Within half a generation a green field has turned into the second most important city in the world in terms of new-technology development. Kirsten Lundberg from Columbia University, the author of the paper highlighted today, asks the question could governments elsewhere in the world foster such an outcome?
Rather than answering directly the author takes us on a journey from the green fields to the present day via the best short-form history of Shenzhen I’ve to date come across. If China is your bag the longer read is a must.
Shenzhen today is a complex mix of one-offs. Its proximity to an earlier economic freak, Hong Kong, has undoubtedly been a plus. So too was a hands-off approach in the early days of its development and it wasn’t until its Fifth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000) that planners dared hope that it could become a ‘world class city’. It’s cluster-effect manufacturing prowess only really came into its own with the boom in mobile telephony, a very 21st Century phenomenon, so it seems unlikely the outcome we see today was planned (despite many a crow to the contrary!).
So, to answer the question directly; no. You cannot recreate Shenzhen. It’s the product of too many random events.
If there’s one factor however that repeats and is the closest thing to a secret-sauce that Shenzhen may possesses it’s this. No city in China in the last 40-years has been the recipient of so many young, ambitious, can-do, smart and focused people. This fact, more than the tax breaks, government-sponsored incubators, start-up funds, green-fields and any/all government policies seems (to me at least) to be the lightning in the bottle.
Perhaps the more pertinent question is what now? Property prices are the highest in China, income inequality may be the worst in the country, government has become increasingly interested in ‘guiding’ progress and most recently problems in the venture capital market chocking off funds are all road-blocks to further progress.
My own two-pennyworth? The talent that’s corralled in Shenzhen today isn’t going anywhere. China remains a blank canvass for new technology introduction and adaption and what you see in Shenzhen today is far from being the flame-out of a serially lucky operator. It may, in fact, just be the end of a beginning. Shenzhen is today an amazing powerhouse of innovation and development; the next act could be really awesome.
You can access the longer read via this link Shenzhen: Accident or Design?
Happy Sunday, and to those taking a longer break, 新年快乐！