Wacom Hosts Connected Ink Las Vegas to Facilitate Open Ecosystem, Partnerships and Communities around Digital Stationery

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After a series of successful Connected Ink events in 2016, in which as many as 200 companies participated during the year, the event is back to Las Vegas again to start its second year. The focus of this year's Connected Ink Las Vegas is to further accelerate digitization and transformation in the realm of pen, paper and ink to enhance human creativity and productivity, leveraging the latest technologies. In light of the establishment of the Digital Stationery Consortium, Inc. this past October, the Connected Ink event also emphasizes the relevance of an open ecosystem, partnerships and communities, as part of the initiatives by the consortium.

Following the message by Wacom's President and CEO Masahiko Yamada outlining the power of cross-industry collaboration and human creativity, Dr.Ken Perlin, Professor of Computer Science at New York University will talk under the theme of "A writing system from the future." After Dr. Perlin, executives from leading companies such as Microsoft, Montblanc and NeuroSky will introduce their vision for digital pen and ink. Also, Nobutaka Ide, Wacom's SVP in charge of Technology Solution Business Unit will give a glimpse of Wacom's collaboration with various partner companies in digital ink, ranging from hardware companies to software and services. 

Open innovation is another driving force of digital stationery. Faik Karaoglu, SVP of Platform & Application Business Unit and Heidi Wang, VP for Technology Marketing, will introduce Wacom's initiatives for developer and startup to drive innovation. One of the most entertaining parts of the event will be "Inkathon Finalists Pitches," where seven finalists of Inkathon ("Ink" + "Hackathon") across the globe will present their masterpieces to the jury panel in front of the audience. The Inkathon finalist teams are SounDoodle (Israel), Canvas Earth (Israel), Cheatsheet (Hong King), Deep Question (Singapore), Doodle the web (Singapore), ArduWrite (Bulgaria) and Ink Analyzer (India). 

There will be an update on the Digital Stationery Consortium, Inc., where the board members of the organization are introduced, and Masahiko Yamada will speak as Chairman of the Consortium. Other Connected Ink events to follow later this year are also revealed; Shanghai, China (June), Berlin, Germany (September) and Tokyo, Japan (October).

About Wacom

Founded in 1983, Wacom is a global company based in Japan with subsidiaries and affiliate offices around the world to support marketing and distribution in over 150 countries and areas. It is the world's leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays, and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion and designs around the world and provides business and home users with their leading interface technology to express their personality. The company also offers its products as OEM solutions to leading manufacturers serving incremental markets. Wacom's interface technology, called Wacom Feel IT technologies, is also offered as an integrated solution to strategic partners. Most tablet device and PC manufacturers count on the advanced features and reliability to deliver a superior user interface experience.

*Wacom, WILL, Feel are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Wacom Co., Ltd.
*All other trademarks and product names are property of their respective companies

For more information, please contact:

Tetsuo Kanno
Corporate Communication, Wacom Co., Ltd.
Tel：+81-3-5337-6702      E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Wacom