The MIF, which is used by over 250 researchers annually, is divided into two parts: a private area with robots exclusively for Unilever’s use, and an open-plan floor with £14 million worth of kit that can be accessed by executives from other brands as well as select academics and students. (Each year, Unilever and the University of Liverpool co-sponsor 50-60 PhD students from universities across the UK, without stipulating that they work for either companies post-graduation. The goal is to share knowledge and “advance” the field of materials science, says Samaras.)
One of Unilever’s primary R&D focuses is the skin microbiome, says Samaras. It’s an area that is still fledgling, but has captured Unilever’s interest. In 2015, the group acquired Ren, a skincare brand that offered greater transparency on ingredients and avoided colouring and aggressive chemicals like sulphates. The renewed obsession with hygiene makes the timing seem promising for potential development of microbiome science for the beauty sector, experts say.
Understanding the skin microbiome can allow for improved personalisation. “We’ve just launched some work with Vaseline on new biotics and pro-ceramides. It’s very different to putting ceramides on top of skin and hoping they go where they need to go,” Samaras explains. “Ceramides are also big molecules and not water loving, so it’s hard for them to get down into the skin.” Vaseline products have been tweaked to prompt a user’s skin and create its own ceramides, so “they can get to where they need to be in the body. We’re giving each person what they need”.
Quantum mechanics could also play a greater role in beauty, Samaras believes. She cites the butterfly effect, a notion that the world is deeply interconnected and one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system. There’s opportunity in future-forecasting at a time when the beauty sector is navigating supply chain complexities and higher production and logistics costs. Climate change and other macro environmental factors have also had an impact on ingredient sourcing: Unilever has navigated a sunflower oil shortage since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“There’s still ambiguity in the system. We believe that quantum could allow us to predict things that are unpredictable today. That could mean putting together even larger, more disparate sets of data and learning things we could not understand before,” says Samaras. “We are investing more in automation but also new capabilities and science.”
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