Canon has announced it intends to acquire full ownership of Belgian capture, OCR and document conversion software developer, I.R.I.S. Group SA. It has held a 17% stake in the company since July 2009.

It says this will allow both companies to cooperate more closely in developing a range of end-to-end office solutions and to develop a more consultancy based sales approach.

Rokus van Iperen, President & CEO, Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa, explains: “Canon has identified business solutions and professional services as important focus areas for future growth and we believe this investment will bring long term opportunities to build on our success in the solutions and consultancy businesses to date.  We will be working closely with I.R.I.S. Group, as a stand-alone company, to deliver more advanced solutions and services and greater customer value.”

Some of the company’s  products include:

* a compressed PDF files generator called IRISCompressor;

* IRISNotes 2 Digital Pen;

* Readiris OCR software; and

* IRIScan Anywhere Mobile Scanning Solution.