Foreigners in Shenzhen: once upon a time crazy cottage and now leads the innovation-Shenzhen-IT information

Editor's Note: the writer Wade Shepard, for "Ghost Cities of China" (ghost town in China) and author. At present, Shepard is China, South Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and European travel for the next book, "the new Silk Road" collecting material.

Shenzhen, over the years, has become an indispensable high technology design and manufacturing centres in the world, was given a variety of names: "factory of the world" and "New Silicon Valley" and "Builders dream town" and so on. In Shenzhen, no doubt, has a very competitive environment, and various electronic product production stage all the elements you need are here.

This advantage, let Shenzhen be a large high technology enterprises and emerging startups and independent innovators in droves of treasure, they come from around the world and look forward to more access to their products quickly and efficiently. Technology giants such as Huawei, ZTE, and Tencent, from here to the world, and more companies will go from here to the world stage.

Shenzhen is also planning after the reform and opening up, China's first special economic zones. 35 years ago, a blank, between scattered small villages scattered around the farm, more than 30,000 farmers looking out across the economy to take off all the way to Hong Kong. Today, this metropolis of 12 million people in all aspects and the once great rival neighbor. The speed and scale of development in Shenzhen, is unprecedented.

It is said that 90% of the world's electronic products made in Shenzhen. Thousands of factories, more than 5,000 products Integrator, coupled with thousands of Design Department, the city is well deserved all containing circuit boards, chips, LED with touch-screen and other components of electronic products one-stop production. In addition, SOHO China 20% Dr, has the highest proportion of business owners, out of the billionaires ranked first in China. In 2014, the Economist magazine said that Shenzhen is the best hardware innovation world.

Shenzhen electronics industry the key turning point in mobile phones in the world-wide popularity. In 2003, Motorola and Nokia dominate the cell phone market. When mobile phone is expensive, special prices can be as high as 600 to 800 dollars. Then, in Shenzhen. Due to the design, production, greatly reduce the cost and shipping to global, manufacturer in Shenzhen for less than $ 100 in price gave away the original market monopolies. Since then, cell phones are widely accepted, suddenly opened new markets, even the hot demand for mobile phones has continued to this day.

However, no one can match Bunnie Huang understanding of Shenzhen's electronics ecosystems. As a high-tech innovation officer, Bunnie Huang brought the world's first open source notebook computer--Chumby, he was also Wired the Shenzhen electronic manufacturing empire series, one of the stars.

Bunnie from Michigan, in Singapore a coffee Museum in an interview, he said: "probably around the year 2006, 2007, and everybody said, ' If you want to manufacture cheap things, then go to China. ' And then I bought a ticket out. They say there is a place called Shenzhen, is worth a visit. Oh, that might have never heard of. Then look on the map and see what the hell is this place. ”

Market

In fact, after two or three times I went to Shenzhen huaqiang North learned for the first time. At the time of drinking and chatting with a friend, he said, "I heard that a place called China, there is a phone, and a number of strange things. "And I am curious to go, then stunned:" lying trough, I can't believe I never knew about this place! 30 years live in vain. ”

"This was the edge of the city," Bunnie explained, "nobody would have thought here. Futian District, most people will go to the Center. Technology boom became a software Center, Nanshan District, Futian District became a hardware Center, and then the two suddenly appreciated, where are all crowded. ”

Most of the manufacturers in Shenzhen, it is in these places, to sell their products, raw materials, exchange of experiences.

Ecosystem

Shenzhen had tens of thousands of similar underground, decentralized network of factories and design departments, their business model billed as "shanzhai".

David Li said: "Motorola and Nokia will decline? Apple do you think killed them ... ... Is actually fake. ”

Fake word appeared in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, began to describe the parody of, intended to smear China's cheap products. In fact, the cottage is just the ecosystem of derivatives in this ecosystem, product-selling manufacturers what to produce. Because of the design, materials, production technology is no secret here, coupled with people's disregard for intellectual property, these manufacturers to develop, manufacture, delivery, and then quickly gain market feedback, this fast, almost beyond the reach of official brand. Considering that in Shenzhen, such companies with 25,000 or more, is occupying one-fourth of the global mobile phone market supply, and at the same time production and supply many other electronic products, this power should not be underestimated.

However, the cottage not just copying and sale, for example, the most realistic fake iPhone, its internal components, or the production process, often involve innovation.

"These people are always thinking about how imitation high-end customized goods at low cost," Bunnie explains, "but people tend to ignore it. They only see the knockoff, marvel at lifelike fake products and low cost, ultimately still saw it as a cheap knockoffs of high-end products, ignoring knockoff behind stunning innovation and low-cost ability to create products. ”

To the fortress derives the innovation, in fact, there are many. Dual SIM card, dual mode, loud speakers, a built-in money detector light, pointing to Mecca for Muslim users "compass", the large capacity battery standby time up to one week, and so on.

From the cottage to the global innovation leader

"But now, Chinese cottage original phone manufacturers," Bunnie explains, "xiaomi and other large company growth from this cottage culture, once out of the fortress, and stop imitating other people's products, began to produce their own legitimate products, free them from the shanzhai culture. ”

Cottage in Shenzhen eco-system, we already see a lot of the world's leading brand of innovation is on the rise. Just five years ago, China electronic equipment manufacturers to outsiders is nothing but cheap knockoff, whose only advantage is cheap not cheap products. At that time, China 70% smart phone on the market from three foreign brands. Now, everything's changed. In China, the top ten hottest Smartphone brands, eight from China-the eight brands, there are three ranks within the top six in the world. Quality improvement and a better marketing Chinese brand to be recognized by society, have "made in China" stigma has since evaporated. Chinese brands, are on the rise.

Huawei, millet and step by step, cell phone sales in the year was 108 million, 70 million and more than 100 million.

Constructor

Jackie Wu, hardware innovators when it comes to Shenzhen, said: "here, can be seen everywhere in a positive and pragmatic attitude, new products and more efficient production processes, and so on, all in the pursuit of new ideas, products and markets. ”

As China is a highly developed and mature high-tech areas in transition, with a new way to explore the source of innovation and economic growth is very important. This inspired DIY hardware designers, thinkers, innovators, and entrepreneurs looking for radically new things.

Bunnie says: "China is like, ' we're going to keep the economy growing, but what should we do to keep the economic growth? ' No answer, so let us try to find new and innovative points. No Government dares to hold reforms in Shenzhen for his achievements. So, when creating movement in United States Shi, they will find a primary brand from Western ecosystems have lagged behind. ”

Finally, Shenzhen also provided a lot of support and help for grass-roots innovations, including creative studios, low interest or interest-free loans, technology exhibition and a large amount of media attention. Came into being the Startup Accelerator, such as Hax, open innovation lab in Shenzhen and the hackerspace, the accelerator is to go to Shenzhen for entrepreneurial innovators from around the world to help.

老外看深圳：从前疯狂山寨，如今引领创新 - 深圳 - IT资讯

编者注：本文作者Wade Shepard，为“Ghost Cities of China”（中国之鬼城）一书作者。目前，Shepard正在中国、中亚地区、南亚地区、高加索地区以及欧洲一带旅行，为下一本书“新丝绸之路”搜集素材。

深圳，这些年来，已然成为一个不可忽视的全球高端科技设计与制造中心，被冠以各种名称：“世界工厂”、“新硅谷”，以及“制造者梦之城”等等。深圳，毫无疑问，有着极具竞争力的生态环境，各个电子产品生产阶段需要的所有元素，都能在这里获得。

这一优势，让深圳成为大型高端科技企业、新兴创业公司和独立创新者趋之若鹜的宝地，他们从世界各地慕名而来，期待在这里更加快速高效地获得自己的产品。科技巨头如华为、中兴以及腾讯，都从这里走向世界，未来也将有更多的公司从这里走向世界舞台。

深圳，也是中国改革开放后规划的首批经济特区。35年前，这里一片荒芜，小村庄零星散落在农田之间，3万多农民遥望着对面的经济一路腾飞的香港。如今，这座拥有1200万人口的大都市在各个方面都能与曾经辉煌的邻居匹敌。深圳的发展速度和规模，史无前例。

有人说，全球90%的电子产品在深圳制造。成千上万的工厂，5000多个产品集成商，再加上数千个设计部门，这座城市当之无愧是所有包含电路板、芯片、LED还有触摸屏等部件的电子产品的一站式生产点。除此之外，这里聚集了全中国20%的博士，拥有最高人口比例的企业主，走出的亿万富豪人数位居中国第一。2014年，《经济学人》杂志称，深圳是硬件创新者的最佳天地。

深圳电子产业的关键转折始于手机在全球范围内的普及。2003年，诺基亚和摩托罗拉称霸手机市场。那时候的手机价格不菲，特制手机价格更是高达600到800美元。接着，深圳出现了。由于设计、生产，乃至运送到全球的成本大幅降低，深圳的制造商用低于100美元的手机价格狠狠地甩开了原有的市场垄断者。从此，手机被广泛接受，新的市场豁然打开，甚至人们对手机的火热需求一直延续到了今天。

然而，没有人能比Bunnie Huang更加了解深圳的电子生态系统。作为一名高科技创新人员，Bunnie Huang带来了世界首台开源笔记本电脑——Chumby，他也是Wired制作的深圳电子制造帝国系列纪录片中的一位明星人物。

Bunnie来自密歇根，在新加坡某一咖啡小馆接受采访时，他回忆说：“大概是2006、2007年左右，每个人都在说‘要是你想制造便宜的东西，那就去中国。’然后我就买了票出发了。他们说有个地方叫深圳，值得一去。哦，好像从没听过啊。那就在地图上找找，看看这到底是什么地方。”

市场

其实，去了深圳两三次后我才第一次了解到华强北。在跟一个朋友喝酒聊天时，他说，“我听说有个叫华强什么的地方，那里到处都是手机，和一些奇奇怪怪的东西。”然后我好奇地去了，到那之后完全惊呆了：“卧槽，我居然一直都不知道有这个地方！三十年简直白活了啊。”

“这里曾是城市的边缘，”Bunnie解释说，“没人会想到这里。大多数人都会去福田这些中心地带。技术潮让南山区成了软件中心，福田区成了硬件中心，然后这两个地方突然地价升值，所有人都往那里挤。”

大部分深圳的制造商，就是在这些地方，销售他们的产品、原材料，互相交流经验。

生态系统

深圳有着几万个类似地下、分散式网络的工厂和设计部门，他们的商业模式被外界称为“山寨”。

David Li说：“摩托罗拉和诺基亚为什么会衰败？你觉得是苹果干掉了他们……其实是山寨。”

山寨一词，出现于2008年北京奥运会之前，一开始用来形容拙劣的模仿，意在诋毁中国的廉价产品。其实，山寨不过是这个生态系统下的衍生物品，在这个生态系统里，什么产品畅销制造商们就生产什么。由于设计、物料清单、生产工艺在这里都不是秘密，再加上人们对知识产权的无视，这些制造商开发、生产、发货，然后迅速获得市场反馈，这一切速度之快，官方品牌几乎无法企及。考虑到在深圳有25000家甚至越来越多的此类公司，正占领着全球手机市场四分之一的供应量，以及同时生产供应大量其他电子产品，这股力量不容小觑。

但是，山寨不只是抄袭和削价，比如，最逼真的山寨iPhone，它的内部零件或者生产流程，往往包含了创新。

“这些人总在思索如何以低成本仿制高端定制货，”Bunnie解释说，“然而，人们往往忽视了这一点。他们只看到了山寨货，惊叹于山寨品的逼真和低成本，归根结底仍视其为高端产品的一个廉价仿制品，却忽视了山寨货背后，令人惊叹的创新和用低成本创造产品的能力。”

要说山寨衍生出的创新，其实有很多。比如双卡双待模式、大音量扬声器、内置验钞光线、针对穆斯林用户的指向麦加的“指南针”，待机时间超过一周的大容量电池等等。

从山寨到全球创新领导者

“但是现在，中国的山寨已然转向原装手机制造商，”Bunnie进而解释道，“小米科技和其他大公司从这种山寨文化中生长，一旦脱离了山寨，不再模仿别人的产品，开始生产自己的合法产品时，他们便从山寨文化中解放。”

在深圳的山寨生态系统之外，我们已经看到不少全球领先的创新优势品牌正在崛起。就在五年前，中国的当地电子设备制造商在外人看来不过是廉价的冒牌者，他们的唯一优势就是便宜得不能再便宜的产品。那时候，中国市场上70%的智能手机来自三大国外品牌。如今，一切都变了。在中国，最热门的十大智能手机品牌中，有八个来自中国——这个八个品牌中，有三个甚至在全球排名居前六之内。质量的提升和更合理的营销使得中国品牌重获社会认可，曾经“中国制造”的耻辱早已烟消云散。中国品牌，正在崛起。

华为、小米还有步步高，如今每年的手机销量分别为1.08亿部、7000万部和1亿多部。

制造商

Jackie Wu，硬件创新人员在谈及深圳时表示：“在这里，到处都能看到一种积极、务实的态度，新的产品、更加高效的生产流程等等，每个人都在追求新的理念、产品和市场。”

随着中国正在向一个高度发展、更成熟的高新科技领域转型，以新的方式探索源创新和经济增长显得尤为重要。这激励了自己动手型硬件设计师、思想者、创新者以及企业家们从根本上寻找新事物。

Bunnie说：“中国现在就好比，‘我们要保持经济增长，但是我们该怎么保持经济增长呢？’没有答案，那么就让我们试着寻找新的创新点。没有政府人员敢把深圳的改革揽为自己的政绩。所以，当创客运动出现在美国时，他们会发现一个来自西方生态系统的原生品牌已经落后了。”

最后，深圳还为基层创新提供了大量的支持与帮助，包括创新工作室、低息或免息贷款、技术展览会以及大量的媒体关注。应运而生的还有创业加速器，比如Hax、深圳开放创新实验室以及创客空间，这些加速器正为从世界各地前往深圳寻求的创业创新者提供帮助。