Future Cities

We examine the unique manufacturing ecosystem that has emerged, gaining access to the world’s leading hardware-prototyping culture whilst challenging misconceptions from the west. The film looks at how the evolution of “Shanzhai” – or copycat manufacturing – has transformed traditional models of business, distribution and innovation, and asks what the rest of the world can learn from this so-called “Silicon Valley of hardware".

• Ep 1

  1.Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware

  07-06-201620m

  In this first episode we take a glimpse into Huaqiangbei, the city's vast market district, and talk Moore’s Law and its impact on software vs hardware development before visiting H...

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• Ep 2

  2.Shenzhen: The Maker Movement

  14-06-201620m

  In this second episode we take a look at how the Maker movement has been appropriated in a frenetic manufacturing hub like Shenzhen, before exploring how the city’s attitudes to op...

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• Ep 3

  3.Shenzhen: A New Breed of Intellectual Property

  21-06-201620m

  In this third episode of our Future Cities strand, we explore how attitudes in Shenzhen about patents and intellectual property differ to those in the West. In particular, we loo...

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• Ep 4

  4.Shenzhen: Reinventing 35 Years of Innovation

  28-06-201620m

  In the final episode of our Future Cities strand, we examine Shenzhen’s so-called "Shanzhai" (imitation) supply chain as authoritarian governmental control and hyper-accelerated ge...

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