IN July 2017, Yan Shaoting, a 16-year-old from Shenzhen, won the Best of the Best prize in 2017’s Red Dot Design Award for his work Smart Helix, making him the youngest winner of this prestigious award in history. And this was only one of the 85 international design honors and recognitions earned by Shenzheners in 2017.

According to Feng Changhong, vice president of Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association (SIDA), Shenzhen has ranked first in a number of winning the Red Dot Design Award for six consecutive years, as well as in the German iF Design Award, another internationally recognized design award on par with the Red Dot. In 2018 up to now, 198 products by Shenzhen design firms have been recognized in the German iF Design Award.

According to Hu Qingjie, product director of Shenzhen Zero UAV Tech Co., Shenzhen’s strength in industrial design lies in its comprehensive and rich manufacturing chain. While it would take one or two months to complete a product in foreign countries, it only takes a week in Shenzhen. The industrial system is complete and people with ideas can test their ideas within a short time. This is a fascinating advantage unique to Shenzhen.

Furthermore, local businesses have seen a lot of government supports, including policies launched in favor of the industry.

At present, Shenzhen has more than 6,000 industrial design institutions of different kinds. There are about 150,000 industrial designers and employees in the field.

In 2017, the output value of Shenzhen’s industrial design sector reached 8.30 billion yuan (US$1.30 billion), an increase of 20.3 percent year-on-year, and the economic value created was over 100 billion yuan. (Zhang Yu)