definition of innovation is evolving to include design that is globally relevant and deeply user-focused, not just cutting-edge in technology. Her cross-cultural design perspective suggests that future consumer tech will be evaluated on its ability to connect with people’s lives and values in a universal yet locally meaningful way.
About CES and CES Innovation Awards:
CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is the world’s largest technology trade show. The CES 2026 will take place from January 6 to 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada, recognizing the most breakthrough technology from around the world. CES 2026 is expected to have approximately 150,000 attendees and 4,100 exhibitors. The world-renowned CES Innovation Awards® program is an annual competition recognizing outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products. An independent panel of judges from industry design, engineering, and media fields evaluates entries across 36 categories based on innovation, functionality, aesthetics, and design.
