Open Developer Community with Epson -From birth to encounter-
Accelerate the creation of services to solve social issues with developers
Seiko Epson Corporation (hereinafter Epson) announced in December 2020 that Epson would establish an open developer community together with Digital Hollywood (hereinafter G's ACADEMY) and The Japan Research Institute.
In this community, Epson would bring together technologies, ideas, and know-how brought about by various industries and cultures to accelerate the commercialization of social issues under the coronavirus crisis.
This announcement was featured in various media. We Epson will accelerate open innovation to realize the "town development" that smart cities aim for, where people can live a comfortable and safe life.
Please refer to the following news releases for the community.
Established a developer community with Digital Hollywood and Japan Research Institute (Japanese only)
Hold an online event!
As the first activity, we held online events in December and January. This time, we will pick up messages from Epson, Japan Research Institute and G's ACADEMY, focusing on those two online event reports. We will continue to support the community with these three companies. In this report, we have summarized the messages from each of the three companies at the online event.
～Beginning～
1st: "I tried XX" LT tournament! December 22, 2020
Partly because of the coronavirus crisis, the first memorable event was held completely online. The event was held in the form of having participants take the stage and LT (abbreviation of Lightning Talk) for what they tried.
First of all, Yoshida of Epson shared the following thoughts when launching the community.
(1) He intends to create and expand a place for a developer community where people can gather naturally.
(2) He wants to learn a lot of creativity from developers, create new innovations while gaining sympathy, and take steps to solve problems.
"Epson aims to solve social issues through innovation in order to realize a "Achieving sustainability and enriching communities". We have released technologies and products to the world. However, in order to realize this goal, it is necessary to create solutions with many colleagues to solve problems in addition to what we create. Through open innovation, all over the world together with our developers, we want to expand the possibilities of our devices that connect the cyber space and the real world and find a way to solve problems. "
In addition, Omori of The Japan Research Institute the community co-sponsor, took the stage. He made comments that they would be able to support business development and provide advice on advancing the business.
At the event, LTs were held on various themes from general participants, such as "I tried to study JavaScript asynchronous processing again!" and "I tried to hold a security study session by myself!". Participants praised the speaker's output.
Epson also introduced the Epson Connect API and examples of using the API at in-house study sessions.
For details on the Epson Connect API and developer registration, refer to the following.
https://openinnovation.epson.com/en/developer/
We asked event participants to attend in the Slack room of the Open Developer Community with Epson. We plan to use it for exchanging information between participants and for event announcements from the management.
～Spread～
2nd: "I tried using XX (API, etc.)" LT tournament!! January 27, 2021
The second event was also held completely online, and the moderator was at G's ACADEMY TOKYO BASE of G's ACADEMY Harajuku.Participants also used LT to make presentations on the theme API.
First of all, Yamazaki, the head of G's ACADEMY, introduced us to the Map API. Yamazaki, who has acquired Microsoft MVP as a developer of Microsoft's Bing Maps for eight consecutive years, introduced the overall picture of the Map API by comparing not only Microsoft services but also other companies' services.
General speakers also introduced the outline and usage of Google Books API, YouTube API, CloudSign Web API, etc. with actual examples.
Epson introduced an example of using the Epson Connect API in combination with the Twitter API.
Planning Department of Epson
Shiratori, DX Strategic Planning Department of Epson said, "The API can be used in combination rather than alone. The main functions of the Epson Connect API are printing and scanning, but it is an interface for input and output in the real world. By using the API, it can connect the cyber space and the real world, I think there are various ways to use it, so please try it. "
We announced the hackathon to be held on February 27th and 28th.
We also have a report on the hackathon that was held, so please have a look.
https://openinnovation.epson.com/en/topics/20210331_1/
Finally, Sugaya of G's ACADEMY, who was the moderator, commented and the event was closed.
"A lot of unique presentations were gathered at this LT meeting as well. I think that a variety of outputs, from works that are all about my hobbies to practical tips, from beginners to geeks, were born this month as well.
We will continue to aim for an event that will be a place to praise all outputs regardless of the range of technical capabilities! "
Over 50 people participated in the two online events. Through the event, we can connect with developers and the community is gradually expanding.
The Open Developer Community with Epson will continue to hold regular study sessions and events.
We want to make it a place where people who like technology can gather, learn together, become friends, and participate as a community for problem solving, so please feel free to join us.
◎ Community events will be announced on connpass (Japanese only)
https://g-s.connpass.com/
Written interview content and names of organization, affiliations, and titles, etc. are as of the time of the interview.