forthe fu ture
Defining the way forward ​Being a technology company delivering digital pen and ink experiences,
Wacom seeks to unlock the potential yet to be realized,
drawing on its technological prowess.​4445

MATERIALITY 1

BE INNOVATIVE

information that can be encoded in.”

How Digital Ink Changes The Experience ofDrawing Writing
In Search Of Technology That Harbors Feelings Of Companionshippushing to revolutionize customer
experience and the business model.

46

become a companion. I believe thattime to get the ball rolling. But in theend, I believe that it inevitably takes

technology should be like a partner
who stirs up feelings of fondness
within us.”
Says Wang, “To me, creativity

grip habits, how we apply pressure, orshifts in the emotional expression ofusers to retain permanent proof ofof my way to use the term ‘creative

is about discovering connections

creation. When, where, how, andthe creator/artist. “Technology evolves
based on feedback. Even without a

who created it—all this information ischaos.’”
Meanwhile, “Commit and deliver”

between two divergent things. It’s
that eureka moment.” What kinds

embedded into a piece the instant it isdrawn. The creativity and individuality

refers to the team’s attitude takenof innovations will “Living-organismWacom” spark from here on out?

of each and every author is engraved
into their works, and the data of eachpiece along with the proof it is pairedwith holds one-of-a-kind value. If
Wacom Yuify gains traction, creators/artists will without a doubt be able
to put their minds at ease as theylose themselves in the digital creative
process. One could argue such an
experiment is rather typical of Wacom,
who always puts human’s expressions
by drawing / writing first.

In order for innovation to happen,
explorations with things that nobody
has ever done before is crucial. On
the other hand, it is also true thatefforts are only recognized when they
bear fruit and are proposed as a value
to the world. “Even when a challenge
is fun, it’s meaningless if it doesn’t
provide any value. That’s why I expect
results even from the less experienced
members of the team.”
So how does Wacom appear to ateam as heavily involved in a variety ofprojects as the Ink Division?
“Wacom is by no means special. We
have a vision, communicate closely,
use trial and error, and possess both
imagination and courage. Nothing isinherently challenging. What’s uniqueis the passion towards encouraging
personal growth. I am no hero andno genius. I don’t even want to be.
What’s important to me is inspiring
growth. I have witnessed how teammembers create new value when theygrow. That in itself has been the mostboth a software and a kind of glue.”
It is the link between digital pensand applications. WILL™ (WacomInk Layer Language), a software put
forward and promoted for proliferation
by Wacom, will achieve the same
realistic sensation of drawing / writing

been focusing more and more ona different target. Over time, therealization of their dream to present
experimental technology that cancreate new experiences comes evercloser. One prime example is KISEKI
ART (⇒P48 _ About KISEKI ART),
which allows Wacom to visualize
the multidimensional data generated

what I would like to explore is thephilosophical aspects of how AI canperspectives. That’s why I go out

Digital ink is “technically speaking

the role of their division is to define theapplication of digital pens and digital
ink and to strive for improvement.
The head of this nearly 100-member
team is Heidi Wang, a woman raisedin Germany with roots in Taiwan.
Wang says of the Ink Division: “We
are a new team that launched in2018 as part of Mid-Term Business
Plan: Wacom Chapter 2. Alongside
the Branded and the Technology
Solutions Business teams, we are

creative chaos can be quite stressful
and something irritating, and it takes

things in a creative direction with new

The secrets hiddenwithin ourdrawing / writing

puts us in an overlapping position withboth the Branded and the Technology
Solution Business. Coordination
between teams becomes essentialand natural, which is why we are
keeping close daily communication
with the CEO as well as the leaders ofeach team.”
Up until now, the Ink Division has
been developing the technology
needed by each of the other teams,
but in recent years, they havechaos.” As Wang puts it, “Of course,(⇒ P49 _ About Wacom Yuify) is arights. By using a Self-sovereign ID(SSI), the revolutionary system allows

the sake of future possibilities.”

The Ink Division has a unique
identity even within Wacom. Whiledeveloping the technology involvedin the applications of digital ink, theteam also handles an extensive
scope of other tasks, including thedevelopment and licensing of cloudservices and applications that offer
innovative experiences. Also part ofDivision at the helm, Wacom Yuify

when it comes to Artificial Intelligenceduring the creative process, such as

to continue taking on challenges for

Our role is to advance the hardwarefocused business to the next step
while supporting an evolution
towards services that deliver uniqueexperience. In terms of structure, that(AI), people raise concerns about
it competing with humans, but

provides support to safeguard those

concrete application, it is worthwhile

Bringing
innovations to life

a sea of divergent ideas. Wacom
is no stranger to the term “creativefor works made with digital ink andthe value of the experience of drawing / writing alongside the partners who make up theirdelivering experiential journeys. Currently, they are in pursuit of the technology that can harborcompanionship with people.

inevitably turns their attention toward
its protection. Developed with the Ink

system which grants proof of creation

With their impressive knowledge of digital ink, the Ink Division plays the role of enhancing
community. Wacom has continued to evolve from a hardware company to one specializing in

discerning a landing point amidst
a chaotic debate and reconcilingus, and that feels jarring to me. Even

When one recognizes great value, one

as physical ink but on the screens of
the digital devices. “I wanted everyone
to be able to use it, which is why I
used the term, ‘Language,’” explains
Wang, who coined the name for thetechnology.
Digital ink, which captures thethoughts, emotional shifts, and eventhe stories behind its users’ drawing /writing , is itself the content. Although
there isn’t much information yet thatcan be gleaned directly from concrete
experiences, digital ink hides alimitless potential.
“I think my strong emotional
attachment to drawing / writing comesfrom my roots in a culture that uses
Chinese characters.
“As opposed to the alphabet whichis phonetic, Chinese characters are
ideographic, and a vast amount ofinformation is poured into each letter.
However, the author’s emotions andsituation in the moment influence
the letters they write or the lines theydraw and infuse them with information
invisible to the eye, so what digitalink does—whether it’s the alphabet
or Chinese characters or even adrawing—is to heighten the level of

Key to discoveringa new you
According to Wang, what the Ink
Division considers to be its prime
target is the ability to share emotions
and personal discoveries. Wacom
is looking to release the collected
information to users for themselves,
which will lead to new insights. Theirthought process is that this previously
unknown information will awaken
something in the subconsciousof users and encourage all newdiscoveries. It may be similar to theidea of asking, “It’s possible thatsomething like this is happening inyour mind. When you see it, how doyou feel?”“Our emotions are personal to us.
It would be arrogant to assume ourown interpretations. We hope thatby opening the door to responses
and exchanges, it will lead us to new
discoveries, and by effect lead thetechnology forward.”
There are three key phrases that
help drive these discoveries. They are:“Back to customer,” “Creative chaos
to smile,” and “Commit and deliver.”Putting ourselves to a customer’s
perspective is the starting point for

toward customers and partners.

Technology innovation and new creative experiences

The Ink Division’s challenges anddiscoveries will continue.

inspiring experience for me.”A technology that
can harbor human
companionshipAmong Wang’s thoughts ontechnology is the warm sentiment ofharboring companionship with people.
“I want to create a freer form oftechnology than we have today. Morethan just value-added, but somethingthat can be with people. That’s mydream. I want it to be with people—
children, artists, writers, etc.—
become the people they aspire to beand achieve whatever they dreamof. Each new technology that comesaround behaves as if it’s commanding

Heidi WANG
Senior Vice President
Ink Division

Heidi is passionate about ink and innovation. For her, ink is the reflection andresponse of our soul and mind. As head of the Ink Division, she leads ink technology
and services at Wacom. Her motto is “value is created by connections,” hence
her focus is on partnerships. Her purpose of technology is to create meaningfulexperiences.

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MATERIALITY 1

NEW VENTURES

Even within the rapidly evolving fieldof technology, Web3 has managed

projects so that there is a record of
who contributed what part to theexpand the scope of our business.
That kind of expansion could enhance

to stand out. Web3 envisions aninternet where individuals can interact

project.”
The service will use Wacom

Wacom Yuify’s position within thecompany and among our investors

directly with each other instead of via

technology to assign a unique ID

as key for moving into new areas andcase_1

a centralized social networking service
or other platform. For example, anto each artwork and embed theID into the work’s data in the form

growing our business there.”
Currently, a diverse taskforceKISEKI ART

artist wanting to provide someone
with a license for their digital artworkof “micromarks,” a type of digitalwatermark. Wherever the work isfrom all across Wacom—engineers,designers, and marketers, as well as

generally needs to conduct thepresented, anyone will be able to readteam members working in business

transaction via an asset store or

the micromark so they can access thedevelopment, customer service,other platform. With Web3, the artist

record of creation, rights information,

finance, and legal—is working on

can theoretically provide this license
directly.

licensing conditions, and otherinformation related to the work.

Wacom Yuify for its first releasesometime in 2023.

Creating Value throughan Artist’s Creative Trail

However, such peer-to-peertransactions pose potential problems
in relation to authenticity and history.
Who’s to say that the party offeringa license for an artwork didn’t steal
the work from the actual artist? To
mitigate such problems, Wacom isdeveloping a service that would allow
users to use reliable artist ID data tomanage a work’s rights and licensing(can be applied to joint projects too). It
is called Wacom Yuify.
“The project started as a way tohelp protect the unique attributes andrights of an artwork using (tamperproof) blockchain technology, whichis already used widely in Web3,” says
Ryoji Ishii, a Wacom Yuify project
manager. “This service will allow users
to license artworks directly to otherusers or to manage collaborative

Wacom’s pen tablets provide creators with animportant tool for giving shape to the ideas in theirheads. One might say that Wacom and its creative
users are allies sharing a common purpose. It isprecisely this close relationship that has allowed thecompany to take on its next revolutionary project:KISEKI ART.

Jeff KOBusiness Development Manager
Ink Division

48

Technology innovation and new creative experiences

The simplest way to describe
Wacom is that it is an “instrumentprovider.”Being an instrument provider isabout directly contributing to theprocess in which creators push their
imaginations towards greater heights
to produce something entirely new. So
it only makes sense for Wacom itself
to serve as a launch pad for new ideas
and experiences that no one has everthought of. This brings us to KISEKI

It allows us to record an artist's dataon aspects such as pen pressure,angle, speed, strokes, and history ofcorrections—the entire creative trail(“KISEKI” means “trail” in Japanese).
“With KISEKI, every data related
to creative work can be collected
as RAW data,” explains Jeff Ko, abusiness development manager atthe Ink Division. “If we can develop
a way for an AI to transform thisdata into a form of visual expression

animators,” says Ko. “The Japanese
anime industry is finding it difficult
to ensure that the experience ofveteran animators is properly sharedwith and handed down to younger
animators. KISEKI could prove useful
in developing a solution.”
It has been two years since theproject was launched. Ko’s focus for
now is brushing up the technology soit can be incorporated into marketable
services and solutions. What will theART, a project that was launched in2021.
“We have developed the technology
to visualize the entire creativeprocess,” says Wacom President
and CEO Nobutaka Ide (Nobu). “Thismeans the output of a digital pen
is no longer just the physical line.
It also includes information on thetime, place, context, and other data
related to that single line. If we canincorporate this additional informationsuch as “Emon,” we could provide aservice that visualizes the backgroundand story behind a creative work.”
Currently, Wacom is collaboratingwith Preferred Networks—whose AI
development is widely renowned—
and Celsys—a company that
supports creators around the world
with its illustration and animation
production app—to explore the infinite
possibilities of such a “trail.”
Although KISEKI initially started

eventual visualizations look like? Onefactor that is likely to determine theanswer is Ko’s own hopes for theproject.
“Whatever form the output takes, aslong as it’s a service that would havemade me jump for joy fifteen years
ago when I first started drawing, I’ll behappy,” he says. “At the same time,
one thing that I’m constantly thinking
about is how to create a service that
truly supports today’s creators—theinto experiences that benefit the user,
it could be huge.”
A major element of this system
is WILL, Wacom’s technology fordisplaying and saving digital ink data.

as a way to give something back tocreators, the user tests and otherphases of the project have inspired
new business ideas. “One of theseis an education program for budding

people who draw every day, some ofwhom are my friends.”
KISEKI promises to be an exciting
development in the coming years.

“Digital data is easy to copy, whichI think is actually a good thing,” says
Ishii. “But with Wacom Yuify, we’retrying to realize that while digitalart can be replicated in the form ofvisually identical copies, its value lies
not in its appearance but in the data,
which is inextricably linked with thework’s originality and background—the artist’s own story.”
Although Wacom Yuify has been
positioned as a trial to offer creator’secosystem, Ishii says the service has
the potential to create new business
opportunities for Wacom as well.
“Wacom Yuify could help us set
foot in businesses where we haven’t
established a presence yet,” he says.
“Companies that share this vision andfeel a sense of synergy with us may
feel encouraged to work with us tocase_2

Wacom Yuify
A new ecosystem forprotecting the rights ofdigital creators
Web3 is rapidly expanding the possibilities in thedigital realm, making it more important than ever todevelop a system for protecting the rights of digitalcreators. Wacom has been aggressively working on aservice, Wacom Yuify, that could greatly contribute tosuch a system.

Ryoji ISHII
Project Manager
Wacom Yuify

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