The initiative is a response to the expected rise in skin health needs and it is the Swiss company’s belief that more proactive skin care across the full life course can help enable a healthier skin as we age, extending the quality of life and well-being at all ages.
The Nestlé Skin Health Investigation, Education and Longevity Development (SHIELD) network will comprise unique innovation hubs for engaging with healthcare professionals from the fields of dermatology, general medicine, ageing, nursing and technology.
This research can then aid innovation in all skin care-related segments.
‘Important opportunity’
“This is an important opportunity for skin health research in light of rising skin challenges that result particularly from our enhanced longevity and the rapid population ageing phenomenon emerging in country after country around the globe,” says Humberto C. Antunes, Chief Executive of Nestlé Skin Health.
“The SHIELD network will enable a healthier and more active ageing, benefiting individuals and society as a whole.”
Nestlé Skin Health says the initiative is aligned with the needs identified in the recently released consensus statement of the 2014 Manchester Summit on Active Ageing and Healthy Skin which calls for action and innovation in skin health as a path to wellness, social value and economic growth.
“With a focus on education and training, the SHIELD network will provide an environment in which diverse fields, including biology, anatomy, emerging trends and social sciences will be brought together and explored,” adds Didier Leclercq, Managing Director for the SHIELD network.
Global
The first of the innovation hubs is expected to open in 2015 in New York followed by Hong Kong and Sao Paulo and then elsewhere in North America, Asia and Europe.
The SHIELD network will be launched in partnership with the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), a global business strategy group focused on the economic and social implications of population ageing.
The GCOA works with industry, global policymakers, non-government organizations, academia and research institutes, and other thought leaders to promote policy changes and new ways of viewing ageing that are essential to build a robust 21st- century healthy ageing.
“We are excited to partner with Nestlé Skin Health and the SHIELD network. These innovation hubs will play an important role in helping us all better understand the importance of a life course of healthy skin and its role in supporting healthy and active ageing,” said Michael Hodin, Executive Director of the Global Coalition on Ageing.
“Only by improving our health as we age, will we be able to harness the potential of the 21st century’s silver economy.”