The world’s first technology that can instantly switch between several scents to match video and sound
Images and video appeal to “sight,” music and voice to “hearing.” In communication through media such as TV and the internet, appealing to these two senses has been the mainstream. But in recent years, research into sensory information other than sight and hearing has advanced rapidly and is about to greatly change the shape of media communication. One development attracting intense attention is Aroma Shooter, an olfactory display developed by Aromajoin Corporation, a venture spun off from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). An olfactory display is a device that releases scents to match video and sound, conveying information in a way never possible before. For example, if a rich aroma drifts out along with a video scene of someone drinking coffee, the sense of presence rises further and you can connect deeply with the world of the video. It is truly a dream device.
However, research in the field of smell “had been stuck for a long time,” says Kim Dong Wook, Representative Director of Aromajoin.
“Fragrances are liquids, so to release a scent you have to spray them as a mist. That makes them hard to control and causes problems such as sticking to hair and clothes and not fading easily, and I think that held back development as a device.”
The solidification of scents that Kim has worked on for many years, and the control technology that delivers scents with pinpoint directivity only to a targeted direction and range, solved many problems of conventional devices and succeeded, for the first time in the world, in switching scents at high speed, something previously impossible. As a “revolution in smell,” it is opening up new possibilities for media communication.
Making what no one in the world has achieved the very theme to take on
Kim began researching olfactory displays as a student at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Inspired by a professor’s words, “What no one in the world can do, what only you can do, and what you can keep at without giving up: that is research that changes the world,” Kim was searching for a theme to take on.
“While I was struggling to decide, I learned about research at another university on a TV that emits scents, and I remember being shocked at how far it was from practical use. At the same time, words my mother murmured in 1980, when color TV broadcasting began in Korea, came back to me: ‘Now that TV has color, maybe someday there will be a time when scents come out of the TV.’ More than 30 years later, technology to release scents from a screen had still not been completed… I was convinced: if no one has achieved it, this is the theme I should take on!”
However, although olfactory displays were taken up as a theme at academic conferences, there was no systematic academic field and no one to supervise. Kim recalls that there were even voices questioning, “Is this research really going to lead anywhere?”
What gave Kim, who continued steady research through self-study, a big turning point was presenting research at academic conferences. The olfactory display technology drew a greater response than expected, and in 2009, after completing the doctoral program, Kim was invited to the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and began developing the hardware in earnest.
Connections with many people became a strong support and created business opportunities
After joining NICT, Kim completed the prototype of Aroma Shooter in the first year. After repeated upgrades and gaining a real sense of the response, Kim founded Aromajoin Corporation in 2012. Yet, contrary to expectations, Kim says, “At first there was almost no response.”
“In fact, just before founding the company, I had presented at a conference and received advance purchase reservations from a major general contractor and inquiries from all kinds of industries. But once we actually started the business, it hardly sold at all, and I keenly felt how naive I was about business,” Kim says with a wry smile. Until then, Kim had worked single-mindedly on research and development as an engineer and achieved great results. But as a businessperson, Kim had zero experience and know-how, and says the company did not actively approach promising markets but simply waited.
To change that situation, Kim believed it was important first to get more people to know about the product, and in 2016 exhibited a necklace-type demo unit, miniaturized to mobile size, at CEATEC JAPAN, one of Asia’s largest international exhibitions of IT and electronics. The response from Europe and North America, advanced in scent culture, was strong, and it won the “US Media Panel Innovation Award,” judged by US IoT journalists. With that tailwind, inquiries poured in from companies in Japan and abroad.
In 2017, Kim also took part in the third cohort of the “OIH Seed Acceleration Program (OSAP),” organized by OIH to support ventures from the seed to startup stages. “Of course there was fundraising and advice from mentors, but the biggest gain was meeting many entrepreneurs. Having peers who share the same struggles and loneliness sometimes encouraged me, sometimes inspired me, and I think it became a great force supporting me.”
Kim broke through by taking action and connecting with many people. Aroma Shooter has been recognized in many fields, and various businesses are now starting in earnest.
Someday, one for every person: the goal is a richer world created through scent communication
Aromajoin now has many projects under way. A spatial experience solution business using Aroma Shooter, started in July 2018 in partnership with Toppan Printing, is expected to develop in many directions, such as in-store promotions, entertainment, and sleep support at lodging facilities. From November, an aroma signage display letting visitors try 12 perfumes began at the Daimaru Umeda store. The company also raised funds with Samsung Venture Investment of Korea’s Samsung Group and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital as investors, and plans to mass-produce the device and carry out further research and development. Aroma Shooter is a compact hexagonal device that holds six scent cartridges. Once Aroma Shooter Mini, now under development and worn like a pendant for greater mobility, is completed, its uses will expand even further.
“What we aim for is to open up an era in which everyone has their own Aroma Shooter as a personal device, like a smartphone. And ultimately, we want to change the world to be richer through scent communication.”
Student days when the future was seen as uncertain, and launching a business whose risks were a concern because it was a world first…
It was by no means a smooth road, but Kim laughs brightly and says: “Even a business where the market is already established and the future can be predicted always carries risk when you go on the offensive. If the risk is the same, I want to take on something the world doesn’t have. It is interesting precisely because you pursue what only you can do, rather than following what someone else is already doing. If there is no market, you just create it yourself.” This almost pure positivity and single-minded dedication have been the driving force moving Kim. And that force is leading to a sure future.
Interview date: November 12, 2018
(Interview and text: Mitsuko Yamashita)