The problem
Smell
disorders can detrimentally impact a person’s wellbeing. For example, when
someone loses their sense of smell it can mean that food loses its flavour or
their social interactions are impaired. This is especially relevant among an ageing
population.
Current technological solutions to measure and train people’s
sense of smell are not standardised or accurate, and are based on manual
approaches such as soaked pens and scratch-and-sniff saturated materials. These
manual approaches have shortcomings including a lack of control over smell
stimuli, consistency of the smell delivery parameters such as intensity and
concentration and a lack of comparable digital performance records to determine
changes over time.
The solution
Dr
Emanuela Maggioni and Professor Marianna Obrist are co-founders of OWidgets (Olfactory
Widgets). Their company is developing patented digital, personalised, and
automated smell training solutions that will enable standardised, comparable,
and replicable smell stimuli.
OWidgets is looking to develop opportunities beyond the health and
medical sectors. Its technology has been used by a creative studio exploiting
multisensory elements to enhance participants’ immersion in a virtual reality
project that has been displayed at the World Economic Forum in Davos and has
long-term installations in Singapore and New York.
OWidgets is now developing a cloud-based software solution to help
with smell training, including digital performance records. Smell disorders are
associated with early onsets of degenerative diseases such as dementia,
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Retraining the brain to smell through regular
exercises can positively impact cognitive capability and memory. An adaptive hardware
system helps training usability and user experience, making it more engaging,
and keeping people motivated to do the training regularly.
Dr Maggioni says: “We have partnered
with Rockefeller University (SMELL-RS) to create the first automated and
standardised smell test toolkit to measure smell capabilities and extending
smell training. We aim to integrate the smell training into smell tests, akin
to eye tests/hearing tests, as part of routine healthcare checks, promoting a
culture of ‘sense of smell care’ and ‘smell physiotherapy’.”
She continues: “The Enterprise
Fellowship has been a life-changing experience! The support of the mentors, the
Enterprise team, the workshops and networking possibilities have been
invaluable and positively impacted the growth and development of OWidgets.”
Traction
2017 – OWidgets receives equity-free
funding from European Research Council’s Proof-of-Concept programme
2018-19 – OWidgets obtains its first international
clients and early technology adopters in the immersive experience sector
2019
– Dr Emanuela Maggioni was awarded an Enterprise Fellowship
2019 – OWidgets Ltd spun out from the University of
Sussex
Visit their website: www.owidgets.co.uk