Let's tackle social challenges through innovation with Epson!
Capitalizing on the Epson Innovation Challenge community to build consumer and commercial solutions in printing and scanning
- In 2023, Epson began a year-long open innovation initiative in the form of the Epson Innovation Challenge Series to build creative and business-viable solutions using Epson Connect.
- The third Epson Innovation Challenge concluded with over 30 applications identifying new print and scan workflows using technologies such as Generative AI, OCR, 2D-barcodes, and Document Intelligence.
- Epson harnesses cross-industry specialization to deliver innovative solutions at both speed and scale by engaging with the startup and developer community in the U.S. and Canada.
Epson America, Inc. and Foundry 415 Innovation Group (hackathon operator) hosted the third "Epson Innovation Challenge" in the U.S., a one-week hybrid "hackathon" series held in San Francisco, San Jose and remotely from October 26 - November 3, 2023.
On October 26th, Epson kicked off the Epson Innovation Challenge with Foundry 415 Innovation Group in San Francisco, California. Over nine days, participants attended hybrid workshops and mentoring sessions with the Epson America Digital Innovation Team to refine ideas and brainstorm solutions. Eight participants delivered their pitches and live demos at the historic Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
The winner, Anjali Sridharan, has participated in the Epson Innovation Challenge twice before winning on her third attempt. She created a platform to manage the storage and handling of hazardous materials in labs and manufacturing environments. Her solution will scan shipping labels and work orders of hazardous materials and create a log to monitor the handling of these materials. The document intelligence solution extracts key information from data sheets/manuals of chemicals to organize it automatically with critical instructions and deliver compliance and safety automation.
"With this Epson Innovation Challenge, we really thought about what we can do with printing and scanning that maybe has never been possible before. The Epson Connect API allows for automation and cloud capabilities to address use cases that previously were not considered by Epson. So if we give the right access and automation, we unlock the power of information." said Tim Nguyen, Manager, Business Development & Partner Innovations, Epson America Inc.
This was the third innovation challenge Epson America has held this year to showcase Epson Connect, a cloud service to control print and scan functions. This open platform allows developers and startups to create new printing and scanning use cases by integrating their software applications. The Epson Innovation Challenge Series was a year-long open innovation initiative to promote the Epson Connect API with the startup and developer communities in the United States and Canada. Additionally, continuing Epson's earlier open innovation initiatives, such as the "HackTrek" hackathons in Japan and other global strategic programs.
At the heart of the Epson Innovation Challenge is a look towards the future of technology. Epson is committed to delivering innovative solutions at both speed and scale. "The Epson Innovation Challenge Series is just the beginning of Epson's innovation journey. This allow us to identify impactful solutions out there and understand impactful collaboration with external parties. We hope to produce more activities similar to this to and further build on the community we have already built." said Jack Rieger, Director of Digital Innovation, Epson America Inc. By engaging with the startup and developer community, they hope to harness cross-industry specialization to deliver unprecedented advancements and breakthroughs for their customers.
This most recent Innovation Challenge collected over 30 applications. The Epson Selection Committee selected 21 participants (divided into 6 teams and 8 individuals) who were challenged to develop new workflows using Epson Connect. On Demo Day, 8 pitch presentations from top-performing participants were judged on the uniqueness of the use case addressed, business viability, and creativity in integrating printing or scanning. Returning jury members, such as the former Head of Commercial at Github, and Mr. Junkichi Yoshida, COO of Printing Solutions Division at Seiko Epson Corporation, delivered acute judgments. While the new additions to the jury panel such as the Director of Digital Innovation, Epson America Inc, Group Product Manager for Consumer Inkjet, Epson America Inc, and former Technical Lead at Instagram and Facebook, brought diverse viewpoints on each pitch.
In the end, the competition was fierce, with a very small margin separating the three finalists. Second and third place went to Polygraph AI, which developed a solution for redacting personal and confidential information from documents, and Chordify, which developed an application for secure printing in public access locations using OTPs (One Time Password) and 2D-barcodes.
1st Place
Anjali Sridharan - Document Intelligence solution that extracts key information from data sheets/manuals of hazardous chemicals or materials to organize it automatically with critical instructions
Challenge Focus / Idea:
The solution aims to provide an accessible facility management tool that centralizes every chemical safety data sheet for enhanced inventory management of hazardous materials.
The Facility Management tool helps improve facility compliance and safety with 3 value propositions: Document Intelligence, Facility Organization, and Compliance and Safety Automation
Shipping labels of hazardous materials are scanned and the system will extract information needed to handle the chemical appropriately. Which includes an active checklist of tasks for facilities to comply with. The checklist is personalized to onsite administrators on site.
Users also have the functionality to schedule human resources required when a chemical requiring specialized labor is identified.
Anjali Sridharan - "The Epson Innovation Challenge was an amazing experience that has taught me invaluable lessons in product development. The opportunity to work directly with Epson hardware was extremely useful when building my prototype and refining the end-user experience. Most importantly, Epson's team was extremely helpful during every aspect of the process- from promptly clearing up any questions I had about the APIs, to helping strategize how my facility management tool might appeal to their existing customer base. I really appreciate that I was given the opportunity to go through several rounds of the challenge and refine the application further each time. I look forward to continuing work with the Epson products and team in the future!"
2nd Place
Polygraf.ai - AI data integrity, monitoring, and governance solutions that redact PII or Confidential information to strengthen data integrity
Team Members:
Yagub Rahimov, Ali Khodabakhsh, & Vignesh Karumbaya
Challenge Focus / Idea:
The solution focuses on eliminating the issues of data leakages from physical documents. For example, printed materials that are kept by employees who have left the company.
The use case is targeted for law firms, financial services, and highly regulated government agencies and other verticals where data integrity is a key need.
An administrative control center is available to establish parameters and permissions based on the department or type of users.
The solution can be deployed on the device or network level.
Ali Khodabakhsh, AI/ML Engineer of Polygraf.ai - "Participating in the Epson Innovation Challenge was an opportunity for us to improve our solution. Throughout the event, we had the chance to attend insightful workshops that greatly assisted us in refining our pitching skills and creating a robust MVP. Engaging in this competition provided a platform for us to present our idea, receive feedback from the judges, collaborate with fellow innovators, and ultimately fostered a spirit of continuous improvement. We are grateful for the invaluable experience and look forward to leveraging what we've learned to drive future innovations."
3rd Place
Chordify - Built an application for secure printing in public access locations with the use of OTPs and 2D-barcodes.
Team Members:
Ken Morris, Chirag Gehlot, Supriyo Sanyal
Challenge Focus / Idea:
The solution is focused on public access spaces, such as shared offices to create a secure and streamlined approach to printing.
The solution allows users to schedule printing to ensure printing occurs only when ready. Hence ensuring only the owner of the print job receives the printed materials at their convenience.
It has a notification system to alert the print job owner when a print out occurs.
An OTP (One-Time Password) system to verify that the print job owner executes the print once at the printer.
Future developments include a 2D-barcode on the mobile application to verify the print job.
Ken Morris, CEO of Chordify - "We from Chordify Inc were thrilled to be shortlisted for the Epson Challenge this October. It was a great opportunity to be mentored through the pitching and presentation sessions and to be judged by a panel of professionals. In short, we were delighted that our hard work was recognized by coming in 3rd. And we gained immense real life experience of pitching in front of a group of peers and industry experts and investors. Thank you, Epson and Foundry 415"
Previous events have included challenging participants to develop solutions for sectors that can benefit from an integrated secure cloud service for scanning and printing and creating new user experiences with assistive technologies. Going into 2024, Epson has some big ideas on how to further leverage on the community built throughout the Epson Innovation Challenge Series. Epson is positioned as a key ecosystem partner for startups and developers looking to expand their solutions capabilities into printing and scanning workflows.
"Since 2019, when we decided to run hackathons in Japan, we've met many entrepreneurs and developers and been able to extend other business opportunities through the relationship. We understand that some ideas may not be ready for market right away. Sometimes, with pivots, changes, and further integration with other solutions they could then be market ready. We would like to continue working together with the participants of the hackathons and bring in relevant business partners to make a more valuable offering to the market. Please allow us to continue this collaboration with you in the future. This networking and close relationship with the community is very essential and valuable." said Junkichi Yoshida, COO of Printing Solutions Division, Seiko Epson Corporation.
"The Epson Innovation Challenge acts as an incredible interface between Epson business teams and the external communities of startups and developers. It was encouraging to see participants continuing engagement with Epson even beyond the hackathons. Epson has a clear passion for designing impactful open innovation initiatives. We certainly look forward to what they come up with next." said Sandra Miller, CEO, Foundry 415 Innovation Group
Article provided by: Epson and Foundry 415 Innovation Group
Written interview content and names of organization, affiliations, and titles, etc. are as of the time of the event.