APIA, Samoa, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Phemex, a user-first crypto exchange, has introduced the Elite Trader Recruitment Program, an initiative aimed at supporting professional traders who use copy trading to distribute their strategies to a broader user base. The program is designed to provide traders with structured incentives, platform support, and visibility, while encouraging more systematic and sustainable trading practices.

The Elite Trader Recruitment Program provides professional traders with a structured route to scale strategy-based trading on Phemex without significant upfront capital. Participants can deploy platform-issued trading bonuses instead of personal funds, earn performance-based rewards of up to 2,000 USDT per month, and access a dual revenue model combining up to 30% profit sharing from copiers with up to 30% commission rebates on copy trading volume. By tying incentives directly to execution quality and sustained performance, the framework is designed to support repeatable income generation rather than short-term trading outcomes.

The program is underpinned by Phemex’s copy trading infrastructure, which includes smart execution controls, customizable copying parameters, real-time performance data access, and support for both USDT and USDC trading pairs. Risk-mitigation measures such as 100% loss compensation for copiers during their first month aim to reduce early participation friction, while selective copying permissions and API access allow traders to maintain strategic control. Combined with VIP access, priority support, and structured visibility within Phemex’s copy trading marketplace, the initiative reflects a broader platform approach that positions professional traders as long-term partners, emphasizing alignment, transparency, and sustainability across the trading ecosystem.

“The next stage of crypto trading is about turning skill into scalable trust,” said Federico Variola, CEO of Phemex. “Copy trading allows strong strategies to be validated in real market conditions and shared globally. Our goal is to give professional traders the infrastructure, incentives, and protection needed to build long-term value — for themselves and for the users who follow them.”

About Phemex
Founded in 2019, Phemex is a user-first crypto exchange trusted by over 10 million traders worldwide. The platform offers spot and derivatives trading, copy trading, and wealth management products designed to prioritize user experience, transparency, and innovation. With a forward-thinking approach and a commitment to user empowerment, Phemex delivers reliable tools, inclusive access, and evolving opportunities for traders at every level to grow and succeed.

For more information, please visit: https://phemex.com/

BEIJING, Jan. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Nowadays, the majority of users are no longer unfamiliar with AI text-to-video technology. On various social media platforms, creative videos using AI technology, such as dancing kittens, “AI Shelter”, and “AI comic-style selfies”, have long been commonplace.

October 2025, the debut of Sora2 catapulted the popularity of AI video to a new peak. Different from previous AI creations, this new-generation video model from OpenAI boasts more powerful simulation capabilities and multi-shot narrative techniques, and is regarded by the industry as the “GPT-3.5 of video”. Sora2 also introduced the “Cameo” feature, which allows users to create digital avatars and integrate them into various AI-generated scenarios. This move has once again ignited the public’s enthusiasm for using AI technology to create creative memes. On TikTok, the #sora2 hashtag has already amassed over 300,000 videos after more than a month.

“Sora2 has a certain iconic status and can be said to be the DeepSeek of the video field. Suddenly, it has made many people aware that the capabilities of video models are now so powerful, and they are all interested in giving it a try.” Zhang Jin, co-founder of TikTok data service provider EchoTik, told the media: “However, the network is an obstacle. Sora2 is currently only available in the US and Canada, and ordinary domestic users still cannot directly experience its technology. As a digital marketing enterprise that has served Chinese overseas merchants for over three years, EchoTik was the first to connect to Sora2’s API.”

In October 2025, the video tool CreatOK.ai (https://creatok.ai) of the EchoTik team was officially launched. It not only deeply integrates the capabilities of Sora2 but also continuously integrates more advanced models such as Veo3 and Nano Banana, providing users with diverse visual generation options to meet the needs of different scenarios and styles. CreatOK.ai (https://creatok.ai) deeply integrates cutting-edge text-to-video capabilities with e-commerce practical needs, with its core focusing on two major modules: “one-click generation of product explanation videos from product images” and “replication of popular video scripts”.

Currently, the clients of CreatOk.ai (https://creatok.ai) are mainly TikTok sellers and service agencies. According to EchoTik’s insights, there are many small teams in the TikTok industry that expand overseas at low cost through “technology”. They mainly use methods such as mixed editing and AI videos to operate TikTok account matrices in batches.

After opening the “5 free video generations” experience quota to newly registered users and quickly lowering the threshold for user experience, CreatOK has received market feedback far exceeding expectations: after the product was launched, not only did the number of users grow rapidly, but their behavioral data also revealed strong signals of dependence – the average number of videos generated per user quickly climbed from the initial 1 to exhausting the free quota, and stabilized at over 5. This means that most users are not just “trying out,” but after in-depth use, they have truly incorporated AI videos into their workflows. Its paid conversion rate has quickly caught up with the team’s mature core product, EchoTik, confirming that merchants are willing to continuously pay for AI productivity that truly improves efficiency.

A leading seller in the TikTok industry who has fully launched their account through AI videos revealed to EchoTik that during the major promotion season at the end of 2025, CreatOK.ai helped them significantly improve their content creation efficiency. Now, only 5 people are needed to complete the hundreds of videos that previously required 20 people to manually edit every day. This scalable content creation capability is changing the game between small and medium-sized sellers and the platform. On platforms like TikTok, where the content ecosystem is still in its growth phase, a vast amount of AI-generated content that meets quality standards is sufficient to capture a significant share of market attention.

Moreover, thanks to the “One-click Duplicate of Blockbuster” feature, blockbuster templates can be directly applied, resulting in a significant improvement in the video’s script structure, oral endorsement quality, and visual authenticity. The resulting increase in sales is directly reflected in the data results: during the “Black Friday Cyber Monday” period, the highest sales amount of a single video reached a record high of $30,000.

Merchants of different sizes have distinct demands for AI videos, which in turn determine the design direction of the tools.

For CreatOK’s core customer group – small and medium-sized sellers, their needs are more practical and direct: product testing, replicating popular items, and rapid delivery. “They respond faster, are more flexible in organization, and are extremely sensitive to the input-output ratio of tools,” CreatOK.ai analyzed. Therefore, CreatOK deliberately lowered the usage threshold, avoided complex parameter adjustments, and focused its functions on the shortest closed loop of “input product – obtain video – test data”.

The core requirement of brand merchants is to replace high-cost advertising production. The production cost of traditional TVCs (television commercials) can reach thousands of yuan per second, while the API cost of using models such as Sora2 is only between a few cents and a few dollars per second. What they need is an “AI studio” that can directly convert creative copy into high-quality shots. “Currently, due to the limitations of model capabilities, generating a video that fully meets expectations still requires luck. However, we have noticed that many brands also use CreatOK to conduct disassembly and analysis of competing products’ advertising videos and incorporate this step into their workflow.” the CreatOK team said.

This demand stratification is also reflected in the content evaluation dimension. For sellers pursuing conversion, the “real human feel” and “product consistency” of videos are directly related to trust and order fulfillment; while the “oral endorsement quality” and “script structure” that affect the playback volume can be better achieved through AI. CreatOK’s strategy is to prioritize ensuring the latter two while continuously iterating on the technology of the former two.

“Currently, most tools still address issues in a single link and have not yet formed a one-stop workflow from market insight, script creation, video generation to delivery optimization.” In the face of these pain points, CreatOK has been exploring the direction of iteration. However, at the same time, the team predicts that the development trend of AI video is optimistic, and it will surely restructure industrial relationships in the future, especially cooperation with influencers. AI video is weakening merchants’ pure shooting dependence on mid-tier influencers. In the future, the cooperation model may shift to purchasing “digital portrait rights,” where merchants obtain the right to use infinitely referable digital avatars, and influencers gain more sustainable IP licensing revenue. This is undoubtedly a technological dividend for small and medium-sized sellers with limited budgets and a pursuit of time-to-production ratio.

To more precisely translate creativity into AI instructions and help merchants improve video generation efficiency, CreatOK.AI officially launched the AI prompt writing tool – “Creative Flywheel” ( https://www.creatok.ai/inspiration-hub ) at the beginning of 2026. This tool covers nine major creative categories such as visual, promotional, rational persuasion, aesthetic healing, authoritative interpretation, and reverse marketing, and innovatively supports the switching between the dual perspectives of sellers and buyers. Combining the capabilities of large multi-text models, it can intelligently adapt to the cultures and consumption habits of 25 mainstream countries and regions worldwide, helping merchants quickly generate product promotion video copy that meets localization needs, making creative expression more precise and video output more efficient.

“The level of understanding and mastery of AI video workflows will become a new dividing line between ordinary sellers and professional sellers.” An industry insider predicted to CreatOK: “To obtain the traffic dividend, it does not depend on whether you have the most cutting-edge models, but on whether you can quickly combine AI’s ‘generative capabilities’ with e-commerce’s ‘conversion logic’ and implement them rapidly.”

In the future, the evolution of AI video will surely reshape the content ecosystem, influencer collaboration, and traffic distribution rules. But all transformations start from a simple beginning: making tools work for you.

Enhanced Summer Academy to Empower Next Generation of Talent

HONG KONG, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The University of Chicago Hong Kong Campus announced the expansion of its 2026 Summer Academy, introducing three new programs to equip the next generation of talent with skills needed to thrive in an increasingly disruptive environment.

The three new programs are:

• Introduction to Chicago Economics: An introduction to macroeconomic theory and policy, combining lectures, discussions, and data analysis to help participants think like economists and apply theory to real-world challenges.
• Introduction to Game Studies and Game Design: An immersion into the study and design of games, combining theory, cultural analysis, and hands-on creation, designed to prepare participants for deeper exploration in media arts and related disciplines.
• Introduction to Legal Reasoning & Analysis: A program that introduces participants to the foundations of legal education, blending theory, philosophy, and practical reasoning. This program is ideal for participants considering whether to pursue a degree in law.

Together with its existing programs in Data Science and Public Policy, the UChicago Hong Kong Campus is launching a total of five programs in 2026. Program participants are eligible for the UChicago Summer Session Early Notification (SSEN) option, a binding early admissions pathway to the University of Chicago for high school seniors who have previously completed a UChicago Pre-College Summer Session program. This option allows eligible students to receive an early admission decision after submitting their full application, reducing the stress of waiting, providing earlier financial aid awards to ensure affordability, and making their senior year of high school more enjoyable.

Elizabeth O’Neill, Executive Director (Interim) of the UChicago Hong Kong Campus, said: “We are excited to introduce these new programs, which further broaden the knowledge and training essential for the next generation of talent. The design of the Summer Academy reflects our commitment to equipping future leaders with the skills they need to thrive: a blend of analytical thinking, strategic reasoning, and creative problem-solving. By expanding our Summer Academy, we are offering participants a close-to-home, UChicago-style learning experience that prepares them to succeed in a world defined by innovation and change.”

Launched by the UChicago Hong Kong Campus in 2024, the Summer Academy offers high school participants a rigorous academic experience. Programs are taught by University of Chicago faculty and emphasize critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and real-world application. Program participants gain exposure to diverse disciplines while developing the intellectual agility to address complex challenges across society, policy, economics and technology.

Details about the 2026 Summer Academy are:

• Date: July 13 – July 31, 2026 (three weeks)
• Location: The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex |
  The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong
  168 Victoria Road
  Mount Davis, Hong Kong Island
  Hong Kong SAR
• Who can apply: High school students
• Application deadline:
  • Early bird application: Now – February 28, 2026
  • Regular application: March 1 – April 15, 2026
• Application submission method: Please see the 2026 Summer Academy webpage for details
• Enquiries: hkprograms@uchicago.edu

SHANGHAI, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — For decades, visiting Shanghai meant following a familiar set of stops: the Bund at sunset, a stroll through Yuyuan Garden, perhaps a first glimpse of the skyline from Pudong. Increasingly, though, the city wants travelers to move beyond the checklist — and to describe Shanghai in their own words.

That shift is on display in a citywide tourism guide competition launched last November, which invited participants to document how they experience Shanghai, from classic sightseeing routes to more personal, idiosyncratic discoveries. In less than two months, the contest drew more than 8,900 submissions, many of them shared widely online, with related videos and posts viewed hundreds of millions of times.

Rather than focusing solely on travel agencies and industry influencers, the competition opened its doors to the public, placing curated itineraries alongside accounts shaped by everyday experiences — neighborhood walks, food discoveries, and encounters that don’t always appear in traditional guidebooks. Together, they offered a portrait of a city that is at once well known and still in the process of being rediscovered.

The timing is deliberate. As the Lunar New Year approaches, Shanghai has rolled out a dense calendar of events across the city, including thousands of cultural activities and performances, accompanied by seasonal promotions from attractions, hotels, guesthouses, and travel agencies. The aim is less about drawing visitors for a single landmark than about encouraging longer stays and repeat visits, particularly during one of China’s busiest travel periods.

What emerges from these efforts is a broader recalibration of how the city presents itself to travelers, both from within China and abroad. By encouraging visitors to explore beyond established routes — and to share what they find — Shanghai is betting that personal stories can carry more weight than official narratives.

In doing so, the city is aligning itself with a wider shift in global travel, where tourists increasingly seek experiences that feel specific, lived-in, and worth retelling. For Shanghai, the hope is that these stories linger well beyond the trip itself, shaping how the city is remembered — and why travelers choose to return.

• Novel TL1A/IL23p19 bispecific antibody targets drivers of disease pathogenesis to overcome the efficacy ceiling in inflammatory bowel disease.
• License and collaboration agreement strengthen Boehringer’s inflammatory disease pipeline with a potential, first-in-class, pre-clinical asset.
• Boehringer receives global rights to the asset, excluding greater China; Simcere is eligible to receive payments of up to EUR 1,058 million

SHANGHAI, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. (“Simcere”) (HKEX: 2096) and Boehringer Ingelheim, today announced a license and collaboration agreement to develop SIM0709, a pre-clinical TL1A/IL23p19 bispecific antibody from Simcere, for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Globally, it is estimated that more than three million people are affected by IBD, a lifelong, progressive condition leading to frequent hospitalization and surgeries, significantly impacting patients’ quality of life. Current medical options cannot fully prevent or reverse these complications, leaving a clear unmet need. Through this partnership, Boehringer and Simcere aim to advance an innovative approach to potentially redefine treatment possibilities and improve outcomes for patients worldwide.

SIM0709 is a long-acting humanized bispecific antibody developed by Simcere using its proprietary multi-specific antibody platform. It simultaneously targets tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 15 (TL1A) and interleukin-23 (IL-23), thereby blocking two core pathways that drive the onset and progression of IBD. Both in vitro primary cell studies and in vivo animal studies, SIM0709 demonstrated superior synergistic efficacy, even outperforming the combination of the two corresponding monotherapies.

Carine Boustany, US Innovation Unit Site Head and Global Head of Immunology and Respiratory Diseases at Boehringer Ingelheim said, “In IBD, too many patients continue to progress and experience severe complications despite currently available anti-inflammatory therapies. We are excited to join forces with Simcere to accelerate the development of this therapeutic as a potential life changing option for patients living with IBD.”

“Simcere’s bispecific antibody SIM0709 was engineered with our proprietary multi-specific antibody platform with first-in-class potential for IBD treatment. Partnering with Boehringer Ingelheim, with its long‑term commitment and deep expertise in immunology, positions the compound for rigorous global development,” said Gaobo Zhou, Chief Investment Officer, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group. “Together we aim to accelerate the clinical development and advance a treatment option that could improve outcomes for patients world-wide affected by IBD.”

Under the terms of the agreement Boehringer receives global rights to the asset, excluding greater China. Simcere is eligible to receive an upfront payment as well as success-based development, regulatory and sales milestones up to EUR 1,058 million, as well as royalties on net sales outside of the Greater China territory.

This marks Simcere’s second out- licensing transaction in the autoimmune field. As of January 2026, Simcere has completed a total of 5 out-licensing deals for its self-developed novel drug technologies, with a total potential transaction value of approximately $4.6 billion.

About Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited（2096.HK）is a pharmaceutical company driven by innovation and focusing on four therapeutic areas including Neuroscience, Oncology, Autoimmune Diseases and Anti-infection. We proactively explore areas with significant unmet needs, and our mission is For patients, for life. Driven by our in-house R&D efforts and synergistic innovation, Simcere has established strategic cooperation partnerships with many innovative companies and research institutes. Learn more at www.simcere.com.

About Boehringer Ingelheim

Boehringer Ingelheim is a biopharmaceutical company active in both human and animal health. As one of the industry’s top investors in research and development, the company focuses on developing innovative therapies that can improve and extend lives in areas of high unmet medical need. Independent since its foundation in 1885, Boehringer takes a long-term perspective, embedding sustainability along the entire value chain. Our approximately 54,500 employees serve over 130 markets to build a healthier and more sustainable tomorrow. Learn more at www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.