STORY: Young entrepreneurs ride Hong Kong's startup wave
DATELINE: July 6, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:03
LOCATION: HONG KONG, China
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Hong Kong Science Park
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): KELVIN TANG, Co-founder and CEO of PONS.ai
3. various of Kelvin Tang working with his colleagues
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): NICOLE LIN, Director of external partnerships of HK InnoX Academy
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): KELVIN TANG, Co-founder and CEO of PONS.ai
6. various of visitors at Hong Kong Science Park

STORYLINE:

Entrepreneurship is increasingly an alternative option for young people in Hong Kong, as the city improves its startup ecosystem to boost entrepreneurship and innovation.

According to InvestHK, the city's investment promotional agency, the number of startups in Hong Kong and the number of staff they employed reached a record high in 2022.

In 2019, Kelvin Tang quit his high-paying executive tech job in London and came back to Hong Kong.

Two years later, Tang launched PONS.ai, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered art tech marketing platform.

Now, his company is tapping into the giant global e-commerce market by offering merchants AI-generated digital art, images, short videos and social media captions to better market themselves.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): KELVIN TANG, Co-founder and CEO of PONS.ai
"I've always wanted to start my own business, so I combined my background with my passion, which is scientific innovation, business and creativity, to set up a company that provides value to society."

Nicole Lin with the HK InnoX Academy, a non-profit institution with a focus on educating entrepreneurs, said that Hong Kong has its own competitive edge in developing the science and technology sector.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): NICOLE LIN, Director of external partnerships of HK InnoX Academy
"There have been 18 unicorn firms with 'Hong Kong genes.' Based on their performances, we found that they all follow a similar path: they were born or incubated in Hong Kong, grew up with the help of resources in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and expanded into global markets."

Tang is optimistic about the prospects of Hong Kong as an international innovation and technology hub.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): KELVIN TANG, Co-founder and CEO of PONS.ai
"I think people should have confidence in Hong Kong entrepreneurs. I believe entrepreneurs in Hong Kong can extend their business to a global level and build powerful companies in the world."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Hong Kong, China.
(XHTV)