Duncan Turner

Duncan Turner is General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director of the HAX Accelerator and HAX China programs in Shenzhen, China, where he has been a mentor since its inception. A designer and expert in China manufacturing, he is particularly interested in investing in and mentoring startups who have an emphasis on hardware.

Duncan has a diverse background in human factors research, industrial design, product development, manufacturing and business. He brings deep experience with business growth in China, having spent many years building both small and large companies’ manufacturing capabilities. Duncan’s entrepreneurial background has seen him take numerous hardware products to market from first concepts through research, funding, design, development, manufacturing and assembly to final sales of the product under brands that he created. Before becoming Lead of Product Design & Engineering at IDEO Shanghai, Duncan co-founded Cliq, a hardware company which shipped hundreds of thousands of units of a dozen different designs, achieving millions in revenue.

Prior to co-founding his own business, he worked for two years as a Human Factors Research Associate at the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre, part of the Royal College of Art (RCA) in the UK. He obtained his Masters from Royal College of Art and his design work is part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art.
Country: UK