Peter Drucker is known as the Father of Modern Management and one of his famous quotes states “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”.  This statement is true in almost any industry. 

            In recent years, we have seen rapid growth in technology, both physical devices, such as sensors, and digital platforms, big data, machine learning and AI.  The applications of these technology together, often referred to as cyber-physical systems, has led us into the fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0.  The benefits of cyber-physical systems have only just started to show their power in a number of industries, but have shown widespread application and benefits across many sectors.

            A core principle is that sensors can be used to monitor processes along with the impact of these processes, generating data that can be used to learn, feedback and adjust towards the target result.

            As humans, we are naturally hungry for data and information to help us improve towards our own goals in a similar manner.  This has been referred to as the Quantified Self movement.  Examples of this are accelerometers,  weighing scales, body fat analysers and heart rate monitors used in health and fitness to track progress, train in the right zone, rest effectively…

            In the serious skincare space, a lot of money is invested in formulating effective ingredients and topical formations to address or prevent against common skin complaints.  Scientific rigour is applied to clinical or claims trials to established what can expect to achieve when these formulations are used correctly.  However, unlike the health and fitness industry, there has been little technology available to support serious skincare users to measure and manage their skincare regime and support them to achieve or maintain their goals. 

            At Szentia, we have dedicated our efforts to bringing these principles and scientific rigour to the home enabling the next generation of smart Brands to provide a practical and effective skin health integral oversight. Scientific measurement of parameters that make a difference, such as tracked, metered dose control of potent ingredients for regime consistency to objective assessment of skin impact parameters such as skin hydration, barrier function, redness or shine.  

            The important element in this move is to preserve the scientific rigour and ensure that the quality of data recorded in regime tracking or skin measurement, is high enough to inform on the improving processes, consistency and decision making and the digital feedback provides convenience, clarity and certainty to the user. The co-relation of these and other relevant data opens a new era of personalization and remote easy oversight of one of our most relevant human organs: The Skin.

At Szentia, we understand technology has to bridge skin experts’ knowledge, prevention, cosmetic, aesthetic or pathology treatments in an easy way for the benefit of the “consumer-patient persona” throughout its lifetime.

            At Szentia, we see the power of bringing together holistic support through physical devices and digital platforms to support serious skincare users to measure and manage their skincare for consistent and optimal results that they can trust. We can help users to learn how their skin adapts to their personal lifestyle, track and adjust their product usage, their regime and the impact on their skin.

As a result, our technology helps users to achieve maximum value from their skincare product and make educated decisions about their skincare choices.“

@David Heath - April 2022

I was lounging in my living room this weekend smart phone at hand, watching an international Football game on my smart TV, when my smart watch beeped to remind me that it was time for my workout. As I walked towards the smart treadmill, it dawned on me that digitalization has permeated every aspect of human activity, but intelligence remains mostly in backend servers and far from the edge of commodity consumer products value chain.

In the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) products, the opportunity to inject intelligence is on the packaging itself. It all started with Barcodes used to automate the identification of products in the warehouse, on store shelves or at the checkout stand. This was improved on with QR codes providing more information about ingredients and provenance of the contents of the packaging. To this point the information provided was always static.

With the introduction of smart indicators and pigments, you could tell if the product contents have expired or been tampered with. This was the beginning of dynamic information in CPG. Then came the introduction of innovative IoT sensors with printed electronics to kick the door with open for unlimited consumer interaction and intelligent behavioral and state information.

The opportunity in CPG is to have, for the first time, unique data and visibility into consumer behavior beyond the point of sale. This is possible through the product self-reporting the state of the product packaging and contents throughout its lifecycle, from manufacturing to the warehouse, to the store, to the consumer hands and its interaction with the product and finally to the refurbishing and reuse/recycle center.

 Much beyond just augmented reality this packaging innovation ushers in the era of smart CPG products that offers early adopters unprecedent personalization of products and services, interactive brand consumer experiences, a more intelligent product supply chain and a circular economy that matches consumer aspirations and brand values.

@Ali Bouhouch - February 2022