在2010年说服诺基亚(Nokia)于中国深圳成立研究中心(Nokia Research Center)的颜其锋，后来成为去年该研究中心关闭后最后一个离开的人；他现在是湖南大学旗下媒体实验室(Media Lab，也位于深圳)的总监暨首席研究员，看好深圳在未来将会由世界的廉价工厂，成为全球性的产品原型设计中心。
湖南大学正与美国罗彻斯特理工学院(Rochester Institute of Technology)合作，打算将目前仅有15名成员的媒体实验室扩大经营，提升为拥有1,500位研究员的大型育成中心。就像目前许多中国正在执行的计划，这个目标野心很大，而考虑到颜其锋与其团队成员在深圳当地电子产业的工作经验，它也是有可能实现的。
在颜其锋的团队已经完成的三项研究项目中，有一个已经从原型正式成为商业化产品──是一款采用联发科(MediaTek)功能型手机芯片组的智能手表，将由中国新兴智能手机品牌酷派(Coolpad)在本月稍后正式发表。可穿戴式设备──特别是智能手表──在中国市场当红，酷派也尝试自己开发智能手表产品，但后来还是放弃，最后采用了颜其锋的设计。
湖南大学旗下媒体实验室总监暨首席研究员颜其锋
j7Iesmc
“创新很难在企业的办公室里发生；”颜其锋表示，在深圳有很多公司都太专注于跟上全球竞争对手的脚步，而且中国的公司通常没有可定义、设计新产品的人才：“他们偏重于投资知道怎么制作电子产品的工程师，却并不一定会延揽具备产品设计以及完成设计案能力的人才。”而他也指出，中国工程师缺乏组织设计团队、起始设 计项目并领导设计案进行的能力。
颜其锋的设计经验是从芬兰萌芽，他在赫尔辛基艺术与设计大学(University of Helsinki of Art and Design，现在改名为Aalto University)取得学位，然后进入诺基亚工作；他那时候为了让设计案得以执行，得耗费大量精力在做简报、内部游说上，然后发现要说服诺基亚高层的 一个最佳方式，就是快速打造出产品原型展示给他们看。
深圳正是一个能让设计工程师快速制作出产品原型，并进行各种调整、改善，以实现产品概念的地方；于是出身自中国南方的颜其锋说服诺基亚在深圳成立设计中心，并成为该中心的第一个(也是最后一个)总监。颜其锋表示，该设计中 心在鼎盛时期有55位研究员，在诺基亚后来决定关闭之前，他进行的设计案是一款锁定非洲市场、配备太阳能板的平价电子书。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：对深圳打造产品原型的力量深信不疑
相关阅读：
• 别人家的智能手表：Pebble CEO分享创业心得
• [图文报道]新创公司们的可穿戴产品大搜罗
• 硬件公司创业成功者的经验和步骤分享j7Iesmc
{pagination}
诺基亚在2012年生产并销售了8,000台该产品，虽然颜其锋的团队在很短的时间内就定义出产品、制作原型并成功展示，诺基亚总部还是花了很长的时间要求 该产品得符合各种质量规格才批准量产，包括从1.2公尺的高度掉落不会损坏等；这种对质量的要求令人敬佩，但颜其锋认为诺基亚对于针对不同应用与区域市场的策略不够弹性，使得产品错失先机。
尽管如此，颜其锋仍然对深圳打造产品原型的力量深信不疑；深圳的产业生态系统包括了库存 充足的各种零组件，而如果有那些零件不足，很容易就能从香港等地取得。此外他认为深圳的供应链发展完善，软硬件开发商齐备，从PCB、外壳供货商、修整 厂、整合业者，以及大型生产商都有；任何产品概念能在深圳一地快速完成所需的测试、原型制作与生产。
颜其锋坐在他的办公室里，展示他设计的智能手表
j7Iesmc
颜其锋团队所设计之智能手表
j7Iesmc
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：以手表的概念设计智能手表
相关阅读：
• 别人家的智能手表：Pebble CEO分享创业心得
• [图文报道]新创公司们的可穿戴产品大搜罗
• 硬件公司创业成功者的经验和步骤分享j7Iesmc
{pagination}
颜其锋的团队在设计智能手表时，有很多可用的芯片与零组件可选择，最后决定采用联发科的低成本智能手机芯片组，并放弃2G调制解调器组件不用，是因为后者太耗电。他们所设计的智能手表能提供智能手机遥控功能，所配备的单色显示屏幕外观感觉有点过时，但它并没有模仿Pebble或是Samsung的产品，而是 一开始就以手表的概念设计，提供让用户选择不同时间显示方式的功能。
酷派手表最初的设计初衷：他首先得是一块表
j7Iesmc
想看中文显示时间的话，这个就是了，酷不酷？
j7Iesmc
另一种时间显示方式
j7Iesmc
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：进行中的智能厨房和“设计114”网站
相关阅读：
• 别人家的智能手表：Pebble CEO分享创业心得
• [图文报道]新创公司们的可穿戴产品大搜罗
• 硬件公司创业成功者的经验和步骤分享j7Iesmc
{pagination}
除了智能手表，目前湖南大学深圳媒体实验室还正在进行另外两个设计项目，其中之一是让厨房内不同电器能相互沟通的智能厨房；颜其锋表示：“我们对于为厨房家 电本身添加更多智能功能并不感兴趣，因为这会让电器价格更昂贵。”他们的构想是利用智能手机以及通用的通讯协议，让各种独立的家电具备连网功能，因此更具智能。
颜其锋表示，他们的智能厨房概念正在实证阶段，实验室正与中国当地的厨房电器制造商如欧琳(Oulin)、美的 (Midea)、华帝(Vatti)等合作：“我们认为大学实验室是能够开发跨品牌通用、标准化通讯协议的一个良好的中立机构。”而他们的目标是扮演打造 互通厨房电器标准的一个产业联盟组织。
湖南大学实习生在媒体实验室中工作
j7Iesmc
另一个实验室进行的项目名为“设计114”；114这个号码在中国是查号台，而设计 114的目标就是打造一个网站，让所有的产品设计工程师能够透过该网站快速取得所需的协助。而虽然实验室一开始并没有打算接受外聘工作，颜其锋的团队已经 被华帝邀请到该公司去成立一个实验室，这让该实验室有机会成为一个让中国本土厂商升级至产业链上层的催化剂。
在规划中的“设计114”网站
j7Iesmc
颜其锋希望深圳 有一天可以不再生产“Me-too”产品，他也预见深圳将会成为一个让全球各地人们聚集在此打造产品原型、成功实现产品商业化甚至创立新公司的园地。而许 多深圳当产业界人士也认为改变不可避免，因为廉价劳动力的优势已经不再(富士康也将另择新地建立新工厂)，而且当地的日常消费也水涨船高。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Judith Cheng
参考英文原文：Ex-Nokia Designer Leads Shenzhen Media Lab，by Junko Yoshida
相关阅读：
• 别人家的智能手表：Pebble CEO分享创业心得
• [图文报道]新创公司们的可穿戴产品大搜罗
• 硬件公司创业成功者的经验和步骤分享j7Iesmc
{pagination}
Ex-Nokia Designer Leads Shenzhen Media Lab
Junko Yoshida
Coolpad to launch his new smartwatch prototype this month
SHENZHEN, China -- Qifeng Yan, who convinced Nokia to build the Nokia Research Center in Shenzhen in 2010, but became the last one out the door when it closed last year, knows something about Shenzhen, and about the city's potential in the next 10 years. He's betting on Shenzhen's shift from the world's low-wage factory to a global prototyping center.
Yan, now the director and chief researcher at Media Lab (Shenzhen) at Hunan University, is part of the big plan hatched by his employer. Hunan University, in partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology, of Rochester, N.Y., is plotting to expand its Media Lab here — currently consisting of 15 people -- into an incubator for 1,500 researchers.
Typical of most big plans in China nowadays, it's ambitious. It is also possible, considering Yan and his team's experience in working their way around Shenzhen’s built-in electronics industry ecosystem.
Of the three research projects Yan’s team at the Media Lab has launched, one has already turned a research prototype into a commercial product. A smartwatch, running on MediaTek's feature phone chipset, will be launched later this month by Coolpad, a well-known domestic China smartphone brand.
Smartwatch designed by Qifeng Yan, director of Media Lab (Shenzhen) at Hunan University.
Wearable devices -- especially smartwatches -- are all the rage in China. Coolpad, too, had its own smartwatch in development, but had to scratch it. When Yan came to Coolpad, Coolpad jumped on Yan’s design.
“Innovations can't happen in the office,” said Yan. A lot of companies in Shenzhen are too busy keeping up with what their competitors in the rest of the world are doing, he observed.
One problem in Chinese companies is a shortage of people with the talent to define a product and design it. “They pay more to engineers who know how to build electronics, but they don’t necessarily pay well to those who actually design it and architect a project,” Yan explained. Further, Chinese engineers often lack the experience of putting together a team, initiating a project, and leading it, he added.
Yan’s design experience began in Finland. After he got a degree from the University of Helsinki of Art and Design, which recently became Aalto University by merging with Helsinki’s Technology and Business schools, he stayed in Finland and joined Nokia.
Yan, however, got frustrated by the time and energy he had to waste doing Powerpoint presentations and internal politicking just to get the green light for a project. Yan decided that the best way to persuade Nokia management would be to build a prototype -- fast -- and show it to them. Seeing is believing, as they say. There's no better place in the world than Shenzhen for researchers to work on a prototype, adjust, modify, and improve it in order to prove the product concept.
Subsequently, Yan -- born and raised in the Southern China -- talked Nokia into opening the Nokia Research Center in Shenzhen. He became its first (and last) director. At its heyday, the facility had 55 researchers, said Yan. Before Nokia decided to shut down after three years, Yan led the design of Nokia’s eBook for Africa. Featured with a solar panel, the tablet-size device was supposed to become the “One Tablet Per Child” for countries like Kenya and Tanzania, Yan explained.
Nokia built 8,000 units and shipped them in 2012. But that was the first and last lot before Nokia stopped research in Shenzhen. While Yan’s team was quick to define the product, build the prototype, and pull off the working demo, it took a long time for Nokia headquarters to approve the final product, because it had to meet stringent Nokia quality standards, including dropping the tablet without breaking from a height of 1.2 meters. The goals were admirable, but Nokia often missed the window of opportunity for its products. The company wasn’t flexible enough to understand what was good enough for certain products designed for certain applications in certain regions of the world, Yan observed.
Nonetheless, Yan is still a big believer in the power of Shenzhen. Shenzhen’s ecosystem consists of well-stocked parts and components. If the ones needed are not available, they’re easy to source from Hong Kong or elsewhere. Shenzhen has well-developed supply chains, along with software and hardware developers. There are vendors selling PCBs and casings. There are tooling companies, integrators, and, of course, local mega-manufacturing facilities with well-trained factory hands. In essence, Yan says, if you have a good idea, Shenzhen is the place to test, prototype, and manufacture it -- very quickly.
Continua for kitchen appliances
When Yan’s team was designing a smartwatch, they had a plenty of exposure to available chips and components. Eventually Yan picked MediaTek’s low-cost feature phone chipset and disabled the 2G modem part because it drained power.
The watch offers remote-control functions for a smartphone. Its black and white screen looks a little outdated. Yet, its design is no copy of Pebble or Samsung’s smartwatch, because this one is first designed as a watch. It features a number of unique designs to show the time a user can choose.
At Hunan University’s Media Lab in Shenzhen, researchers are working on two other projects. One is a smart kitchen with communication protocols for different kitchen appliances to talk with each another. Yan said, “We are not particularly interested in adding more smarts to kitchen appliances themselves. That will only make them more expensive.”
Rather, by using the power of a smartphone and common communication protocols, standalone dumb appliances can get connected, and smarter. “We are at a demonstration stage,” said Yan, who is working with domestic kitchen appliance makers such as Oulin, Midea, and Vatti. “We think a university media lab is a good mutual place to develop standard communication protocols that could work across the brands,” he noted.
Asked about his goal, Yan said, “We want to be the ‘Continua’ (Continua Health Alliance) of kitchen appliances to build interoperable systems.”
The third project the team is working on is “Design 114.” 114 in China is a phone number for the help line. The team is working on a website called Design 114, whose goal is to enable every designer to get the help he needs quickly.
While the Media Lab doesn’t plan to design for hire, Yan’s team has been invited by Vatti to open a lab inside the company. It poses an opportunity for Media Lab to serve as a catalyst for local Chinese companies to move up the food chain.
Yan hopes that Shenzhen, someday, will end me-too manufacturing, typified by Chinese bosses in local electronics ODMs and OEMs going after quick buck by copying the latest iPhone or Galaxy model. Based on his firsthand experience at Nokia Research Center in Shenzhen and now at the Hunan University Media Lab, Yan foresees Shenzhen eventually as a global mecca where people gather together, prototype their ideas, commercialize new products, and start companies.
In the minds of many locals here, such change is inevitable. Already, Shenzhen no longer offers the cheapest labor (i.e., Foxconn will be building its new production facilities elsewhere) and the cost of living is skyrocketing.
In the following pages, you will be able to take a look inside the Media Lab and at Coolpad's new smartwatch featuring a number of unique designs to show the time a user can choose.
Qifeng Yan in front of Media Lab entrance. Notice the logos of both Hunan University and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The Coolpad watch is designed first as a watch.
If you need to show the time in Chinese characters on the same watch, here it is. Cool typefaces.
Again, here's yet another way to show the time.
A screenshot of the "Design 114" website under development.
Hunan University students working inside Media Lab.
Media Lab director Yan sitting in his office (with a view), showing off his smartwatch on his wrist.
责编：Quentin
扫码分享到好友
