Chinese investors should foster entrepreneurship among small startups in Shenzhen by better tapping their innovative spirit and their skills in hardware design, venture capital investor and director of MIT Media Lab, Joichi Ito, said in an interview over the weekend.
The Japanese American entrepreneur, an early investor in technology companies including Twitter, Kickstarter and Flickr, said that turning the Shenzhen startups into entrepreneurs could benefit China hugely as the country encourages innovation and startups in science and technology.
"Hardware startup is a very exciting investment opportunity at the moment," he said in an interview during Tencent's WE Summit where tech companies and entrepreneurs shared the latest technology in mobile healthcare tracking devices and virtual reality devices.
"Smart investors are those who can bring the Silicon Valley's understanding of Internet and software and Shenzhen's ability of hardware design."
However, he noticed major U.S. firms are partnering domestic Internet giants.
