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Shou-Gwo Wuu, founder and CEO of Brillnics, received the International Image Sensor Society (IISS) Exceptional Lifetime Achievement Award for 2025. The award recognizes his contributions to mass-production-ready backside-illuminated and stacked CMOS image-sensor technologies.
Who won the 2025 IISS Exceptional Lifetime Achievement Award?
The recipient is Dr. Shou-Gwo Wuu, whom Brillnics identifies as the company’s founder and chief executive officer. The International Image Sensor Society lists Wuu as its 2025 award recipient.
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Award | IISS Exceptional Lifetime Achievement Award |
| Recipient | Dr. Shou-Gwo Wuu |
| Organization | International Image Sensor Society (IISS) |
| Ceremony | June 3, 2025, during the International Image Sensor Workshop on Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan |
| Company announcement | Brillnics announcement dated June 13, 2025 |
The full organization name matters here: “ISS” by itself can refer to unrelated award organizations, while the issuing body calls this the IISS Exceptional Lifetime Achievement Award.
What did the award recognize?
The IISS citation is: “For contributions to mass-production-ready backside illuminated and stacked CMOS image sensor technologies.” In other words, the recognition is tied to sensor technologies intended to move beyond laboratory development toward manufacturable, high-volume production.
#1 Best Overall
- 640x480 VGA Resolution – 1/6" CMOS sensor with 300k-pixel array for real-time imaging and embedded vision applications.
- Low-Power Operation – 60mW at 15fps (VGA/YUV) with 2.5-3.0V I/O voltage and integrated 1.8V LDO core regulation.
- Auto-Image Optimization – AE (exposure), AGC (gain), AWB (balance), anti-bloom, and black-level calibration for adaptive lighting conditions.
- Programmable Image Parameters – Adjustable color saturation, hue, gamma correction, and edge sharpness via SCCB/I²C interface.
- Multi-Format Output – Raw RGB, RGB565/555/444, YUV 4:2:2, and YCbCr 4:2:2 via 8-bit parallel data port (D0-D7).
IISS says its Exceptional Lifetime Achievement Award honors a member of the image-sensor community who has made “substantial sustained and exceptional contributions to the field of solid-state image sensors over the course of their career.” The society established the award in 2013.
When and where was the award presented?
Brillnics places the ceremony on June 3, 2025, at the International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) on Awaji Island in Hyogo, Japan. The company published its announcement 10 days later, on June 13. IISS’s award record independently confirms Wuu as the 2025 recipient and preserves the technology-focused citation.
Rank #2
- Resolution 640x480 VGA
- IO voltage 2.5V to 3.0V (internal LDO power supply to the core 1.8V)
- Power operation 60mW/15fps VGAYUV
- Automatic influence control functions include: automatic exposure control, automatic gain control, automatic white balance, automatic elimination of light streaks, automatic black level calibration, image quality control including color saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness ANTI_BLOOM
- RawRGB, RGB (GRB4:2:2, RGB565/555/444), YUV(4:2:2) and YCbCr(4:2:2) output formats
Wuu’s documented career background
The following background comes from Brillnics’ company announcement rather than from the IISS award listing:
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems- Wuu began working on CMOS image-sensor development at TSMC in 1999.
- He co-founded Brillnics in 2014 with Junichi Nakamura and Isao Takayanagi.
- Brillnics says he has authored or co-authored more than 100 patents and published more than 40 papers.
Those figures are company-supplied career details; they are not presented by IISS as independent measures of the award’s impact. The IISS record independently establishes the award, recipient and official citation.
Rank #3
- OV2640 is a 1/4 inch CMOS UXGA (1632 x 1232) image sensor, The sensor is small in size and low in operating voltage, providing the same functions of a single-chip UXGA camera and image processor.
- Through SCCB bus control, it can output 8 / 10-bit image data with various resolutions in the form of whole frame, sub-sampling, scaling and window extraction.
- The UXGA image of this product can reach up to 15 frames per second (SVGA can reach 30 frames and CIF can reach 60 frames).
- Users can fully control the image quality, data format and transmission method.
- 140° Wide angle lens allow you to capture a large area of the scene within a short shooting distance.
Why this award matters in image sensors
Backside-illuminated and stacked CMOS designs are named directly in the citation, so the award is specific rather than a general technology or business honor. The wording also emphasizes “mass-production-ready,” pointing to contributions relevant to practical manufacturing as well as sensor design.
The available award records do not provide a named-person quotation, an independently measured impact statistic or a detailed technical comparison of the two architectures. For those subjects, the IISS citation is the authoritative scope of what was recognized.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- OV2640 camera module is made of 1/4 inch OV2640 million high-definition CMOS sensor, with high sensitivity, high flexibility, support JPEG output and other characteristics
- The OV2640 image sensor has 2 million pixels (1632x1232 pixels), its small size, low operating voltage, and provides all the functions of a single UXGA camera and image processor
- It supports many parameter settings such as exposure, white balance, chroma, saturation and contrast, and supports JPEG/RGB565 format output, which can meet the needs of different occasions
- Through the control of SCCB bus, 10-bit sampling data of various resolutions can be output in the form of whole frame, sub-sampling, windowing, etc. Users can fully control image quality, data format and transmission mode
- OV2640 image sensor uses unique sensor technology to improve image quality and obtain clear and stable color images by reducing or eliminating optical or electronic defects such as fixed pattern noise, tail support, floating, etc
Rank #4
- IO voltage 2.5V to 3.0V (internal LDO power supply to the core 1.8V)
- Power operation 60mW/15fps VGAYUV
- Automatic influence control functions include: automatic exposure control, automatic gain control, automatic white balance, automatic elimination of light streaks, automatic black level calibration, image quality control including color saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness ANTI_BLOOM
- RawRGB, RGB (GRB4:2:2, RGB565/555/444), YUV(4:2:2) and YCbCr(4:2:2) output formats
- Resolution 640x480 VGA
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