But we are not quite there yet it seems!
Another full day in Shenzhen that started with a visit of one of the most exciting incubation space in the region: HAX.
Benjamin Joffe, who joined the former HAXLR8R adventure a year or so ago, was kind enough to welcome us in the new space (1500m2) occupied by a number of teams. HAX started 3 years ago, incubated 80 start-ups over 7 programs lasting 111 days each. HAX focuses mostly on low-cost robotics, health/wellness but is also open to projects in the field of HCI and IoT. Their recipe for success is rather simple: identify the right team (competence) with a functional prototype, a market; where it gets much more tricky is that the project needs high barrier of entry – it makes a lot of sense given the very dynamic nature of the Shenzhen eco-system. What does this mean in practice? Something hard to do, something done much better (cheaper, faster or quality-wise) and something defensible! Teams accepted in the program benefit from coaching of expert engineers during their stay at HAX (right in the middle of Huaqianbei).
Ben then showed us a number of promising products that originated at HAX: the USD9 CHIP computer, a 3D printer for fabric (Electroloom), Bartesian the Nespresso equivalent for cocktails. Some of the projects are even open source (like CHIP) – the team just has to prove that there is a way to monetize on top of it.
We ended the visit by a tour of the working space and a pitch (yes…. one more) from the 3 teams. Ben offered some very valuable comments to each team.
After a quick lunch we headed back to Seeedstudio where the 3D prints were waiting for us. The engineers were busy testing their hardwares (some surprises there….) the whole afternoon while the designers and other team members polished and painted the shells.
Quote of the day: “Many industries are stuck in the mainframe era”
Benjamin Joffe, HAX – Shenzhen, 20 July