Masahiro Hara

Hara was born in Tokyo in 1957.^[3] He studied in the department of electric and electronic engineering at Hosei University.^[1][4] He graduated in 1980.^[5]

After graduating from Hosei University, Hara is working at the Japanese company Denso, which is a subsidiary of the Toyota Group. From then on, Hara started working for develop a barcode system.^[6] In 1992, in Denso's developing department (later Denso Wave), Hara had given a task to develop a new 2D code system that is capable of productively tracking components used in the automotive industry, thus started a new project.^{[7][8][9][10]} One day at work, over a lunchtime game of go, he recognized the game's black and white pattern could be used to encode information.^[6] He also made an investigation on publications to seek a unique proportion for the position pattern to make sure that readers could be able to identify.^[11] The code was introduced in 1994.^[12]

In 2021, QR codes were being used to book and track COVID-19 tests and contact tracing.^[6] Hara has stated that he would like to develop QR codes for additional medical purposes, including imaging such as x-rays or electrocardiogram data.^[2] Hara still works for Denso as of 2022.^[1]

Hara was the chief engineer and advisor for a Japan International Cooperation Agency's "School For All" program to improve education in Niger.^[13][14]

• Co-author of chapters 7 & 12 of "Educational development through community-wide collaboration", 2020 book "Community Participation with Schools in Developing Countries" ISBN 9780429057472^[15][16]

In 2014, he and the inventors of the QR code development team were awarded the European Inventor Award.^[17]

• "QR Code 2.0 | Japanese engineer Masahiro Hara says new design will have increased colour & information storage". CNBC TV18. 27 January 2023.