China is often portrayed as an enormous factory that pumps out products invented elsewhere. But as global "maker culture" is transitioning from a hobby into a profession, China is playing a significant role in changes to industrial production and hardware innovation. It might surprise you; China’s image contrasts with contemporary maker culture, celebrated for its creativity and roots in 1960s U.S. counterculture. But China’s rapid growth in open source hardware and maker communities challenges our assumptions. They show an alternative version of innovation, built on a home-grown version of open source that has developed in China's small-scale factories over the last 20 years. Makers in China show that this history of open manufacturing will change not only what we understand by making, but also where we locate innovation. As China's DIY makers are coming together with manufacturers, they are spurring a shift in industrial production, from "made in China" to "made with China."
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official listing on sxsw.comhttp://schedule.sxsw.com/2014/events/event_IAP20548