Shenzhen to be built as city of ‘makers’

The Shenzhen Forum was held in Shenzhen, south of China's Guangdong Province on April 18, 2015. [Photo by Wang Mengru/China.org.cn]

At the Shenzhen Forum, held in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province on April 18, 2015, guests discussed the meaning of a ‘maker.’

Those taking part in the forum included Deputy mayor of Shenzhen Tang Jie, Robert J. O’Neill, Jr., executive director of ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, and Gao Yunfeng, chairman of Han’s Laser.

‘Makers’ are a decentralized global community of do-it-yourself hardware designers, tinkerers, hobbyists, inventors, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who simply aim to make things. They tend to have a strong commitment to the open sharing of knowledge; open source design and code; cross-discipline collaboration, transparency, and reusing and repairing objects rather than buying new; and creating new things by building onto existing technologies.

“A Maker needs curiosity,” said Robert J. O’Neill, Jr., “Adaptability and innovation within an organization is accomplished by integrating people with different perspectives, cultures and disciplines.”

Gao Yunfeng asked why ‘makers’ would be successful in Shenzhen. Shenzhen has good establishments, excellent talents and convenient connections with Hong Kong. It’s the best place for trials, which make an idea into a product.

At the Davos Economic Forum in 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that the government was loosening its control on market regulation and strengthening supervision, in order to create an environment for fair competition in the market, which would encourage a new boom in grassroots entrepreneurship and mass innovation. The government is trying to help individuals fulfill their own goals, which will transform the demographic dividend into a talent dividend in China.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the Chaihuo Maker Space, a hardware development platform for makers, in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, on Jan. 4, 2015. Li called on Chaihuo to show the nation's growing commitment to supporting grassroots innovation and the budding maker movement that is producing it.

“Currently, Shenzhen is the most active city in venture capital and private equity investment in China, so the city can support, embrace and understand ‘makers,’” Tang Jie said at the forum.

‘Makers’ also should learn to share, and they need a restless, youthful spirit, to cultivate their abilities through practice, and keep creative and imaginative. Shenzhen is to be built as the city of makers.