It’s been 3 weeks since we held our very first Digital Olfaction Summit, and the excitement is still high here at Aryballe. We loved hearing from presenters Anne Abriat from The Smell & Taste Lab, Jack Bikker from IFF, Jeremiah Bechtold from Antique Candle Co., and Alex Lapp from Mann+Hummel, about innovative digital olfaction use cases and digital transformation initiatives across a variety of industries. We also had the opportunity to host an engaging panel discussion moderated by Daniel Whitenack of Practical AI with panelists Mary Fisher Mullins from Cox Automotive and Aryballe’s own Chief Software Officer Yanis Caritu about the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital transformation.
It was a jam-packed event that sparked even more enthusiasm about the future of digital olfaction technology. If you missed the summit, here were some of the key takeaways:
Data is foundational to making better decisions
One theme that rang clear throughout the day was the important role of data in decision making, across all industries. Aryballe CEO and co-founder Sam Guilaume kicked off the summit with his opening remarks highlighting how data has become extremely fundamental in our increasingly digital world as it allows us to digitally record information to develop common and/or shared knowledge that helps inform smarter business decisions. Alex echoed these sentiments in his presentation, sharing how having access to accurate and actionable data has been key to informing and successfully advancing Mann+Hummel’s digital transformation initiatives.
The same goes for odor data. Throughout Anne’s presentation she emphasized how digital olfaction data can be used to help advance the beauty and health industry, from enhanced insight into customer odor preferences in products to being able to better detect toxins, chemicals, and chemosignals in the human body. Jack went on to discuss how IFF is using olfaction data from Aryballe to test and improve new, sustainable, fragrance capsules used in laundry fabric conditioners. And Jeremiah walked us through how Antique Candle Co. is leveraging odor data to troubleshoot and refine new candle formulas. Armed with this information, all of these companies are able to make enhanced decisions to produce better products and outcomes.
Scent is a language
We’ve discussed before how smell has the ability to evoke powerful responses in humans. That’s because, as Anne explained in her session, your sense of smell is the only sense that has a direct link to memory and emotion. Where you were born, live, work, and other environmental factors can imprint different smells and corresponding emotions onto humans. This is why sensory signatures and experiences are a key element of brand identity in many industries.
Mary explained this phenomenon well during the panel discussion, describing scent as a “language” that we all speak, something that we all have memories grounded in, and that triggers very impactful events in our brain. When it comes to automotive and transportation, this language is especially critical because humans spend so much of their lives in transit.
Embrace AI challenges
In our panel discussion on AI and its growing impact on businesses, panelists Mary and Yanis both emphasized the importance of leveraging AI and machine learning (ML) for many companies across industries to remain competitive. However, these AI innovations can also be a source of disappointment for organizations – whether that’s frustration around failed projects, roadblocks, or unexpected discoveries.
Because of this, Mary recommends having an open mindset, knowing that, when taking on a new AI-driven project or research, there will likely be some surprises along the way that you will learn from, good or bad. Seamless AI processes will not happen overnight, and these difficulties are just part of the process and digital transformation journey. Yanis reiterated this, describing some AI frustrations early on at Aryballe, and how his team embraced the challenge by hiring more data scientists to find better tech solutions and extend the company’s AI and ML capabilities.
We loved bringing together these global thought leaders in the food, fragrance, and automotive industries to discuss the impact digital olfaction and other emerging technologies have on their businesses. A big thank you to all of our participants, and stay tuned for more insights from the Digital Olfaction Summit to come on the blog!
If you want to catch up on the presentations, visit www.digitalolfactionsummit.com to access the recordings of the event.
