Vivatech 2022 impressions

Get a good feel even if not everything showcased is really “new”

As trade shows go, companies bring their latest “wow” ?technology-looking-pieces. Many of them are not technology nor “new” since they may have already been launched during the past year or extensively written about. However, seeing them all under one roof is time efficient and communicates what companies feel most proud of.

Beauty was dominated by L′Oreal and LVMH with a broad display of all their brands in a huge stands - hence clearly showcasing that Innovation & technology is waved across their portfolio. Particularly impressive in size and scope was LVMH, with a large area dedicated to all start ups they collaborate with and the 9th edition of the LVMH innovation awards. This year LVMH choose from more than 950?startup applications from 75 countries. A total of 21?startups from 10 different countries were selected as finalists, notably reflecting their ability to enhance the customer experience through different dimensions.

Bernard Arnaud made a speech (view his speech at min 31), and handed over the first price t to London-based Toshi, which offers a “wait and try” delivery service for online luxury consumers.

Toshi already works with LVMH houses, including Christian Dior Couture, Celine, Tiffany & Co., Berluti and Rimowa, and just started with Louis Vuitton.

COMMON THEMES

#1 SUSTAINABILITY

L′Oreal already best in class in the industry, being recognized with triple ‘A’ score for the sixth consecutive year for environmental leadership in tackling climate change, ensuring water security and protecting forests) showcased L’Oréal?Water Saver, (TIME magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021), is a groundbreaking showerhead that reduces water consumption by 61% compared to standard methods. Furthermore, the entire stand will be reused in another event.

LVMH has a big focus on sustainability recently and many of the startups it showcased were devoted to circular economy. This topic was also well covered at LVMH highlights its circular economy initiatives at the ChangeNOW summit, the world’s largest gathering of innovations for the planet. A finalist for the LVMH price WeTurn. Founded in 2020 in Paris, WeTurn transforms unsold goods and textiles into new recycled yarns and qualitative fabrics. This 100% close loop is traceable, European and impactless.?The Startup’s clients include Christian Dior Couture for which they recycled their iconic Toile de Jouy fabric into a new collection of yarn.

#2 NFT′s FRENZY

If you don′t have an NFT you are nobody nowadays. However, given the rush to be there I have to say that most of the projects are “digitally identified” pretty pictures that at most give consumers access to “special content”. Great... So what? Don′t despair .. I am confident the industry will find a better use to blockchain technology such as certification of origin of its cosmetic ingredients.

My favorite NFT: Guerlain′s bees for it′s spectacular graphics and for raising awareness of bees sustainability (pretty picture with purpose). It′s 1828 “Cryptobees” support a rewilding project in the Vallée de la Millière nature reserve in France. Each Cryptobee is associated with 1828 pockets of land within the nature reserve, with precise geographical coordinates of the section that it sponsors.

# 3 METAVERSE & AUGMENTED REALITY?

...are prevalent in all brands displayed in Vivatech. Highligt, LVMH introduced it′s own metaverse icon called IVI, that co-hosted all presentations. Ivi is an interesting mix of retro 3D animations and fashion cool.

Paradoxically, luxury beauty brands still showcase many of their “metaverses” with chunky Glasses (where are the amazing new light glasses?) to bring visitors to highly elaborated brand worlds to have the "full experience". I keep wondering how easy is to ?convince people to wear a gizmo used by 100 other people in covid time..

#4 PROFILERS

All companies are collaborating-investing in technology partners to help their customers their perfect product. Nothing new but the technologies keep getting better at it and you could see the latest versions. ModyFace and Morpho Beauty were featured amongst brands of the 2 beauty giants.

Some other profiling technologies that stood out

a.??????Yves Saint Laurent Beauté?Scent-Sation?uses a multi-sensor, EEG-based headset that tracks consumers’ emotional responses to different scent families and analyzes these to make product recommendations. Created in partnership with leading neurotech company, EMOTIV

b.?????Hennessy senses experience. Blending images, sound and scents, “Senses of Hennessy” creates a multisensory portrait of the Maison’s cognacs. Simply take a seat in front of the console, slip on the headphones and follow the prompts on the touchscreen. Responding to your choices, the machine invites you to smell the different scents created by a master perfumer to evoke Hennessy cognacs. Thanks to technology developed by AirParfum, the scents do not mix, avoiding any olfactory overload.

?#5 CRAFTMANSHIP ENHANCED.

Visual displays or virtual reality experiences bring the consumer closer to the romantic idea of “craftmanship”. Be the YSL perfume cyborg experience surrounded by amazing ingredients (see video above) or the Fendi 3D installation, where visitors ?reproduce the precise, meticulous hand movements used by Italy’s finest artisans through a?digital experience.

# 6 OPEN INNOVATION

a.?????Particularly impressive in size and scope was LVMH, with a large area dedicated to all a?space dedicated to LVMH’s startup ecosystem. This is where the 21?startups shortlisted for the LVMH Innovation Award 2022 their solutions in the fields of

• Data & Artificial Intelligence Special Mention: MarqVision (detects counterfeits to remove them from online sales)
• 3D/Virtual Experience & Metaverse: Bitski (to sell NFTs and embed them on their websites, metaverse apps or games)
• Employee Experience & CSR: Gamino (offers digital trainings to raise awareness on disabilities)
• Media & Brand Awareness: SeenThis (offers streaming technology that speeds up the display of video ads and content)
• Omnichannel & Retail: The ShowCase (enhances the presentation of watches & jewelry product through live videos)
• Operations & Manufacturing Excellence: : TOSHI (winner ′2022. See above for details)
• Sustainability: WeTurn (transforms unsold goods and textiles into new recycled yarns and qualitative fabrics)

b.????L′Oreal presented in the “Demoday” central stage a 2 min pitch to lure star ups. Their investment arm is called BOLD (business opportunities for L′Oreal development) and claimed to invest in brands, augmented beauty, biotech, green science and tech enablers.

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?WHAT DID I MISS AT VIVATECH?

1.?????Other beauty giants were not represented.. such a shame. There is a lot of interesting stuff cooking at Coty, Lauder or Puig. Still a great showcase for French beauty best in class companies.

2.?????A vivatech APP that works. Unbelievable I know ...but "the technology" show did not have a working app. If you wanted to check location of companies scattered around Vivatech you had to search on the internet. For next year get your apps and Wifi connection fixed please...

3.?????Impeccable technology. So many NFT and virtual reality experiences did actually not work properly (yes .. believe it or not). Teething problems across all stands at Vivatech is telling of how they embryonic some of those projects are.

4.?????An independent jury to highlight the most novel and significant innovations showcased. Else, the PR machine of the large corporations takes over and it is easy to miss other great tech companies such as PerfectCorp that was far away in a corner. I was so happy to meet them in person. I′m a fan ...

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?GLAD I SAW...

The talk between Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the Ethereum blockchain, and Changpeng Zhao (or CZ), the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. in the world. Brilliant minds that are so far ahead of the rest and yet look like your next door neighbors. Loved when Vitalik told how he, fed up to not being able to find financial backing, decided to just do it with his computer friends....?Sounds very Elon Musky style.?