Workshop Recap: A Fulfilled Journey with 20+ Innovators and SONY Camera Sensor IU233
On April 20, 2019, we led an EMC2 Workshop for Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp at Chaihuo x.factory, a maker space operated by Seeed. We brought together 20+ innovators, makers and supply chain sector leaders for an immersive program to learn, collaborate and practice, to explore the industrial applications of IU233, a super small 1M-Pixel Lens Module developed by Sony Semiconductor Solutions.
20+ innovators from technology startups were invited to participate in the workshop, alongside Carl Yu, Founder of Taiwan One Work as the workshop tutor. We were super excited to have Hajime Ueno, the Alliance Coordinator of Sony Semiconductor Solutions and his 7 colleagues from Shanghai, HongKong, Beijing and Shenzhen Branches joined us to have face-to-face communication with the local community.
The workshop was a joint effort between Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Chaihuo, aiming to build up a platform for Shenzhen innovators to get the first glimpse of Sony IU233 series and to explore innovative application scenarios in 4 different verticals (Manufacturing, Automation, Security, and Automobile).
Hajime Ueno welcomes the participants 
Hajime Ueno gives a detailed intro to IU233
During the first part of the workshop, participants engaged in a learning and training process to get prepared for their own IU233 powered solutions. Hajime Ueno kicked off the workshop with a warm welcoming speech, sharing details of Sony’s IU233 series and Sony’s expectation for the event. He said “This is the very first workshop that we curate with local partner Chaihuo x.factory in China. The startup ecosystem in China is full of energy and innovation. Sony Semiconductor Solutions want to be in the ecosystem and work more closely with local innovators, and I hope this workshop could help start a conversation between you and Sony.”
Workshop tutor Carl’s sharing 
Workshop tutor Carl’s sharing
Hajime’s sharing was followed by Carl’s training section, which demonstrates various application scenarios of camera modules and image recognition technologies.
During the second half of the workshop, participants grouped into teams of five, and started with the teamwork of analyzing and sharing pain points of respective industries. After the pain point sharing, the four teams were tasked with creating their own application solutions with IU233. Each team has members from project management, software engineering, hardware engineering, industrial design, and architecture design background, enabling them to work as a small R&D center.
After a 3-hour brainstorming, discussion and collaboration, all 4 teams have come up with complete solutions that could be applied to the following verticals:
1) Smart Manufacturing: A smart solution that can increase the safety ratio of employees working in factories.
2) Smart Automation: A smart solution that can control everything in the house with a learning capability.
3) Smart Automobile: A smart solution that can send alarms when kids are left in the car.
4) Smart Security: An anti-stalking solution that sends out signals to the connected security network when detects stalking.
After the on-site presentation of these 4 solutions, the invited judges evaluated each team separately based on criteria including Creativity, Commercialization, Business Model, Module Application and Solution Completion. With respective scores given by the judges, we finally announced the winning team of this intensive one-day workshop. Congrats to the Smart Manufacturing team!
It has been a really meaningful journey to partner with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation in working with local innovators to explore how camera sensors could be applied to industrial scenarios. From the solutions presented on the workshop, we’ve seen the posobilities, energies of crossover collabrations. A huge thank you to the workshop partner Sony and to all participated innovators for such a fulfilling journey. Looking forward to more synergies soon.
About IU233
IU233 is the world’s smallest 1 millimeter-pixel lens module series powered by Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp., targeting the wearable and small mobile device market. It is equipped with a low power consumption mode that reduces power consumption by approximately 10 % to 60 % compared to existing image sensors with an equivalent number of pixels for mobile applications. This makes it the ideal lens module for super-small and lightweight mobile devices. Learn more here.
About Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation manufactures and sells semiconductors and related products. Its products include image sensors, lens modules, television and communications products, laser diodes, and display devices. The company has commenced its operation since 2016 and is based in Atsugi-shi, Japan. Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. Learn more here.
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