杨琦访谈 l 专访土耳其工业物联网和人工智能创业者Gokhan先生－访谈第5期
土耳其硬件和软件工程师Han先生在7年前来到中国深圳时，就已经预测到如今大湾区创业如火如荼的景象。于是，他在当时就决定留下来，创业。作为一名外籍人士，这些年，他切肤地感受到了深圳为创业者所提供的良好环境。他也高度赞扬深圳发达的供应链体系，因为在工业物联网硬件和软件领域，无论他需要什么，几乎都可以在2小时内获取。—— 杨琦
大湾区访谈之五：
为全球制造枢纽深圳提供工业物联网和人工智能技术专访科星人工智能科技(Kstar‑AI)创始人Han先生—— 专访科星人工智能科技(Kstar‑AI)创始人Han先生
访问时间：2021.8.25
Industry 4.0 is the roadmap for the digital transformation of business. It is revolutionising the way companies manufacture, improve and distribute their products. It sees manufacturers adopting Industrial Internet‑of‑things (IIoT) devices and technologies to cope with the growing market for flexible, automated and networked manufacturing. Witnessing the rising demand in this area, Gokhan, who came originally from Turkey, established an IIoT solution company called Kstar‑AI in Shenzhen, a city in mainland China which is renowned as a global manufacturing hub. As a start‑up founder, Gokhan shared his journey in Shenzhen and his business goals with us.
中文翻译：
工业4.0是企业推行数字化转型的路线图，如今正为企业制造、改良和分销产品的方式带来彻底变革。在工业4.0下，制造商运用工业物联网(IIoT)设备和技术，提供灵活、自动化和网络化的制造服务，应对与日俱增的市场需要。康汉(Han)是一名来自土耳其的工程师，他留意到此领域不断增长的需求，于是在深圳这个全球制造枢纽成立科星人工智能科技有限公司(Kstar‑AI)，提供工业物联网解决方案。在这场访问中，他以初创企业创办人的身份分享在深圳创业的历程，以及公司的发展目标。From Data to Value
Established in 2017 and headquartered in Shenzhen, Kstar‑AI focuses on building IIoT hardware and software platforms that enable manufacturing companies to go from sensor to local cloud and beyond. “The IIoT itself is not an end, but the insights and additional business value derived from the data are. We offer components and solutions for data acquisition, data pre‑processing, data communication and data analysis to help companies adopt new technologies and simplify complicated issues that arise during technology evolution,” said Gokhan.
Gokhan shared one of the Kstar‑AI hardware devices with us. “Our IIoT devices, the Kstar‑AI industrial Edge Box 1000 series, not only support Amazon AWS, Azure, Ali Cloud, and Huawei Cloudy, but also private networks which allow users to build their own local cloud. If a user chooses to develop a customised local cloud, they no longer need to pay subscription fees for data to other platforms” said Gokhan. The Edge Box 1000 series comes with HDMI web browser output which can display the dedicated local cloud platforms of users. With keyboard and mouse, users can control their own local cloud platform without a computer.
In addition to the hardware devices, Kstar‑AI provides software solutions for clients. Gokhan said: “Currently, we are developing a sustainable cloud with AI for a water and energy group. Indeed, we have built over 100 software platforms for industrial edge computing.”
中文翻译：把数据转化成价值
除了硬件设备外，科星也为客户提供软件解决方案。康汉说：“目前，我们正为一家水及能源集团开发配备人工智能的可持续云。事实上，我们已为工业边缘运算构建了过百个软件平台。”
Start-up Journey in Shenzhen
Gokhan, who is originally from Turkey, is the sole founder of Kstar‑AI. After completing his university degree in the United Kingdom, he came to the mainland for a job as a hardware and software engineer. Gokhan said: “At the beginning, I came to Shenzhen only to complete a project, but then I found that there was huge potential in the IIoT market in Shenzhen, as a global manufacturing hub. I decided to stay in Shenzhen and I have been living here now for about seven years.”
Gokhan explains what he sees in Shenzhen: “In line with government initiatives on re‑industrialisation, more and more manufacturers want to upgrade and enGokhance their factories through advanced technologies. Shenzhen, as a global manufacturing hub, has an escalating demand for technologies like IIoT and artificial intelligence (AI). Since developing tailor‑made IIoT solutions often requires us to visit the client’s factory in person, setting up a headquarter in Shenzhen, where most of our clients are located, is the best option for us.”
Currently, Kstar‑AI has two people in their Shenzhen headquarter who are dedicated to company management and product development, and a team of six software engineers in Turkey responsible for R&D. Gokhan explained the reasons for this arrangement: “The wages of software engineers in Shenzhen have been escalating in recent years. The monthly salary for a mid‑level software engineer in Shenzhen has already hit RMB20,000, while it is four times cheaper in Turkey. To save costs, we decided to keep the core management and sales in Shenzhen and base engineering support in Turkey.” As a start‑up, Kstar‑AI has experienced remarkable growth over the past three years, developing seven products and completing more Gokhan 25 projects.
中文翻译：
深圳创业之旅康汉是科星的独资创办人。他原居于土耳其，在英国完成大学学位后便到内地工作，担任硬件及软件工程师。他说：“起初，我到深圳只是为了完成一个项目，后来我发现深圳作为全球制造枢纽，其工业物联网市场蕴含巨大潜力，便决定留下来，至今已在这里居住了7年左右。”他谈到深圳吸引他留下来创业的原因：“随著政府推出多项举措推动再工业化，越来越多制造商渴望引进先进技术，以升级和强化旗下的厂房。深圳是全球制造枢纽，对工业物联网和人工智能等技术的需求持续增加。考虑到开发定制的工业物联网解决方案时，我们通常要亲自到客户的工厂视察，加上我们的客户大多数都在深圳，所以把总部设在这里是最佳选择。”现时，科星的深圳总部有两名专责公司管理和产品开发的人员，在土耳其则设有一支由6名软件工程师组成的研发团队。康汉解释为何作出这样的安排：“近年，深圳的软件工程师薪酬不断上涨，中级软件工程师的月薪已经达到20,000元人民币，反之在土耳其则便宜4倍。为了节省成本，我们决定把核心管理和销售职能保留在深圳，而工程支援团队则设在土耳其。”科星作为一家初创公司，过去3年发展成绩卓越，开发了7种产品并完成超过 25 个项目。
Shenzhen’s Strengths in Advanced Manufacturing
Besides the business opportunities, Gokhan is amazed by the quick turnaround for building prototypes in Shenzhen. “We can easily find suitable manufacturers in Shenzhen who can develop our hardware products rapidly and effectively. For example, it only took us three months to produce our edge computers, completing the whole process from design to prototype production. If we had done this in Turkey, it would probably have taken us a year,” said Gokhan.
Gokhan is very positive about Shenzhen’s start‑ups community and support. “I have built up connections with all kinds of engineers in Shenzhen and they helped me a lot when I started my company. Shenzhen government also offers many policies to support start‑ups which I have found very useful. For example, start‑ups can enjoy rent subsidies or tax deductions.”
中文翻译：深圳的先进制造领域优势
除了商机外，康汉也赞扬深圳创业者制作原型的速度。他说：“在深圳，我们很容易便能找到合适的制造商，为我们提供快捷高效的硬件产品开发服务。例如，我们的边缘电脑从设计到原型生产，整个过程只用了3个月。若是在土耳其进行的话，恐怕要1年才能完成。”他对深圳的创业社区和支援同样十分满意：“我在深圳结识了不同领域的工程师，他们在我创立公司时提供了很多帮助。深圳政府则推出很多非常有用的初创企业支援政策，例如租金补贴或税务优惠等。”
（Han先生正在深圳创业社区与大家交流）
Register as a WFOE
Despite his overall success, Gokhan has faced several key challenges as a foreign businessman in Shenzhen. “We registered as a wholly foreign‑owned enterprise (WFOE), which is a particular form of Chinese limited liability company. The registration process was very complicated, with a lot of paperwork. However, these application forms are only available in Chinese, and so we had no choice but to pay a Chinese agent to act as our representative”. Gokhan suggests the Shenzhen government should set up a dedicated counter for Gokhandling enquiries about company registrations, so that foreign start‑ups can have options other tGokhan hiring an agent.
Gokhan continues, “even with our WFOE status, I get frustrated with banking issues. As a self‑funded start‑up, I may need to inject funds into the business account from my personal savings account. However, such transfers have been refused because of my foreign identity. Similarly, it is difficult to transfer money internationally.”
中文翻译：
注册为外商独资企业虽然康汉创业至今成绩斐然，但由于他是外籍人士，所以在这个过程中也要克服一些重大挑战。他说：“我们以外商独资企业形式注册成立，那是中国内地有限责任公司的一种。注册过程非常复杂，涉及大量文书工作，但申请表格却只有中文版本，我们也因此别无选择，只能聘请一名中国代理人来代表我们。”康汉认为深圳政府可考虑设立专门柜台，处理有关公司注册的查询，这样外商成立初创企业时便可有其他选择，不一定要聘请代理人。他继续说：“即使取得外商独资企业资格，各种银行问题仍然令我烦恼不已。科星是一家以自有资金成立的初创企业，因此有时我可能要从个人银行账户汇款到公司银行账户，但银行却由于我是外国人而拒绝处理这些转账请求。另一方面，汇款到海外同样非常困难。”
Hong Kong: An Ideal Platform for “Going Out”
Gokhan has visited Hong Kong several times and he thinks that Hong Kong is a prime location to set up an office. “Currently, most of our clients are on the mainland, but if we are going to expand overseas, having an office in Hong Kong would be a definite advantage. Firstly, Hong Kong is an ideal location for holding face to face meetings with overseas clients because most overseas visitors do not need to apply for a visa to visit Hong Kong. Secondly, Hong Kong is just next door to Shenzhen. With the Hong Kong‑Zhuhai Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou‑Shenzhen‑Hong Kong Express Rail Link, we can travel between two cities in no time.”
Thirdly, Hong Kong is an international financial hub with free flow of capital, which Gokhan agrees is important for his future business expansion. Gokhan said: “Our products are getting more attention from investment companies in Hong Kong and the United States. I believe that we will make use of Hong Kong banking services to settle international bank payments in the future.”
When it comes to strengthening Hong Kong as a start‑up platform, Gokhan as a foreign start‑up founder suggests: “The Hong Kong government could set up both online and physical information centres to provide support on policies and subsidies, business tools and advisory services, so that it will be easier for foreigners to establish companies in Hong Kong. Also, office rents in Hong Kong are unaffordable for most start‑ups, so rent subsidies would be helpful for us too.”
Since industrial digital transformation is still at an early stage, Gokhan is optimistic about his company growth. Looking ahead, Kstar‑AI has an eye on the Southeast Asian market. “In recent years, Southeast Asia has been developing rapidly, and more and more manufacturing plants have relocated to the region, so we see huge opportunities there,” said Gokhan. Looking in another direction, Gokhan has plans to set up another R&D centre in Pakistan or India where the wages of software engineers are even more competitive.
康汉曾数次到访香港，他认为香港是设立办事处的一流地点：“目前，我们的客户大多位于内地，不过日后若决定开拓海外市场，在香港设立办事处无疑能带来优势。首先，香港是与海外客户举行面对面会议的理想地点，因为大多数外地旅客都可免签证入境香港。第二，香港和深圳只有一河之隔，随着港珠澳大桥和广深港高铁投入服务，两地的交通都更为便捷。”第三，香港是国际金融中心，资本可自由流动，康汉认同这一点对科星今后的业务发展甚为重要。他说：“我们的产品越来越受香港及美国的投资公司注视。我相信日后我们将会使用香港的银行服务来处理国际银行的收付款。”他也从外籍创业者的角度，分析香港该如何强化其创业平台的角色：“香港政府可设立网上及实体信息中心，提供政策及补贴、商业工具及咨询服务等方面的支援，令外籍人士更易在香港设立公司。此外，对大多数初创企业来说，香港的办公室租金根本难以负担，所以租金补贴对我们也有帮助。”
鉴于工业数字化转型仍处于早期阶段，康汉看好公司的发展前景。展望未来，科星有意开拓东南亚市场。康汉说：“东南亚近年发展迅速，且越来越多制造厂迁到该区，因此我们认为区内大有商机。” 他又指出巴基斯坦和印度的软件工程师薪酬更具竞争力，因此正计划于两国选址设立另一所研发中心。
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