Japanese Touch Panel Pioneers Win French Legion of Honor

The French government bestowed its highest civilian honor by knighting two Japanese entrepreneurs for their key role in the success of a major French electronics maker.

Keizo Wada, 67, and Tadashi Shimizu, 66, who jointly developed the industrial touch panel in 1988 and founded Osaka-based touch panel maker Digital Electronics Corp. were awarded the Chevalier medals of the French Legion of Honor. The Legion comprises five degrees, of which Chevalier (Knight) is the lowest. The others, in ascending order of stature, are Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand Croix (Grand Cross).

Digital Electronics was bought out by France’s Schneider Electric and turned into a subsidiary in 2002. Since then Schneider has become one of the world’s leading makers of touch panels used in industrial-grade machines like subway ticket vending machines.

“We used to have difficulties getting people to adopt touch panels, which were too innovative for them,” Wada said at a news conference.