Wacom

Founded in 1983 in Saitama. The key technology is EMR, electromagnetic resonance: the tablet powers the pen through an inductive field, so the pen needs neither cord nor battery yet still reports pressure and tilt. The Intuos tablets became standard issue among illustrators, and the Cintiq put the digitizer directly on a display — drawing board and screen became the same surface.

The technology has travelled further than the brand: the S Pen in Samsung's Galaxy Note series is Wacom EMR, and plenty of pen-enabled laptops carry the company's digitizer under the glass. For an entire profession the name is generic — you draw "on your wacom", whatever it said on the box.