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.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: A QR code connecting to the Witness History episode about... QR codes! Credit: BBC)