Scio for “food check freaks”
Technology Empowered Customers Have Yet Another Weapon
I just discovered that my favorite cooking chocolate was really half cacao made (51% exactly)… but the store brand that was supposed to be 64% was in fact 57%.
Yes, customers can now check the chemical make-up of materials in a second or two. Dairy, fruits, vegetables but also medicine, water, toys, …
I backed on Kickstarter in September 2015 a promising product called Scio (from Consumer Physics, an israeli company @my_scio). It was appearing to me like one of the gadgets in CSI: NY :)
Nearly 2 years after, I just received it at my company (Insign) and a few tests later, we can invite brands to benefit from this technology.
How does Scio works?
Scio is a molecular analyzer. As (nearly) always, the underlying technology is not new, it’s basically the analyze of how molecules reflects a special light. Each print is different and from there you can learn its composition from a product: water, carbon, pesticides, sugar, nuts, cacao, …
So? With an average retail price of 280€ for early birds, we can target a retail price aroud 199€ next Chrismas. At such price, this object becomes a daily device for allergic people, food mistrust, diabetics, …
Food only?
When it comes to scanning things around you, you would start thinking about food. But guess what, molecules are everywhere, so Scio and composition discovering is also available for : alcohol, manufacturing and quality control, healthcare, pharma, oil and gas, plastic, agriculture, raw materials, cosmetics, packaging … you name it as long as it’s made of molecules (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule).
“What’s inside?” It’s a matter of trust.
Scio is fun, yet; during the first weeks, you may scan compulsively everything around you.
In a couple of months, it may be a daily tool to ensure that what you are eating, at home, at the restaurant, in your company, abroad suits your beliefs and needs.
Brick and mortar and online food industry, food supply chain, groceries, restaurants could ensure freshness, traceability, diet coaching, receipts mix and match, … to regain confidence, boost desire, offer new experiences.
The developer SDK is already in our hands so we can integrate both hardware and software in fridges, stoves, stores, mobile apps.
At a time when globalization is about putting more and more alien food on our tables, comes a new self defence tools.
Isn’t it the next loyalty card?
Enabling your customers to feel safe before enjoying your product is nowadays a key to loyalty while facing more and more concers about food.
This new tools for your clients enjoins you to review your products’ specifications and your « 0%, free, Bio, natural, nutrition facts, light » communication.
Above all, it offers you a lot of opportunities to better fight your competitors. You can rent it, sponsor it, sell it or offer it to your clients…
Whatever the model, you don’t want Amazon to extend its Dashbutton with a « true composition ranking ». Consumer Physics is told to reveal a first smartphone that integrate its sensors and apps during the Mobile World Congress at the end of February in Barcelona.
3 steps to move on
As the Scio tools need to pile up knowledge yet, the first users are building a worldwide database of what they find (as a french, I started with wine and cheese of course).
Simultaneously, companies like you can deploy the B2B suite from Consumer Physics to build their own reference scheme.
Check your exposure: your promises vs your real products’ composition
Order a Scio (8 weeks), the SDK and the developer Licence
Invent services that turn this technology to your advantage
Feel free to contact us for a demo, there are ways to prototype something quickly for you.
