ACCORDING to one of the main targets for 2023 listed in the government work report, emphasis will be placed on key industrial chains in the manufacturing sectors to accelerate the modernization of China’s industrial system while achieving breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

Masakazu Takasu, who is a Japanese hardware engineer, a world-renowned maker and an associate researcher from Japan’s Waseda University, has similar ambitions. Lured by Shenzhen’s hardware supply chain and innovation ecosystem, Takasu relocated to the city in 2018 to help Switch Science, a Japan-based open-source hardware developing company, tap into the local market and seek for more cooperation opportunities with local startup and maker communities. He also wished to promote Shenzhen to the world as a “city that make makers’ dream come true.”

“Shenzhen is a hub for the world hardware manufacturing industry,” Takasu said during an interview with Shenzhen Daily on the sidelines of an international innovation policy and practice exchange conference this Monday.  “Shenzhen’s supply chain is very flexible, making products cheaper and ideas realized faster — especially for small companies and individual entrepreneurs with creative minds.”

Takasu stated in his speech at the conference that Shenzhen has managed to grow from a traditional hardware manufacturing hub to an innovative city that is able to produce original products at low prices.

“Thanks to the local supply chain, ordinary people like me can also have easy access to the achievements of the latest technologies,” he said, citing one of his own innovative practices in Shenzhen as an example.

“I found a company in Huaqiangbei to disassemble a pair of earphones and got its chips at a very low price,” recalled Takasu.”By using such chips, it is possible to produce independently developed 4-volt motors, and these 4-volt motors can be used to produce robotic arms. The chip triggers innovations in the motor, and the motor triggers innovations in the robotic arm.”

The production of the above-mentioned four-volt motors, robotic arms and other innovative hardware products belongs to the advanced manufacturing industry, which is considered the major focus of Shenzhen’s 20 emerging industry clusters; this is according to an opinion on developing strategic emerging industry clusters and cultivating future industries that was released by the city’s municipal government last June. In response to the government work report, Shenzhen will remain steadfast in fostering and developing emerging and future industries while implementing actions to improve industry quality, enhance platform efficiency and accelerate project progress.

Takasu, who is also an active advocate for maker culture, has been dedicated to introducing Shenzhen’s supply and industrial chain as well as its innovative ecosystem to the world. In addition to carrying out research and giving lectures on the city’s innovations at Waseda University, he also published a book in Japanese in August 2020, elaborating on Shenzhen’s innovation practices and the local development potential for newly-emerging hardware manufacturing industries.

Takasu also looks forward to participating in more local Maker Faires in the future. “Many hardware innovators come to Shenzhen from across the world for the Maker Faires,” he said. “They communicate with each other and make products together at the fairs, while the Maker Faires support them in turning their ideas into existence.”