By staff reporter JIAO FENG

IN 2011, Wang Shenglin, then a fresh

 college graduate, established Beijing Makerspace in the Zhongguancun Dream Lab. Known as the foremost building in Zhongguancun, Beijing’s Silicon Valley, Dream Lab was a brand-new open experimental platform. People from different backgrounds gathered there to share ideas and experience, and to put their theories into practice.

Today, such open platforms have become commonplace in large and medium-sized cities across China. Growing numbers of young talents are jumping on the innovation bandwagon, and society as a whole has witnessed rising confidence in this nascent trend. Those involved in it are known as “makers,” their mission to transform creative ideas into reality. Makers share the traits of striking personalities, a strong liking for adventure and excitement, and the desire to create and share their ideas.

Creative Fun

Junior at the Central University of Finance and Economics Wang Lei’s self-introduction states that fun is a staple element of his existence. “Making money is not necessarily a maker’s main aim. Being happy and having fun are my main priorities, rather than making millions.”

In late 2014, Wang began working on a mini four-axis aircraft. The idea came to him from a video about a group of foreigners piloting four-axis planes that took part in a flight race over a parking lot and a wood. The feats required of these aircrafts included rolling over, dives, and at one point flying through a window. “I was amazed by this air show, and it made me want to fly my own four-axis plane. But I first needed to construct one. I could then get friends interested enough in the idea to stage our own race over a stretch of grass,” Wang recalled. After posting his idea online, several netizens with similar ideas soon responded. A four-member team with the common aim of developing the four-axis aircraft thus came into being.

Wang spent the initial stage searching out and watching with his team members all the videos he could find on four-axis aircrafts. They regularly held meetings and were each assigned specific tasks. “One of us took charge of design, one was responsible for purchasing raw materials, and another for making models. Finally, based on our preferences and needs, we created our first big four-axis aircraft,” Wang said.

“Our maiden flight was over the college sports field. We all felt both excited and a little scared as we made our way from my dormitory. As the aircraft took off and gradually climbed, my thought was that as long as it could fly, all our efforts were worthwhile,” Wang recalled.

“Later, as the performance of my big four-axis aircraft steadily improved, our pleasure in the enterprise grew with each flight, as did the attention and applause of passers-by. The technical improvements I made in the aircraft and its increasing flight stability gave me sufficient confidence to take it to higher altitudes in high winds, across lakes, and even to negotiate barriers in a complex environment. The time then seemed right to start developing my own mini four-axis aircraft. My growing confidence so motivated me advance farther,” Wang said.

Wang’s mini four-axis aircraft is still on the drawing board. He is aware that such a project will not necessarily bring him economic gains. “The development process counterbalances our playful nature, but we nevertheless enjoy it. I don’t think people should live solely to start or run a business. It can sometimes be more to satisfy curiosity, or just for fun,” Wang said by way of explaining his motivation.

Makers like Wang Lei are multiplying. They love the concepts of invention, science, and actualizing their ideas. When defining the term “maker” Wang said, “In my view, a maker doesn’t just imply a vocation, but also a lifestyle. For some people, visiting our Makerspace brings the kind of pleasure others might get from going to the cinema. Innovation and creation bring them enormous enjoyment.”

Joy of Sharing

“Sharing and open source” are the main principles of Makerspace. In establishing online and offline communities, Makerspace provides a learning platform through which to share and jointly develop certain products. It thus creates a maker ecosystem.

“Makerspace is analogous with the popular online cooking courses on how to bake bread and cakes. Under this guidance, people can make cakes that are just as good as those produced in a bakery, with innovations according to individual tastes,” Makerspace founder Wang Shenglin said. “Open-source hardware follows the same pattern. For example, if anyone improves the 3D printer, they release the design paper and procedure online. Other interested parties can then either try their hand or make more improvements based on these designs.”

Makerspace members meet biweekly on Wednesday evenings to share their latest innovations. Topics of the meeting relate to such fields as art, design, and science. All are welcome. Participants include entrepreneurs seeking to combine software with hardware, or to develop innovative projects.

At one such meeting a maker called Andy shared with others a logic analyzer used in electronic tests. The open-source hardware product achieved spectacular success on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding website for creative projects, due to its perfect framework and excellent sampling function. It not only garnered the necessary US $111,497 startup capital but also won commendation from more than 700 backers in 20-odd countries. Having benefited from a flood of good feedback and suggestions from its backers at Kickstarter, on this occasion Andy brought with him the improved version of his original creation.

Andy, 30, got his Master’s degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). After working at a chip design company for three years he tired of the large company’s rigid system and lax innovation. He consequently, together with several other CAS graduates, founded the Dream Source Lab. His aim was to develop the most open, transparent, ultra-cool hi-tech products.

In Andy’s view, open source is not just a slogan or a means to attract attention, but also a social coordination concept of sharing knowledge and constantly improving products. To him, the most intriguing feature of knowledge is that sharing it enlarges rather than diminishes it. Andy acknowledges that feedback and discussion generate inspiration and hence new ideas. More important, sharing knowledge avoids wasting the resources involved in what could amount to reinventing the wheel.

The Shenzhen-based electronic makers’ community SZDIY is a platform for sharing innovative DIY electronic product experience. According to Atommann, one of its founders, the platform’s establishment stems from its founders’ enthusiasm for science and technology, and the enjoyment they find in the process of making their ideas reality. All advocate the spirit of an open-source community. No matter their age, career or specialty, all SZDIY members regard the profession of maker as a lifestyle beyond work. Some are employed at big companies as senior engineers, others just love to innovate. Although there are no full-time makers in SZDIY, its members have profound and specific knowledge of certain technical issues.

Those in this maker community are entirely open as regards sharing knowledge and product development through emails and meetings. They gather on Thursdays to discuss technical issues and their latest innovations, and sometimes coordinate on open-source projects.

“Scheduled meetings are never cancelled other than in particularly bad weather or for special reasons. The maker community has become an indispensable part of our lives. It gives us a sense of belonging and of identity that is impossible to measure through any material yardstick,” Atommann said.

Maker to Entrepreneur

In March 2014, Facebook proudly announced its successful development of the Deepface facial identification software, which achieved up to 97.25 percent accuracy in facial recognition. Three months later, Xu Chiheng’s team in China successfully developed the Deep ID model, whose identification accuracy reached 99.15 percent in the LFW (Labeled Faces in the Wild) database. Xu’s young development team, which originally had only four members, received an investment of US $10 million from the International Data Corporation (IDG), earmarked for the software’s improvement and follow-up development.

Xu, 25, has an impressive academic record. In the second year at junior middle school he was recruited by the coveted Wenzhou High School experimental science class. While in the second year at senior middle school he won a gold medal at the National Olympiad in Informatics, which gave him admission to the computer department of Tsinghua University. During his middle school days, the term maker, now used to refer to innovative people like him, had yet to be coined. “What I did then nevertheless comes under the category of maker achievements,” Xu said.

In his last year at junior middle school Xu started to learn programming and to design robots. The teenager found it amazing that just a few lines of code could set a robot in motion. He hence became obsessed with computers and robots. After one year of self-study, he began regularly participating in robot football games, and won several honors. Since in the third grade of high school he did not need to spend a great deal of time preparing for the college entrance exam, he established a science and technology development club. It was the forerunner to the Wenzhou High School makers’ space DF. “Back then, far less equipment was available than now. I led my team in delving into computer technology and shared my knowledge with them.”

In his college days, Xu took part in three consecutive sessions of the Robot World Cup, and won second prize. In 2013, he led the Tsinghua team to victory in the 2013 Asia Student Supercomputer Challenge.

After graduating from Tsinghua, rather than applying to a graduate school Xu chose instead to start a business with his supervisor and classmates. Xu commands outstanding leadership skills and excels in hi-tech. He believes his achievements are attributable to indefatigable efforts in his spare time at science and technology. In his view, makers have far more development space now than 10 years ago.

Although Xu is probably an exceptional case, he nonetheless serves as a paradigm for the many young people who hope to start their own businesses on the strength of their technical skills.

Wang Shenglin was formerly a business school student. Upon graduating, however, he chose not to apply for a job relating to his college specialty as this seemed to him to lack scope for creativity. “It was while I was at high school that the idea of establishing an open platform to help people put their ideas into practice came to me.”

After becoming familiar with the maker concept, Wang knew what he wanted to do. To encourage more people to join this group of makers, Wang Shenglin and Xiao Wenpeng used their personal funds to establish Makerspace Sci & Tech Co., Ltd., a company with the capacity for commercialized operation. “I take the entrepreneur’s road. Our company performs the dual function of a maker community and incubator,” Wang said.

Wang’s Makerspace holds a weekly workshop and a technology-sharing conference. Open to anyone who cares to apply for membership, it provides a platform for people with innovative ideas to share and transform them into reality. Makerspace also cooperates with project teams. In exchange for dividends or shares in their companies these teams can use the Makerspace offices and equipment during the six-month incubation period. With the help of Makerspace, six teams in the open lab have evolved into startup companies.

Some maker team products are pretty good, according to Wang. However, due to lack of resources and a platform, they have no medium through which to establish contact with quality suppliers. Unable to form mature marketing channels, their products cannot be introduced into people’s lives. This is a common predicament among makers. Makerspace aims to help them out of this plight by providing a complete set of services covering the whole industrial chain, so reducing the costs of making their ideas reality.

“China owns the world’s best resources and most excellent talents in a variety of fields. What the country lacks is platforms for sharing,” Wang observed. He is intent on simplifying the process of starting businesses with innovative products. This is what Makerspace does.