Symrise and Lubrizol bet on Singapore for faster Asia innovation

Singapore is becoming a key innovation hub for the personal care industry, with major suppliers expanding their regional R&D and creative capabilities in the city-state. Symrise and Lubrizol are the latest to strengthen their Singapore presence, aiming to speed up customer collaboration and deliver solutions tailored to fast-growing Asian markets. 

Symrise has opened a Scent Creative Center in Singapore, advancing its business and growth strategy in Asia. As part of a multi-phased cross-business expansion in the island city-state, the center translates the One Symrise strategy into tangible customer value: faster collaboration and differentiated fragrance solutions around how consumers experience products in everyday life. 

Meanwhile, Lubrizol has added enhancements to its Southeast Asia Innovation Center in Singapore. The upgrades include synthesis, analytical, and physical sciences, and formulation development capabilities to serve evolving Southeast Asia market needs. 

The Singapore-based center is said to be an integral part of Lubrizol’s global innovation network. It is designed to deepen collaboration and advance market-relevant innovations, supporting the company’s commitment to delivering high-value solutions and enhancing speed to market for customers in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Real-life fragrance testing 

The Scent Creative Center is created around the way consumers experience products in everyday life. It combines creative expertise, consumer understanding, and advanced evaluation capabilities.

Instead of conventional evaluation settings alone, dedicated spaces recreate environments in which consumers experience products. Skin cleansing facilities resemble a bathroom, hair care takes fragrance evaluation into a salon environment, and a dedicated fabric-care room recreates the laundry experience.

The real-life settings are said to help perfumers, fragrance development managers, and customers evaluate fragrance performance closer to the moment of use.Symrise tests fragrances in bathroom, salon, and laundry settings. 

A sensorial inspiration room complements the concept and encourages creative exchange and the development of distinctive signatures. Customers can collaborate with Symrise experts, integrate regional consumer insights, and move promising concepts to market faster.

“Our customers expect fragrances that connect with consumers and perform in real life. Our new Scent Creative Center brings creation, evaluation, and consumer understanding together in one inspiring environment. It gives our teams and customers differentiated capabilities to co-create relevant fragrance solutions faster and turn consumer insights into competitive advantage,” says Ricardo Omori, president of Scent at Symrise.

Symrise and Singapore’s strategic role 

The center connects Consumer Fragrance, Fine Fragrance, and Oral Care expertise while tapping into capabilities from Care & Wellness and Taste, Nutrition & Health. This One Symrise ecosystem combines perspectives around shared consumers and enables opportunities for multi-sensory solutions across categories. 

The German flavor and fragrance company says Singapore’s location connects global capabilities with customers and consumers across Southeast Asia and the wider region.

“Singapore plays a strategic role in our ambition to grow with our customers in Asia. We continue to build an integrated ecosystem that connects our global capabilities with regional understanding and outstanding local talent,” says Michael Friede, president of Scent & Care at Symrise.

“The new Scent Creative Center brings One Symrise to life and strengthens our ability to turn insights into long-term value for customers and consumers.” 

Over the past ten years, the company has invested over €80 million (US$89.23 million) in the country and expanded capabilities spanning neuroscience, AI, and automation. Symrise has a partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), which has supported the company’s developments for over than a decade. 

Kelly Lai, VP and head, Chemicals and Materials at Singapore EDB, says: “Symrise’s new Scent Creative Center and Global Skin Cleansing Center of Excellence reinforce Singapore’s position as an innovation hub for the flavor and fragrance industry. The expansion strengthens Symrise’s ability to tap Singapore’s research capabilities and talent base to develop innovative, consumer-focused solutions for markets in Asia and beyond.”

Asia leads skin cleansing 

Singapore is also home to Symrise’s new Global Skin Cleansing Center of Excellence. At the location, the company will build and share expertise across bar soaps, shower gels, handwash, and emerging cleansing formats. 

The center aims to support global customer briefs and develop fragrance solutions around evolving consumer expectations in health, beauty, well-being, and sensory experience.Singapore EDB backs both companies’ expansions. 

“This choice of location reflects the strategic importance of both the category and the region. Asia Pacific represents the world’s largest skin cleansing market, accounting for €12.1 billion (US$13.49 billion) of a €38.9 billion (US$43.35 billion) global market… Combining perfumery, sensory evaluation, consumer and market intelligence, and innovation, the Center of Excellence translates knowledge across markets into differentiated fragrance solutions,” says the company. 

In the first quarter of 2027, Symrise says it will continue its journey and plans to complement the Scent Creative Center with an adjacent Innovation Center. The company will expand analytical and research capabilities in Singapore and create further opportunities for co-creation with customers and universities.

“The opening of our center represents a key milestone for Symrise in APAC and globally. With a second key milestone coming up in Singapore very soon, we are further elevating the development of our innovation capabilities for Scent,” says Laurent Soubiran, SVP APAC for Consumer Products at Symrise. 

Together, the Scent Creative Center, Global Skin Cleansing Center of Excellence, and upcoming Innovation Center strengthen Singapore as an important pillar of Symrise’s global network.

Lubrizol’s Science meets speed to market 

Lubrizol has also partnered with Singapore EDB and established the Southeast Asia Innovation Center in Jurong. The center serves as a regional platform for customer collaboration, scientific innovation, and technical advancement through laboratories, testing facilities, immersive experience zones, and dedicated spaces for technical training.

The global specialty chemicals company says the new capabilities further strengthen its ability to support customers with advanced solutions across industries, including life sciences, health care, energy storage, coatings, electronics, and packaging.

Julie Edgar, chief technology officer at Lubrizol, says: “Our extensive technical capabilities at the Southeast Asia Innovation Center expand our ability to translate scientific expertise into commercial solutions, helping customers solve increasingly complex challenges and accelerate the path from innovation to market impact.” Lubrizol expands its Southeast Asia Innovation Center in Jurong. 

Building STEM talent 

Lubrizol is also launching Learning Labs Singapore as part of its broader commitment to advancing science and future talent. It is part of the company’s global STEM education initiative designed to inspire future scientists, engineers, and innovators through hands-on learning, mentoring, and career exploration. 

The local launch builds on the success of Lubrizol’s global Learning Labs program. Since launching in 2025, the initiative has engaged more than 12,000 students through over 50 STEM learning experiences worldwide.

“Innovation and talent are two of the most important drivers of long-term growth,” says Henry Liu, VP, Asia Pacific at Lubrizol. “We are excited to launch Learning Labs in Singapore, with the vision to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and problem-solvers.”

“Together with our Southeast Asia laboratory network, these initiatives reflect our long-term commitment to Singapore as a hub for innovation, talent development, and collaboration, supporting sustainable growth across the Asia Pacific.”

EDB executive VP Lim Wey-Len says that the expansions reflect Lubrizol’s confidence in Singapore as an innovation ecosystem, as well as a platform to connect with regional customers.