Unilever Makes 35 Million-Euro Investment in Indian R&D Centers to Develop ‘Next Generation’ Products
AT SPEED: Unilever is investing 35 million euros in its Mumbai and Bangalore research and development centers with the aim of accelerating the development of “next-generation” products.
The consumer giant said the new investment will help the centers bring together a wide range of capabilities from consumer insight and scientific discovery to prototyping and scale-up “in one connected environment.” It said the aim is to transform “world-class science into superior innovation at greater speed.”
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Richard Slater, Unilever‘s chief research and development officer, said the 35 million euros has been earmarked for projects including Liquids Lab of the Future; the Unilever Fragrance House; Advanced Manufacturing Center for soap bars; Packaging and Flexibles Design Lab, and AI and digital modeling platforms.
Unilever, he added, has already invested more than 20 million euros over the past five years to build those state-of-the-art capabilities.
As part of the new investment, Unilever will transform Mumbai into a product innovation center that will bring together “consumer insights, new measurement approaches, product and format science, packaging design, rapid prototyping and scale-up capabilities.”
Bangalore will continue to evolve as a global science, technology and partnership hub, combining application and foundational science, digital capabilities and India Foods R&D, according to Unilever.
As part of the 35 million-euro investment, the company is earmarking 5 million euros over the next five years to establish a strategic Bio-Futures Partnership, to accelerate innovation across human biology, microbiome science, biotechnology and bio-manufacturing.
Across both India sites, AI, automated experimentation, predictive modeling and digital twins “will enable the Unilever scientists and product developers to explore more possibilities, learn faster and translate promising ideas into scalable innovations with greater speed and precision,” according to the company.
Slater said India already plays a central role in Unilever’s global innovation network, and the new investment “will further strengthen its position as one of our largest R&D hubs.”
India is also one of Unilever’s most important growth markets, “and it’s changing fast. Consumer expectations are rising, needs are evolving and the pace of innovation keeps on accelerating. That makes it an incredibly important place for us to learn, create and scale new ideas,” Slater added.
