Wacom Gets More Creative in Education

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wacom^®, the brand that leading Creative Professionals use, announced that it is going to ramp-up investment in the education space through the development of new product offerings and marketing programs. The company has long been the global leader in shaping the digital instruction and skills of students bound for careers in animation, game development, industrial design, graphics, illustration and photography, and plans to take it to the next level.

Wacom's commitment to making cutting-edge digital art and design technology more accessible to students around the world has led to the formation of Wacom Education or WE™. The initiative leverages a cross-cultural mix of Wacom employees from a variety of disciplines and expertise whose main goal is to expand the company's dominant position in education through the development of special product offerings and tailored marketing programs, including a focus on developing K-12.

"For many years, Wacom has been enabling the creativity of teachers and students worldwide and helping to inspire the next generation of creative digital art and design leaders," says Jeff Mandell, Executive Vice President of Wacom's Brand Business. "We know from experience that the right educational tools have the power to transform and capture the imagination of students and enable them to successfully pursue their creative dreams."

Today, Wacom's state-of-the-art Cintiq creative pen displays and Intuos Pro line of pen tablets are the worldwide de facto standard among institutions of higher learning across both developed and emerging markets. Wacom products work seamlessly with over 100 pressure-sensitive software applications and both instructors and students take comfort in Wacom's ability to provide a natural and intuitive pen experience that is fast and feels just like traditional media. With several decades of designing and manufacturing products for the classroom, it is not surprising that virtually all of the top art and design schools around the world count on Wacom products to deliver the digital design and art skills that students will need as they prepare for professional careers.

For example, a visit to SCAD, Ringling or many of the other top schools would showcase multiple design labs filled with hundreds of Wacom Cintiq displays being used across animation, illustration, game development and industrial design. ChungKang College of Cultural Industries in Seoul, South Korea recently deployed 90 Cintiq creative pen displays for their Webtoon program, which prepares students for work in creative Web development or cartoon art. And Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada progressively supplies Intuos Pro tablets to incoming freshman majoring in photography as part of their tuition. While virtually all higher education digital art and design schools have adopted Wacom pen-based creative displays and tablets for their labs, an ever-increasing number of educational institutions like Sheridian are either supplying or having their students individually purchase Wacom products as part of their curriculum.  

In 2016 and beyond, college/university educators, K-12 educators and authorized Wacom educational resellers can expect to see strengthened programs including special pricing to institutions as well as individual students. In addition, Wacom has already started increasing its training and tutorial support and is also looking into value-added creative software application bundles for schools. There will also be greater attention aimed at teachers and students covering 3D art and design and expanded partnerships among software providers that embrace Wacom's pressure-sensitive pen technology, such as Autodesk^® and Pixologic^®, to help build powerful curricula.

For further information and to see how education is a fundamental core of Wacom's business strategy, please visit the Wacom booth (#30459) at CES or consult www.wacom.com.

About Wacom
Founded in 1983, Wacom is a global company based in Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange 6727) with subsidiaries and affiliate offices around the world to support marketing and distribution in over 150 countries. Wacom's vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world's leading manufacturer of interactive pen tablets and displays as well as of digital styli and solutions for saving and processing digital signatures. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion and designs around the world and provides business and home users with their leading interface technology to express their personality.

Millions of people worldwide use the wireless and battery free pressure sensitive digital pen technology to operate their smartphones, media tablets or desktop computers and express their individual creativity. The company offers its products also as OEM solutions to leading manufacturers serving incremental markets. Wacom's interface technology, called Wacom feel IT technologies, is also offered as an integrated solution to strategic partners. Most Tablet PC manufacturers count on the advanced features and reliability of the brand to deliver a superior user interface experience. Please visit www.wacom.com for further information.

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