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Hacking the future
破解未来
Shenzhen has become the world capital for hardware entrepreneurs. Navi Cohen is the co-founder of Revols, a Canadian startup developing affordable, custom-fitted headphones. His firm raised a fortune on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding site. When it tried to develop its product in Montreal, it found things slow and expensive, so it moved to Shenzhen, where supplies were cheap and factories made prototypes quickly. It is now in production.
深圳已成为全球硬件创业者之都。纳维·科恩是开发经济型定制耳机的加拿大初创企业Rovels的联合创始人。他的公司在众筹网站Kickstarter筹到一大笔资金。这家公司曾希望在蒙特利尔开发产品,但是耗时耗资,所以公司就搬迁到深圳,这里原料便宜,工厂也能快速打样。目前产品已经投产。
Another promising startup that moved to Shenzhen is Wazer, an American firm. A conventional metal-cutting machine on a factory floor costs $100,000 or more. Shenzhen’s know-how helped Wazer perfect a way to cut any material precisely with pressurised water. Its desktop cutter costs about $5,000 and will disrupt the industry when it comes to market later this year.
另一家搬到深圳的美国创业公司Wazer也很有前途。传统的工厂用金属切割机的售价在10万美金或以上。深圳的技术帮助Wazer完善了一种用高压水来精确切割任何材料。Wazer的台式切割机售价5000美金,今年晚些时候投产后将对该产业产生颠覆性影响。
Revols and Wazer are among dozens of startups that have gone through a manufacturing boot camp run by Hax, a hardware “accelerator” based in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei, the world’s largest electronics-supplies market. Benjamin Joffe, a partner at Hax, reckons that Silicon Valley’s experience of hardware is “six to seven years out of date”. Big firms ranging from Johnson & Johnson, an American health-care firm, to Michelin, a French tyremaker, have entered into partnerships with Hax to get closer to these bright sparks.
几十家通过了深圳Hax设立的制造业训练营的创业公司中,Revols和Wazer只是其中之一。Hax是一家硬件加速器,总部位于深圳的华强北——世界上最大的电子耗材市场。Hax的合伙人本杰明·约菲估计硅谷的硬件经验已经“过时了六、七年”。从美国医疗保健公司强生到法国轮胎制造商米其林,大公司也与Hax开始了合作,以接近这些耀眼的火花。
The most successful of Shenzhen’s recent startups is Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI), reportedly worth over $8bn, which makes affordable commercial drones. Frank Wang, the founder, and his 1,500-strong R&D team had to invent vital bits of the technology needed for its flying robotic cameras. The privately held firm commands over half of the global market for small civilian drones, and is purportedly planning to go public soon. It is now diversifying its offerings. Paul Xu, the head of DJI Enterprise Solutions, says it is aiming for business clients in fields ranging from agriculture and energy to public security. It is also considering a services-business model where users can rent airtime.
深圳近期最成功的创业企业是生产经济型商用无人机的大疆创新,据报道估值超80亿美金。创始人汪滔和他1500名强大的研发团队必须开发飞行摄像机器所需的技术。这家私营企业占据了全球超过一半的小型民用无人机市场份额,据称计划于近期上市。现在它的产品更加多元化。大疆企业解决方案的负责人徐华滨说大疆正瞄准从农业到能源再到公共安全领域的客户。它同时也在考虑采取服务商业模式,用户可以租用飞行时间。
Shenzhen has done more than any place on the mainland to debunk the outdated myth of “copycat China”, becoming the global hub of innovation in hardware and manufacturing. Its entrepreneurs are coming up with entirely new industries. It has been the driving force behind the upgrading that should help the PRD withstand competition. But what does its rise mean for Hong Kong, which has been the catalyst of investment and growth in the delta for decades?
在摆脱山寨中国这一过时论调方面,深圳比中国内地任何地方都要努力,如今它已成为全球硬件创新和制造中心。这里的创业者们正在打造全新的产业。这就是帮助珠三角实现产业升级、保持竞争力背后的推动力。但深圳的崛起,对香港意味着什么呢?香港在过去的几十年间一直是珠三角投资和增长的催化剂。