CEDIA Expo/CIX continues to play a central role in shaping product direction across the custom integration industry, and for URC, the 2025 show proved to be a turning point.
In a recent CE Pro interview, URC executives described how walking the CEDIA Expo/CIX floor and engaging directly with integrators helped spark the company’s latest AI-driven initiatives, including its new circadian rhythm lighting capabilities within URC Total Control. Rather than treating the trade show solely as a launch platform, the team viewed the show as a working laboratory for understanding where automation is falling short and where it must go next.
According to URC, dealer conversations at the show revealed a growing disconnect between system capability and real-world deployment. While lighting, shading, and wellness technologies were gaining momentum on the show floor, many integrators expressed frustration with complexity, programming time, and fragmented circadian implementations tied to specific lighting brands. Those discussions helped shape URC’s decision to develop a control-driven circadian solution that operates across multiple lighting ecosystems without additional dealer configuration.
The interview also highlights how the Expo provided broader inspiration beyond lighting. URC leaders pointed to the expanding role of low-voltage lighting, wellness-focused systems, and sensor-driven automation as signs that the industry is shifting away from pure “control” toward true environmental automation. That shift reinforced URC’s long-term AI strategy, which focuses on reducing user interaction, simplifying dealer workflows, and allowing systems to adapt automatically based on context, time, and conditions.
URC emphasized that CEDIA Expo remains uniquely valuable because it brings together manufacturers, integrators, and emerging technology providers in one environment. For product teams, that face-to-face exposure accelerates learning in ways remote feedback cannot. As URC looks ahead to future CEDIA Expos, the company sees the show not just as a venue to display innovation, but as a key driver behind it.
