fiBona

“Co-creation with Startups" is one of fibona's activities. One of the goals is to co-create with startups that are mainly in the beauty tech industry. The company will work on joint research and the commercialization of ideas based on the theme of "Beauty Wellness.” In addition to strengthening its cosmetics business, the company aims to realize its corporate mission, "Beauty Innovation for a Better World," by incorporating outside resources to provide new beauty solutions that go beyond the boundaries of cosmetics. The "fibona Pitch Stage" was held at S/PARK on August 29 to select companies that will be considered for co-creation.

The five startups that made presentations this time were selected from among the approximately 50 companies that applied for the call for research and business projects in the field of Beauty Wellness, which started with the fibona kick-off event held on July 1, 2012. From among them, five companies were selected to make presentations through discussions with various Shiseido members.

First, Hidefumi Araki, Director of the Shiseido R&D Strategy Department, who also served as a judge for this event, took the stage. “We have selected five companies with very high potential that we believe will be able to create new value if they work with us, and we are pleased to have them present their pitches today.”

Each company was given five minutes to make a presentation. This was followed by five minutes for questions and answers. The judges were Hidefumi Araki; Chief Product Development Officer, Katsunori Yoshida; Director of the Advanced Research Center, Kiyoshi Sato; and Director of the Incubation Center, Masashi Ogo. Prototypes from each company were displayed during the judging, and Shiseido researchers were seen testing and asking questions with great interest.

After the presentations by all five companies, the screening results were announced. The three companies selected this time were YUKASHIKADO Inc., no new fork studio Inc. and Digital Artizan Inc. The following are introductions for each of these companies.

YUKASHIKADO Inc. operates services such as "Vita Note," which tests collected urine and suggests the best diet and supplements. Shinya Minobe, Representative Director and CEO, said, "We offer a service in which you can view the nutritional balance and absorbed amount of nutrients in your body on your smartphone or PC by mailing in urine collected first thing in the morning, and based on the results, we provide meals and supplements to improve nutrition according to each person's body type and nutritional balance. We provide a service that offers meals and supplements based on the results of these tests.” In the future, Shiseido plans to develop a service that combines the company's urine analysis data with Shiseido's skin and health data. Expectations are high for the fusion of analysis technology and algorithms to personalize nutritional intake and Shiseido's knowledge of beauty-related science.

no new fork studio Inc. is developing ORPHE TRACK smart footwear. The company is developing smart footwear that combines shoes with its proprietary sensing technology that precisely measures and analyzes foot movements, scoring the way one walks based on running and walking data acquired through the technology. Using this data, it is possible to analyze the best way to run and walk for beauty.

Yuya Kikukawa, president of the company, said "We would like to collaborate on the theme of elucidating the correlation between gait (the way you walk) and beauty. For example, scoring how beautiful your gait is or figuring out the best way to run for beauty.” “We hope to provide unprecedented services through collaboration with Shiseido," he said enthusiastically. The company aims to create new value by combining Shiseido's knowledge in the beauty domain with ORPHE TRACK's ability to understand behavior and analyze gaits.

Digital Artisan Inc. practices a lab-driven business that creates business prototypes from the knowledge of researchers, engineers and artists and is developing processes using 3D digital technology from 3D scanning to 3D printing. The company aims to provide new services that cross the company's 3D scanning technology of the human body with Shiseido's data on skin and health.

Yuji Hara, president of the company, said, “The 3D scanning system we have developed for the human body generates 3D data from 120 photographs taken synchronously in 1/200th of a second. We have also developed a scanning system for making nail tips. In the future, I believe that data from the human body can be used more in combination with beauty care and healthcare technologies. We would like to continue our research and development in collaboration with various people."

Yuko Nakanishi, leader of the fibona project, commented, "The presentations were full of passion and dreams, and I realized once again that the beauty field is very broad. I believe that each company can do various things with their own ideas in the area of beauty wellness.” All three companies will spend the next three months considering what kind of services and data they can provide in collaboration with Shiseido and plan to realize their services.