I got hired by Export Japan in November 2014 as a business developer on a newly launched solution called QR Translator.

To paraphrase the official website:

Make a Sign Speak Any Language

QR Translator issues a special QR code that bridges the language barrier. Scanning the QRT Code – a combination of a QR code and icons representing the available languages – leads the smartphone user to the translated content.

I was the second on the company working on this newly launched solution, which was beta at the moment with all the issues it implies. I then helped to affine the design, interface and of course the overall system to raise it from the “just another solution status” to the “great to use” one. We started a 3 months sprint updating the system (while also trying to selling it overseas), and delivered a far better one, let’s call it the 1.0, in February 2015.

The solution got many fame in Japan and win different innovation prices, which lead to the creation of a spare entity to exclusively manage this solution. This new company employs nowadays 15 people, and the solution is used in Japan, France, India, China…