Estée Lauder opens Belgian biotech hub for cosmetic innovation
The Estée Lauder Company (ELC) has announced it will open a biotech hub in Olen, Belgium, to create bio-based alternative materials from yeast, plants or bacteria for skin care products.
Called The BioTech Hub, ELC says the facility will increase its ability to meet sustainability goals across product development and manufacturing.
The new facility site is near ELC’s main manufacturing campus, in Oevel, Belgium.
“By producing our own biotechnology-based materials at one of our main manufacturing campuses, we are able to manufacture at scale in a more responsible way,” says Roberto Canevari, executive VP of ELC.
Biotechnology uses ingredients derived from living organisms to produce raw materials while preserving biodiversity and natural resources. ELC says many of its products already include some form of bio-based materials.
The new hub will increase capacity for on-site production of bio-based raw materials to optimize the company’s production processes across EMEA and other parts of the world.
International collaboration
ELC’S local team will partner with Advanced Technologies Pioneering scientists at the company’s Melville, New York, US, labs, aiding in the existing research on bio-based skin care products.
“The location of the new center in Belgium also will enable us to partner more closely with leaders in biotechnology, further enhancing our innovation ecosystem in Europe and beyond,” says Jamal Chamariq, senior VP EMEA UK&I, Global Supply Chain at ELC.
ELC has named Dr. Caroline Pauluseen, who has experience in microbiology and engineering, to manage the BioTech Hub in Olen.
The hub has been undergoing production testing over the past several months and will move into commercial production beginning in 2025.
Biotech-based personal care
Personal Care Insights has reported on skin and hair care companies using biotech solutions to meet the demands of sustainability-minded customers.
Unilever invested in a biotech crop to enhance the use of sustainable oil in cleaning products. The cosmetics company partnered with Nufarm, a global agriculture innovator, to cultivate a new variety of sugarcane to produce higher yields of sustainable oils for cleaning products.
Moreover, the hair and skin care company Dp Derm released a range of biotech-inspired hair care products. The Exo-Grow Collection uses exosome technology to target the root causes of hair problems.
