Dr David Heath from beauty tech company Cutitronics, explains below how tech based developments will drive skin care trends in the coming period, and how this is set to evolve.
This is one part of Dr Heath’s exclusive insights. Find the other parts here and here.
Multidisciplinary: how can working across industries fuel innovation?
I see greater innovation coming through multidisciplinary approaches, bringing together the fundamentals of various areas of which topical product is only one.
Holistic support for the consumer will come through data gathering, devices, education, logistics and other areas that provide actionable information and convenience.
The challenge, particularly for large enterprises, is that the departments responsible for all of these services exist in silos.
Independent (indie) beauty brands can be more dynamic
It would appear to be challenging for larger companies are to establish an internal team or commission an external partnership to bring a cross departmental project together.
For this reason, it is more likely that it will be a visionary Indie that will lead the way in this area.
As discussed previously efficacy and transparency are climbing up the agenda of consumers. Device and digital technology have the power to track progress and advise on adjustments.
All of this assumes the consumer is using products with efficacious ingredients.
There could be some resistance from those who do not want to do it this way and for those who do not want too much of a spotlight shone on their product.
Regulatory challenges
Regulatory challenges will continue as the lines continue to blur between advanced cosmetic products and low level medicinal topicals.
This will continue to become more complex as devices, apps and other technology integrate in to a joint solution for the consumer.
Regulations are already failing to keep pace with technology advancement now, this pace is only going to increase, which means that regulation will continue to be an ever-increasing bottleneck to true innovation.