by Lynda Kiernan, editor, GAI Media

Agtech Intel has been running a new feature called “Question of the Month”. Below are the expanded results of this past month’s responses, along with commentary from GAI News Editor Lynda Kiernan.

Question:

Japan’s Aroma Bit has raised $2.23 million to advance its sensor-based technology that can objectively produce highly specific visual maps or “fingerprints” of smells. In your opinion, what is the potential for such technology in regard to agriculture and food?

Wrap-Up:

Well, it would seem that the majority of our respondents are taking a wait-and-see stance when it comes to smell technology.

In the first week of March, we shared that Aroma Bit, a Tokyo-based deep technology startup, raised JPY250 million (US$2.23 million) through a Series A led by existing investor, the Sony Innovation Fund, the venture capital arm of Sony Corporation.

Understanding that each individual interprets smells differently, Aroma Bit’s sensor technology can mimic the human olfactory system in an objective way, creating a universal digital language to convert the abstract into concrete, usable information.

Agriculture, and the food and beverage industries, are two of the sectors being specifically targeted by Aroma Bit. The company sees a natural fit for its technology through its ability to monitor food quality on an industrial scale, and its use to track uniformity in freshness across multiple production sites. There also is the potential for its sensors to be used post-production, in a retail or home setting, to detect and visually inform of food spoilage.

Despite a successful Series A, more than half of our respondents state that the potential for such technology in regard to agriculture and food is doubtful – that at this point, the idea of odor technology is so nascent, that its intrigue stems from sheer novelty.

The remaining respondents were evenly split. Those stating that the potential for such technology is promising – that although such technologies do have the potential to reduce food waste, for example, it remains too early to gauge its market adoption – came in at 22.2 percent.

The final 22.2 percent of respondents are our optimists – stating that the potential for such technology in regard to food and agriculture is massive – technologies that increase the integration of the human experience with the food supply chain are the future.

Granted, time will tell if smell technology will play a role in the future of food, and how we as consumers relate to the foods we buy and eat. But, as Philippe de Lapérouse and Mark Zavodnyik of HighQuest Consulting stated in their recent article, Technology Advancements in Grocery Retail, “Just as robotics and automation are increasingly being adopted in agricultural production, these technologies are also be harnessed by downstream sectors of the retail food industry,” adding, “In the world of brick and mortar retailers, the use of robotics, AI, data sensors, etc., are proving to be the disruptors of the moment.”

So, although odor and smell technology may be years from being applicable in a meaningful way, it will be interesting to observe how it develops as the range of technologies that touch how we relate to our foods expands and deepens.

-Lynda Kiernan