02 maker week monday september 18, 2017 tri-city events at...
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Monday September 18, 2017 02 x maker week
A TOTAL of nine events are being held in Qianhai until Sept. 23, the last day of this year’s National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship week. Two of the maker-related events were highlighted for provid-ing platforms to help Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao entrepreneurs exchange and compete.
The third Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Maker Camp, which mainly invited contestants from this year’s Qianhai entre-preneurship competition, kicked off Saturday. The camp, a subvenue of the Third Shenzhen Maker Week, will help startup teams perfect
their projects under the guidance of coaches. According to the organizer, a total of 92 teams from the three cities made it to the semi-fi nal round of the competition, and after receiving some training they will compete for the 24 places in December’s fi nal.
A Shenzhen and Hong Kong entrepreneur-ship marathon will also be held, encouraging startup teams to work out the fi nal presenta-tion of their projects within a short time. One representative from each team will display their project at a roadshow and team mem-bers from the other teams will act as investors and decide how much to invest in a project. The winner will be the team that receives the highest amount of investment.
Tian Fu, director of Qianhai & Shekou
Pilot Free Trade Area, said that Qianhai was taking advantage of the maker week to encourage young entrepreneurs from the three cities to innovate in the area. He also said Qianhai is implementing a science and technology innovation plan to build a Hong Kong and Macao technology transformation and industrialization center, a cluster for startup teams from the three cities, a global incubator and accelerator and a cluster for related fund companies.
At the launch ceremony in Qianhai yes-terday, three Hong Kong startup companies signed investment contracts with several investors, with the highest investment reach-ing US$20 million. The Qianhai Blockchain Library will also open during maker week.
Zhang [email protected]
A ROADSHOW was held at Sino-Finnish Design Park on Friday afternoon as a parallel event of the Third Shenzhen Maker Week. Seven startups, including four from Taiwan, showcased their creative projects during the roadshow as they sought potential partners and investors in Shenzhen.
Peter Chen from Taiwan is the CEO of MOAI, a company special-izing in the development of Aug-mented Reality (AR) technologies. His company has developed a smart helmet — a multifunctional helmet with built-in AR glasses and a camera — for industrial use.
According to Chen, the smart helmet can teach workers how to use the equipment in a workshop by displaying instructions on the AR glasses. It also enables experts to remotely help workers by show-ing them real-time images captured by the helmet’s camera.
Chen said the helmet can also be used for personnel management, warehouse management and IoT management in shopping malls.
The company has set up an offi ce at Sino-Finnish Design Park. Its R&D department is in Taiwan and the helmets are being manufactured in Xiamen.
“The fi rst batch of 1,000 helmets will be delivered in December to our customers in Taiwan. Each helmet will cost around 20,000 yuan (US$3,077),” Chen said.
Byron Huang, chief designer of Taiwan-based Jingjiu Design, show-cased his company’s smart backpack at the roadshow. The backpack can be equipped with a mini air-condi-tioner and an air purifi er based on the users’ needs.
Users can check an app to see if they forgot to bring something as “smart tags” on each of the small bags inside the backpack can sense if there is something inside them. Users can put the “smart tags” on anything and the app will show the location of the tagged thing.
According to Huang, the company’s target customers are children and commuters, and he attended the roadshow because the company is seeking business partners, resources and funds in Shenzhen. “We are plan-ning to manufacture the backpacks on the mainland to cut costs,” he said.
Investors and consultants were also invited to the roadshow to offer the startups some advice on how to tailor their projects for the market and to help them avoid some pitfalls.
According to Xue Yuan, the spokesperson of the event organizer, nearly 90 startups applied to attend the roadshow this year, and 60 per-cent of them are from Taiwan.
Xue said Shenzhen is an open-minded city with plenty of resources and opportunities, making it a good choice for Taiwan startups seeking cooperation and to tap the mainland market.
Taiwan startups looking for investors
Tri-city events at Qianhai maker week
Two visitors wear VR glasses by Realis virtual reality solution provider.
Children and their parents try 3-D painting at a workshop at the main venue of the Third Shenzhen Maker Week and the 2017 Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week (Shenzhen Venue) at Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center on Friday. Photos by Sun Yuchen
A boy rides on a spinning machine, which is equipped with virtual reality (VR) screen to stimulate riding on dif-ferent terraces.
Residents look at drones at a demonstration area.
A girl tries playing different roles at an audition machine.
An app-based cab also functions as a store.