On November 26, 2025, the 2025 C&C Prize Ceremony was held at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo (Minato-ku, Tokyo). A total of 43 people attended the ceremony in person (Photo 1), and 11 people participated online.

The presentation ceremony began at 3:00 p.m. with opening remarks by President Takashi Niino. In his speech, he introduced the foundation's major activities and explained that this year's C&C Prize marks the 41st presentation since its inception in 1985, with a total of 81 groups and 128 individuals, plus one group, having been recognized to date.

Hideyuki Tokuda, award committee chair then announced the selection process for the C&C Prize and introduced the two recipient groups. Group A was awarded for "For the invention, practical implementation, and global spread of QR Code," with the QR Code Team composed of four members: Masahiro Hara, Motoaki Watabe, Takahiro Kurobe, and Hiromitsu Takai. Group B was awarded “For Contributions to High-Performance Scientific Computing and Its Applications,” with Jack Dongarra recognized for his achievements. The accomplishments of each recipient were introduced.

The C&C Prize presentation followed, with President Niino presenting certificates to the four QR Code Team members in Group A, and, on behalf of the team, a plaque and a prize money certificate to Mr. Hara. Next, certificates, a plaque, and a prize money certificate were presented to Prof. Dongarra of Group B (Photo 2).

Following the presentation, congratulatory addresses were given by distinguished guests. Satoru Nohara, Director-General of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, praised the QR Code as a remarkable technology that has brought convenience to daily life, and recognized Prof. Dongarra as a leader in both the mathematical and implementation aspects of high-performance computing. He also expressed the government's commitment to continued investment in support of 17 strategic areas, including AI and semiconductors. Tomohiko Uematsu, President of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, highlighted the significant contributions of the QR Code to society and the advances in scientific computing from LINPACK and TOP500, praised both recipients' achievements, emphasized that ICT and computational science are core areas of the institute, and, sharing personal anecdotes about technological progress, concluded his remarks by wishing the awardees further success.

After the award ceremony, the event moved on to the awardees' acceptance speeches. Group A made a speech titled "The QR Code That Changed the World," with Mr. Hara speaking on behalf of the team. He explained that the background to the development of the QR code included issues such as improving factory management efficiency, overcoming the limitations of barcodes, and addressing environmental and multilingual needs. The team focused on fast, highly reliable, and low-cost scanning, and promoted the spread of QR codes through technology disclosure, application development, and standardization. Today, QR codes are utilized in a wide range of fields and international standards, and Mr. Hara stated that QR codes will continue to evolve through integration with AI and security, bringing significant value to society. Group B's Prof. Dongarra made a speech titled "High Performance Computing Changing the World." He explained the history and technological evolution of supercomputers and high-performance computing, as well as their social impact. In particular, he introduced the trends of Moore's Law, parallel processing, the role of accelerators such as GPUs, and the flow of the TOP500 ranking. He emphasized the differences between supercomputer use for AI/machine learning and traditional applications, highlighting the shift from high-precision to low-precision computation. Finally, Prof. Dongarra discussed the importance of such technological innovations in driving transformation in science, industry, and society, concluding that this is a field with ever-increasing expectations for future development.

After the awardees' acceptance speeches, a cocktail party was held with the award recipients. Although the socializing lasted only 50 minutes, many people attended, and in a friendly atmosphere, participants offered their congratulations to the award recipients. It also served as a place for attendees to deepen their friendships with each other.

At the dinner party, award recipients, distinguished guests, and people associated with the foundation gathered. Following the opening address by President Niino, the event began with a speech and toast by Masami Hagiya, President of the Information Processing Society of Japan, after which dinner was served as guests enjoyed friendly conversation. Toward the end of the evening, the guests from the QR Code team — Takayoshi Sagara, President of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED, and Atsushi Toyonaga, President of GS1 Japan—were introduced. Mr. Sagara delivered congratulatory remarks, followed by a response from Mr. Kurobe on behalf of the team. Next, Prof. Dongarra expressed his gratitude for receiving the award. At 7:30 p.m., the dinner party concluded in a warm and friendly atmosphere.This year, as well, many distinguished guests and related parties attended, allowing us to successfully conclude the ceremony. We express our deepest gratitude to everyone who participated.

Related URL

About The NEC C&C Foundation

The Foundation is a non-profit organization established in March 1985 to foster further growth in the electronics industry by encouraging and supporting research and development activities and pioneering work related to the integration of computers and communications technologies, that is, C&C, and ultimately to contribute to the world economy and the enrichment of human life. The Foundation is funded by NEC Corporation.

The Foundation currently has two main activities. It presents the annual C&C Prizes to recognize outstanding contributions to R&D activities and pioneering work in the area of C&C. Candidates are recommended from all over the world. Each prize winner receives a certificate, a plaque, and a cash award (ten million yen per group). As of 2023, 125 prominent persons had received the prize.

The Foundation also gives the following grant: grant to researchers in a doctorial course at a graduate school in Japan.