Shaji Workshop Schedule

Location: Shaji Town, Jiangsu Province, China

Date: 14-24 July, 2019
Fee: €1500 (Flights to Shanghai not included)

Activities:

• Immersive experiences in Shaji village
• Meeting the entrepreneurs of Shaji
• Visit factories and e-commerce operations 
• Talks and lectures by experts
• Co-Design workshops
• Launching new products on Taobao

Day 1 ||| Arrival and setup.||| Welcome dinner with informal presentations

Day 2 Morning ||| Introduction Workshop ||| Shaji and the Taobao Village phenomena

Afternoon ||| Research and Development Groups ||| Setup Groups and Define goals and objectives

Day 3 ||| Field visits ||| Mapping processes, resources and infrastructures

||| Factories, e-commerce office, logistics centers and all other supporting business such as packing design and photo studio |||

Day 4 Morning ||| Design and Research studio ||| Groups work on their topics from field visits

Afternoon ||| Development session ||| How does Shaji design for manufacturing?

||| Research Session ||| What infrastructure are available in Shaji?

Day 5 Morning ||| Field visits || Factories, e-commerce office, logistics centers ||| Mapping processes, resources and infrastructures

Afternoon ||| Design and Research Group Works ||| Refining the works with additional visits

Evening ||| Dinner and Mini party ||| Enjoy the local delicacy

Day 6 ||| Design and Research studio ||| Prototyping, interviews, production of diagrams, visuals, and other materials

||| Additional Field visits ||| Gathering more information

Day 7 Morning ||| Research studio ||| Synthesize the materials

||| Design studio ||| Prepare Prototype

Afternoon ||| Group review ||| Groups present prototypes, initial diagrams, invited jury joins.

Day 8 Morning ||| Presentation by a guest speaker ||| Open discussion.

Afternoon ||| Design and Research Studio work ||| Adjusting proposals from the feedback

Day 9 Morning ||| Second iteration ||| Prototypes and presentations

||| Additional Visits if needed ||| Targeted visits of specific sites

Afternoon ||| Design and Research studio ||| Working on synthesize researches and prototypes

Day 10 ||| Design and Research Studio ||| Working in group with tutors and mentors

Day 11 Morning ||| Design and Research Studio ||| Adjustment of presentations/prototypes.

Afternoon ||| Presentations and Debrief ||| Formal presentations to the mentors, tutors, Shaji companies and government officials

||| Design Studio ||| Launch products on Taobao

||| Evening ||| Dinner and closing party ||| .

Day 12 ||| Departure for Shanghai ||| .

Digitalization with the Internet is one of the key drivers to China’s economic reform. While the tremendous growth of e-commerce with Alibaba and Taobao in the Double Eleven and the widespread use of Wechat payment have grabbed the global attention, the foundational dynamism driving the growth remains invisible. The tremendous growth of e-commerce in China would not have been possible without the grassroots dynamism of adoptions to leverage the tools and technologies of digitalization for economic development and prosperity.
This paper explores Shaji, the first discovered Taobao Village, on how Internet and e-commerce brought out the dynamism of farmers in rural China and how they leverage the tools and technologies of digitalization to prosper and flourish. Read More