AICHI, Japan — DENSO WAVE Incorporated and TOYOTA CENTRAL R&D LABS., INC. announced that the QR Code development team, consisting of Masahiro Hara, Motoaki Watabe and Tadao Nojiri from DENSO WAVE and Takayuki Nagaya and Yuji Uchiyama from TOYOTA CENTRAL R&D LABS, was awarded the Popular Prize, which was selected by popularity vote at the ceremony for the European Inventor Award held on June 17, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.

The European Inventor Award is awarded annually since 2006 by the European Patent Office to inventors and inventor groups of technologically, socially and economically excellent inventions. It consists of awards in five categories and the Popular Prize, which is awarded to the nominee who receives the most votes from the public.

The QR Code development team received a high evaluation because the QR Code was widely recognized by general consumers in a large number of regions and age groups based on its 20 years of achievements.

At present, the QR Code allows immediate data checking/calling in a variety of fields, including for in-plant inventory control, biological sample tracking based on hospital patient records, automatic ticketing systems for electronic or air tickets, and explanations of exhibitions at museums and galleries.

Since its development in 1994, the QR Code has been used in a wide range of fields throughout the world for 20 years. Based on the achievements up to today, we will continue to further evolve the QR Code for the sake of convenience to society.

European Patent Office

European Inventor Award

TOYOTA CENTRAL R&D LABS