In this episode, Joanna Wei, co-founder of Beijing Makerspace, an angel investor & evangelist for Indiegogo China. We discussed how the maker movement in China was inspired, begun and then progressed for the past 5 years. Joanna also shared with us how the makerspace has evolved with a fund and hardware accelerator to help build towards the “Made in China 2025” movement set by the Chinese government in their 5 year plan. Last but not least, we discussed the footprint of Indiegogo in China and how Joanna as the evangelist shared the best practices and how makers can leverage on the crowdfunding platform in China.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• Joanna Wei, Co-founder at Beijing Makerspace & Indiegogo China Evangelist (@qiaoqiaoww, LinkedIn). She’s currently in the Global Solutions Program 2016 in the Singularity University. 
  • How did she start your career with the United Nations and then become the co-founder of Beijing Makerspace? [1:37]
  • The story behind China’s Maker Carnival that kickstarted China’s maker movement. [2:40]
  • You have worked in the United Nations and then get yourself involved in the technology space, what are the interesting career lessons you can share? [3:38] 
• Beijing Makerspace [4:40]
  • What is the vision and mission of the Beijing makerspace and what does it do? [4:50]
  • How many maker spaces in China now from Beijing makerspace [7:00]
  • How does the hardware hackers from overseas get access to Beijing makerspace within Zhongguancun (Silicon Valley of China) and also get help on working visas in China? [7:20]
  • What are the interesting projects that come out from Beijing makerspace? [8:12]
    • The story of AntVR, the first VR company in China funded now by Sequoia [8:20]
    • Mobile tent by WeMoveTech [9:18]
  • How has the maker movement in Beijing has evolved till now and how different it is from the US and other parts of the world? [10:18]
    • Creatica Rethink Lab to help Chinese kids to learn about maker movement and hardware.
  • How does the Shenzhen ecosystem interface with the Beijing makerspace and the Zhongguncun ecosystem where most of the top VCs and large companies in China are? [11:40]
  • How would Joanna see the maker movement in China grow in 5 years time? [12:50]
  • Will there be an equivalent of Tech Shop in the US happen in China? [14:10]
  • What kind of traits in a founder that Joanna invest as an angel? [14:44]
    • The story of Space VR and how Joanna helped them as an angel investor. [16:00]
• Indiegogo China [17:21]
  • Can you briefly introduce the Indiegogo platform? [17:28]
  • What’s Joanna’s role as the evangelist? [18:19]
  • What is the footprint of Indiegogo in China? [19:30]
  • What are the best practices for makers to leverage on a platform such as Indiegogo? [20:00]

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The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bleongcw) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk on Indiegogo (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Also check out Ideal Workspace’s new standing desk, Altizen and sign up for their mailing list. Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, “The Beginning” from Red Cliff Soundtrack. 

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