Interview with Dr. Marc Clement for Beauty Connect: the future of beauty
Dr. Marc Clement is a pioneering figure in the field of optical physics and laser technology. With a PhD in optical physics, he initially worked with laser fusion, developing a passion for the transformative potential of lasers beyond the laboratory setting. With his strong background in medical lasers, Marc’s help developing a new laser system for the NHS (National Health Service, UK) treating birthmarks led to over a million children receiving life-changing treatments worldwide. He also played a key role in developing pioneering technology for hair removal, addressing clinical needs such as those related to PCOS, and helping women all over the world regain their confidence back.
Currently, Marc serves as co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at CyDen, where he remains deeply involved in developing new and advanced technology-driven beauty solutions, specialising in advanced light-based skin and body care technology.
In this Interview with Beauty Connect ahead of Beauty Connect LA, Marc shares his insight and knowledge into the future of beauty and how brands can use AI to accelerate product development.
Skin is the body’s largest and most complex organ. How should brands rethink their approach to innovation in this space?
The skin spans up to 2 square metres and weighs up to 5kg, around 15% of total body weight. But more importantly, it performs a range of vital functions: protection, sensation, thermoregulation, metabolism, excretion, and immune defence. It’s not just a passive barrier – it’s an active, intelligent organ. This complexity opens up an entirely new space for innovation. With the right combination of technology, sensors, and topicals, brands can move beyond treating surface-level concerns to supporting the skin’s
true biological potential. That might mean regulating inflammation, boosting skin recovery, improving barrier function, or enhancing neurosensory well-being.
How can brands solve real skin challenges in a more meaningful way?
Real innovation starts not with a technology, but with understanding what outcome you want to achieve, and why existing solutions fall short. Take LED therapy as just one example. Red and blue light are widely used for skin rejuvenation and blemish control but applying them without precision is like cooking with heat but no recipe – easy to burn, hard to perfect.
Getting the dose, wavelength, and energy profile right isn’t guesswork, it’s science; And it needs to be optimised not just for the condition, but for different skin tones, skin types, and treatment areas. From pigment to pain, from acne to ageing, brands should move past generic off-the-shelf devices to build credible, science- backed solutions that reflect their vision and outperform expectations, both technically and commercially.
What are the biggest unmet needs in beauty and wellness, and how can energy-based technology, combined with CyDen’s expertise, help brands address them?
Consumers are increasingly seeking visible, lasting results without pain, downtime, or complicated routines. Many are under-served by traditional skincare alone, left wanting more effective and targeted solutions. Energy-based technology offers that bridge: clinically proven outcomes that outperform topicals alone, delivered safely at home.
We strongly believe the future of skincare lies in combining topicals with intelligent devices to unlock superior results. That’s why CyDen brings together all the critical capabilities under one roof: deep scientific knowledge, advanced technology, regulatory expertise, and clinical validation. We’re also one of the few partners with in-house know-how in both devices and topicals, enabling truly integrated product development. Whether you’re launching a hero device or building a skincare-device ecosystem, we give you the confidence to enter the space with speed, credibility, and real innovation. You focus on the brand and consumer, CyDen handles the rest.
You’ve developed a digital skin twin to simulate how energy interacts with skin. How does it work, and why is it so special?
We’ve been developing our digital twin for over 20 years. It’s a proprietary simulation system that models how light, energy, and topicals behave across different skin tones, types, and anatomical areas, predicting efficacy, safety, and comfort before we ever build a device.
What makes it truly powerful is the way it’s layered with real-world insights. We combine this model with our deep scientific knowledge and in-house clinical testing team, constantly validating and refining it. It’s run under the supervision of leading scientists in the field, and its outcomes are aligned with insights from top dermatologists and medical experts. That feedback loop makes the digital twin smarter over time, helping us personalise treatments, accelerate development, and push innovation further and faster than anyone else in the space.
Can devices adapt to each user’s skin type, tone, and treatment needs?
Yes – and this is one of CyDen’s core strengths. Our platforms integrate smart sensors that measure skin tone, contact, and treatment conditions in real time, enabling dynamic adaptation of energy delivery. This ensures treatment is both safe and effective across a wide range of skin types, tones, and anatomical areas. What makes this even more powerful is how it links to our digital skin twin. This foundation allows us to optimise treatment profiles, inform sensor design, and accelerate performance learning across different users. For brands building interactive or AI-enabled propositions, this unlocks meaningful opportunities – whether through personalised protocols, progress tracking, or integration into broader digital skincare ecosystems. It’s personalisation with purpose: grounded in science, built for scale.
There’s a lot of tech out there. What makes CyDen different?
We combine the scientific and clinical rigour of a medical device company with the agility of a product innovator and deep consumer insight. With two decades of clinical data, global regulatory approvals, and a proven track record of powering award-winning devices, we offer more than hardware – we offer a true innovation partnership.
What sets CyDen apart is the depth and integration of our capabilities. Our work is guided by a Scientific Advisory Board of leading experts, ensuring our developments are aligned with the latest dermatological and medical science.
We also bring full-spectrum expertise across technology and product development, and we’ve recently added in-house topical development, making us one of the few partners able to support fully integrated skincare-device solutions from end to end.
Who do you typically partner with and what makes a great fit?
We work with skincare, wellness, and beauty brands that want to bring meaningful, science-driven innovation to market, not just follow trends. The strongest partnerships begin with a shared ambition to solve real consumer problems and create differentiated solutions that deliver measurable results.
We’re not interested in “me-too” products. We collaborate with brands that want to push boundaries, combining advanced technology, clinical rigour, and superior performance to unlock new claims, better outcomes, and lasting consumer value.