CES 2024: Hong Kong start-ups attract interest from Microsoft, Best Buy amid overseas push
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stopped by the booth of a start-up at the Hong Kong pavilion that makes an AI-powered belt to guide blind people
- Other start-ups say they have received interest at the show from retailers and other potential partners as Hong Kong firms look overseas
Last Tuesday, the first day of the trade show in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella swung by the Tech Hong Kong pavilion to chat with AI Guided, a company that makes a belt with haptic feedback for obstacle detection, helping to guide the blind.
“Microsoft really supports accessibility technology,” said Steve Kong, co-founder and chief technology officer of AI Guided. “The dream of our company is that in three to five years … visually impaired people can have some hands-free experience to navigate the world.”
AI Guided is one of 20 Hong Kong-based companies exhibiting with the city’s start-up pavilion this year, a big improvement over the eight that exhibited last year because of the last-minute lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
Even leading up to the show, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP) said 40 companies applied to exhibit in the Eureka Park start-up area, a marked improvement over previous years, according to H L Yiu, corporate development officer for HKSTP, which runs the pavilion.
“We had to make some selection of companies that have more of a mature level of readiness in terms of being ready to sell,” Yiu said in an interview. “We really mean to help them get new business.”
