Shenzhen is building into a city of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. How can a good idea be successfully started through institutional innovation? Starting from Huaqiang North, explore the code of science and technology innovation in Shenzhen, a dynamic city.
Shenzhen·Huaqiangbei
Headquarters reporter Chen Chunxiao: If you come to Shenzhen, you must come to Huaqiangbei. The 930-meter Huaqiang North Road Pedestrian Street is the main axis of the Huaqiang North Business District, the "No. 1 Electronic Street in China". This long street of less than one kilometer, with forty years of lights and shadows, is the place where many people’s dreams begin. They started, took root, and pursued their dreams here, and also followed this electronic industry street to move towards new things.
Huaqiangbei has grown from a small entrepreneurial window with a one-meter counter in the early years to an electronics industry hub connecting global buyers. In more than thirty electronic stores, there is a dazzling array of components and various innovative products gathered here, welcoming merchants from all over the world day and night.
German tourist Richard: It is full of innovations and there are many subtleties worth paying attention to.
In Huaqiangbei, merchants call store counters stalls. Mai Yanglei, who once worked in industrial operations at a leading Internet company, came to Huaqiangbei in June this year to join the new AI trend. In more than three months, three cute AI fashionable toys equipped with voice interaction functions have been launched one after another, completing six rounds of iterative upgrades. At night, he shuttles through the store stalls to capture the latest needs.
Shenzhen Huaqiangbei entrepreneur Mai Yanglei: We have developed specific intelligent agents for specific user groups. Taking advantage of Huaqiangbei's advantages in small orders, fast response, and flexible supply chains, we can make products better and better and closer to consumers. Basically, these products add up to more than 10,000 orders a month.
The stall is the testing ground for products, and time is the most precious cost for entrepreneurs. The AI fashion play of the Maiyanglei team has been recognized by customers at home and abroad. During this period, it has received orders from Brazil, Belgium, and Indonesia. In the night, the team kept a close eye on the Spring Festival consumer market, repeatedly polishing product appearance and functional solutions.
Mai Yanglei: APEC in November is a historic opportunity given by the country for ordinary first-generation AI entrepreneurs like us. I also believe that AI must be the trend of the future. As long as we are in this industry and on this big ship, with the development of the times and the advancement of technology, we will continue to become bigger and stronger.
At night, the door to learning new technologies is open to citizens. Shenzhen AI Night School is launched in street communities, with government and enterprises collaborating to start classes on demand. Regardless of occupation or starting point, everyone rushes here after a busy day to recharge and learn new AI skills at night.
Today, every street in Shenzhen has an AI night school teaching point, with a total of more than 700,000 people trained. Innovation takes root among the people, opportunities are open to the public, and upwards are passed to new forces in the city.
Shenzhen Baoan District Skyworth Manufacturing Workshop
Headquarters reporter Chen Chunxiao: In Skyworth’s smart production workshop, the production line is producing the movement board of the TV. It can be understood as the brain of the TV. This production line brings together more than a hundred electronic components. An exclusive "digital identity tag" will be generated the moment an order is placed. From the moment the data is entered into the system, the birth of automation begins.
Hu Botao, Manager of the Comprehensive Planning Department of the Flat Panel Factory at Skyworth TV Manufacturing Headquarters: The application of AI machine vision enables our product accuracy to meet the requirements of high-end products.
This traditional manufacturing company took ten years to complete the leap from automation to intelligence. Flexible production lines can quickly switch orders of different models to adapt to local needs around the world, and the full-chain intelligent transformation for diverse markets continues to advance.
Yang Jun, Director of the Warehousing and Logistics Department of Skyworth TV Manufacturing Headquarters: In the first half of this year, our color TV shipments increased by 70% compared with the same period last year, which is largely dependent on the improvement of my country's comprehensive strength and its position in the international market. The APEC meeting that will be held in Shenzhen soon will also bring us a steady flow of customers. Seize this opportunity to better promote our brand during the APEC meeting and let the brand go further.
Shenzhen Longgang・Shenzhen Pinghu Laboratory
Shenzhen Pinghu Laboratory is the source of my country’s third-generation semiconductor power chips. New power systems, artificial intelligence computing centers, and power control of new energy vehicles are all inseparable from this type of high-end power conversion chips.
The lights are on in the clean room late at night, and the 8-inch silicon carbide and gallium nitride process platforms are running day and night. The scientific research team here repeatedly tries and makes mistakes to overcome technical difficulties. After the process plan is verified to be mature and stable, it will be handed over to downstream companies for mass production. These underlying technological breakthroughs are laying a solid foundation for the coordinated development of Asia-Pacific's new energy and smart power supply industry chains.
Wan Yuxi, director of Shenzhen Pinghu Laboratory: All equipment and processes in our line are controlled in accordance with mass production requirements. After this verification is completed, it can be converted to mass production and can be smoothly transferred. Computing power solves "brain power" problems, while electricity solves "physical power" problems. In the end, power supply can meet the demand for computing power and support the development of new productivity.
From the Huaqiangbei stalls and AI night school classes to the 24-hour smart manufacturing factory and chip research in the Pinghu laboratory, a complete chain of innovation is connected in the night. This is the code of Shenzhen’s science and technology innovation: everyone can innovate, manufacturing continues day and night, and hard-core technology supports the industrial chain. This city of science and technology, which is growing day and night, open and inclusive, is showing its vitality to the world.
