About DOS
The Origin of the Digital Olfaction Society
“The idea is to create devices which not only can capture odors, but also turn them into digital data, transmit them anywhere in the world, and restitute the original odor.”
Dr Marvin Edeas, founder of Digital Olfaction Society, 2010.
The Digital Olfaction Society was initiated in March 2010 with the ambition to explore and structure a scientific and technological domain that was largely unknown at the time. Digital olfaction emerged as a forward looking concept during the Olfaction and Issues Conference 2010, opening a new field with strong scientific, technological, and industrial potential.
From its origin, the Society has focused on olfaction as one of the most primitive and yet most underestimated human senses. Olfaction is a highly complex biological process involving chemistry, biology, neuroscience, cognition, and behavior. Despite its central role in human health and well being, it has long remained insufficiently explored.
The founding vision of the Digital Olfaction Society was to bring olfaction into the digital era. This meant imagining systems capable of capturing odors, converting chemical signals into digital data, transmitting this information, and ultimately reproducing the original olfactory perception at a distance. What initially appeared visionary has progressively become scientifically and technologically achievable.
Over the years, major advances have improved our understanding of olfactory mechanisms and the physiological and psychological responses associated with smell. Research has revealed the remarkable sensitivity and informational richness of the human olfactory system. These discoveries have opened new scientific perspectives and created growing opportunities for innovation and real world applications.
Why a Society Dedicated to Digital Olfaction
Olfaction has progressively become a topic of strategic importance across multiple scientific disciplines. Advances in chemistry, neuroscience, sensor technologies, computing, and artificial intelligence have raised a new challenge: how to translate olfactory knowledge into functional digital technologies.
Digitizing smell means transforming odorous sources into structured digital information that can be recorded, analyzed, transmitted, and used as a new form of media. This concept extends beyond sensory reproduction and introduces smell as a new informational channel interacting with lifestyle, environment, and health.
To consolidate scientific knowledge and accelerate innovation, the Digital Olfaction Society was created as an international organization dedicated to olfactory digitization. Its objective is to gather, share, and expand emerging knowledge while fostering collaboration between researchers, engineers, and industry partners.
The Society aims to build strong links between academic research and industry in order to translate scientific advances into practical applications with real world impact. Digital olfaction represents a transition from traditional handling of odorous substances toward a new era of digitally controlled fragrances, aromas, and smell based technologies.
Artificial Intelligence and Digital Olfaction
Artificial intelligence is essential to digital olfaction. Odor signals are complex and multidimensional, and AI enables their interpretation through pattern recognition, modeling, and learning. By transforming chemical data into structured information, artificial intelligence allows odor identification, classification, prediction, and real time analysis, forming the bridge between molecular signals and meaningful digital applications.
Challenges and Mission of the Digital Olfaction Society
The first challenge of the Digital Olfaction Society is to support and advance olfactory research and development through interdisciplinary science. Digital olfaction naturally connects chemistry and biochemistry with neuroscience, electronics and physics with engineering, and mathematics with computer science and artificial intelligence.
The second challenge is to transform scientific progress into applications. Digital olfaction has strong potential in communication, food systems, medicine, cosmetics, safety, and environmental monitoring. By transferring laboratory discoveries into usable technologies, the Society contributes to the emergence of new markets and innovative solutions.
Olfactory digitization introduces immersive and interactive experiences where smell becomes an integral part of digital media. Movies, games, music, messages, and virtual environments can be enriched by olfactory information, creating more engaging and emotionally resonant experiences.
The third challenge is to project these applications into everyday life and assess their societal impact. What once resembled science fiction is increasingly becoming reality. Advances in sensing, modeling, and control of olfactory signals suggest that digital olfaction will play a role not only in entertainment and communication, but also in medical diagnostics, therapeutic development, neurological research, safety systems, and defense technologies.
The Digital Olfaction Society brings together international researchers, academics, research and development teams, industry stakeholders, technology companies, investors, and decision makers across chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, computer science, food and cosmetic industries, and intelligent olfactory systems. Together, they address the scientific, technological, and societal challenges raised by the digitization of smell.
Digital olfaction is no longer a distant vision. It is becoming a defining technology of the future.
Ideas and programs of previous editions.
