How the QR code was invented

Oct 10, 2024

Masahiro Hara, the brilliant Japanese engineer who invented the QR code, shares his journey of innovation. He reveals how a game of Go inspired his design for a new coding system in 1994. Hara discusses the evolution from barcodes to QR codes, highlighting their immense capacity for data. He emphasizes the significance of making QR codes freely accessible, which propelled their adoption, particularly during the pandemic. His pride in the impact of his creation, now used daily worldwide, shines through in this fascinating conversation.

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ANECDOTE

QR Code Origin

Denso Wave, a Japanese car component company, needed a faster way to manage information than barcodes.
Masahiro Hara, an engineer, was tasked with finding a solution, leading to the QR code's invention.

INSIGHT

Go's Influence

Masahiro Hara's inspiration for the QR code's grid pattern came from the board game Go.
The game's intersecting lines sparked the idea for a matrix-like code, enabling more data storage.

ANECDOTE

Development Challenges

Developing the QR code presented challenges, like slow scanning speeds and distortion issues.
Hara focused on ensuring quick readability and scannability even with slight warping.

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In 1994, bar codes were in widespread use in businesses around the world, but the Japanese car component company, Denso Wave, wanted something quicker.

So they asked one of their engineers, Masahiro Hara, to come up with a solution.

After playing his favourite board game, Go, he came back with an idea.

He designed a black and white square of data that was fast, practical, and could handle more than 200 times the information contained in a barcode.

It was called the Quick Response code, or QR for short. And today it’s used, in some form, by millions of us around the world every day.

Masahiro Hara tells Jane Wilkinson about his pride in his invention.

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(Photo: A QR code connecting to the Witness History episode about... QR codes! Credit: BBC)