2025 Recipients of C&C Prize
Group A
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Masahiro Hara Chief Engineer, DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED |
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Motoaki Watabe R&D Division, DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED |
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Takahiro Kurobe Executive Director, DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED |
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Hiromitsu Takai Expert, Solution Services Department, GS1 Japan |
Citation
In the 1980s, barcodes (one-dimensional codes) were widely used in manufacturing, logistics, retail and other fields for identification, tracking, and managing items. However, as the number of parts managed at manufacturing sites increased during 1990s, the limited data storage capacity of conventional barcodes became a problem. QR Code (two-dimensional code), invented in 1994, addressed this challenge by enabling dramatically greater data capacity with fast, accurate scanning. Today, QR Codes are used in a wide range of fields—including distribution, manufacturing, payment, mobile authentication, and ticket management—and are contributing significantly to the digitalization and efficiency of both society and industry.
In 1992, Masahiro Hara, who was involved in the development of barcode scanners and optical character recognition (OCR) devices at DENSO CORPORATION, was given permission by his supervisor for the need to develop a new code to replace barcodes. He joined forces with Motoaki Watabe and two researchers from Toyota Central R&D Labs, and the project began with four people. At the time, two-dimensional codes had been developed in the United States, but none could satisfy all the necessary requirements: large data capacity, compact size, fast reading, and resistance to dirt or damage. Therefore, they aimed to develop a two-dimensional code with advanced features not available in existing codes.
Hara chose a matrix type as the information storage method for the 2D code, which has a high information density and can be read from any angle. Position detection patterns are placed at the three corners of the code to quickly detect the code's position and serve as markers that can be recognized from the top, bottom, left, and right. To prevent misrecognition of the position detection patterns, Hara and Watabe identified the least commonly used ratio of black to white among printed materials, 1:1:3:1:1, and used this to determine the ratio of the widths of the black and white parts of the position detection patterns. In this way, they created a system that could determine the code's position and read it quickly from any direction. To make the code more suitable for use in the workplace, it was equipped with an error correction function that allows information to be read correctly even if it is dirty or damaged. It used a Reed-Solomon code that is resistant to burst errors, and by balancing this with the amount of information stored, it achieved a recovery rate of up to 30%. In August 1994, two years after the project began, a two-dimensional code was completed that could store large amounts of information, including alphanumeric characters and kanji, in a small space, was resistant to dirt and damage, and could be read in as little as 0.03 seconds. The code was named QR Code, an abbreviation of Quick Response, highlighting its most important feature: high-speed scanning. The subsequent QR Code Model 2 added an alignment pattern to enable reading even when the code is distorted and could store approximately 200 times as many characters as a barcode, or up to 7,089 numbers.
At the time, leading U.S. companies in 2D code technology declared their patents public domain and chose not to enforce them. The 2D Code was adopted as a standard by industry groups, and efforts to standardize it began. DENSO accelerated efforts to establish industry and international standards. Through lobbying with the automotive industry, QR Code was recognized as an industry standard. After becoming a standard of the Japan Automatic Identification Industry Association in 1996, QR Code was declared public domain, and in 1997 it was established as a standard of the International Automatic Identification Industry Association. Subsequently, efforts were made to standardize it at ISO/IEC. In 1998, a New Work Item Proposal (NP) was submitted to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC31. After discussions and verification by the Working Group (WG), QR Code standard was published as the international standard ISO/IEC 18004 in June 2000. Hiromitsu Takai was responsible for the standardization of QR Code and served as project editor for the ISO/IEC standardization process.
DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED made active efforts to promote and expand the market for QR Codes. Takahiro Kurobe was one of the key contributors to these promotional activities, helping to achieve global spread of the technology. QR Codes were initially used for factory production management and parts traceability. Their high versatility has been recognized across a wide range of industries, including distribution, logistics, healthcare, electronic payments, electronic tickets, identity authentication, and personal information management, and their applications are expanding year by year. In Japan, QR Code reading services for mobile phones launched in 2002, and in 2006, ANA adopted QR Codes for e-tickets, helping to further establish them socially. QR Code payments have been widely adopted in China since 2011, with Alipay and WeChat Pay accounting for 85% of payment methods by 2020. In Japan, QR Code payments named "XX Pay" have become widespread and widely used since the late 2010s. QR Code payments are steadily expanding worldwide.
While new applications for QR Codes continue to be developed, the code itself has also evolved to meet social needs. Derivative types include the Micro QR Code, which can print about 20 alphanumeric characters in a 1mm-square micro-format; the SQRC, which can store encrypted private data for enhanced security; anti-counterfeit QR Codes to prevent ticket forgery; Frame QR, allowing integration of illustrations or logos; and tQR, used for platform door control at railway stations.
QR Code, by not only offering technological superiority but also promoting open patents and international standardization, has become a social infrastructure technology accessible to everyone worldwide. Its versatility and extensibility have enabled the creation and expansion of new applications in a variety of environments. QR Code technology has made enormous contributions to advancements in ICT and the creation of social value. DENSO WAVE, especially the QR Code Team, is highly regarded for its role in developing and spreading QR Code and is deemed fully worthy of the C&C Prize. Going forward, QR Codes are expected to continue to lead the creation of new application fields and innovations, contributing further to the advancement of society and industry.
*QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.