STORY: China's Shenzhen a good place for innovation: Italian engineer
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 5, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 6, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:06
LOCATION: SHENZHEN, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Shenzhen
2. SOUNDBITE (English): LEONARDO DE PALO, Italian engineer

STORYLINE:

Leonardo de Palo is an Italian engineer working in south China's Shenzhen. 

He said the megacity empowers his career of making robots.

SOUNDBITE (English): LEONARDO DE PALO, Italian engineer
"Everything you're thinking about technology, you'll find them in the same place. This happens only in Shenzhen. Because China gives all the things that I could not find in the rest of the world. China is really good. My name is Leonardo de Palo. I came from Italy. I'm an engineer and I worked for about 10 years for IBM, then a lot of other companies. I came here with my family in April 2012. I do this small robot.  Just to transform this idea into a product. The proposal was very interesting because it doubled my salary.
What I found in Shenzhen is fantastic. I found (a place) in Shenzhen called Huaqiangbei. That is unbelievable because there are all kinds of electronics. Everything you're thinking about technology, you find them in the same place. For example, we need to have some sensors. I take a metro, I go to Huaqiangbei, exploring about the component, and buy it, pay it. I take the parts to my laboratory. Here with my engineer, we build the prototype. In the morning of today, we have a meeting to discuss with the manager. Tomorrow morning, I have the prototype. This happens only in Shenzhen.
When my last contract finished, I was thinking what I can do. Go back to Italy or remain in China? And I say, what is my capability available to do in China? And I think, why can't we push automation in this small company? I am happy to do that. This is the main reason that I remain in China. We have the prototype that you can see. If we decided with my Italian team to make the first prototype in Italy, probably we would spend three or four years. In China, it's less than one year. We started from an idea to the prototype.
My future plan? When the market in China is stable and the product is reliable, then we'd begin to sell it worldwide.
Typically, in the rest of the world, people at my age are considered unuseful, right? But China, they have the respect for the older people. China likes to use my experience, asks me to deploy my experience. At the same time, I am extremely happy to live in China. China is really good."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shenzhen, China.
(XHTV)