Frost & Sullivan says that the company was given the award in light of its market trends, in-depth customer support, together with the additional services it offers its clients.
The awards, entitled European Chemicals, Materials & Food Best Practices, cover a variety of major industries, encompassing personal care players as well as cosmetics ingredients suppliers.
Innovation holds the key
Besides Dr. Straetmans, a number of chemical players that are also present in the personal care field were recognized at the awards.
Those players included Dow Corning, which received the Green Excellence Award and Cognis, which received the award for Insect Repellent Textiles Product Innovation.
Italy-based Indena was also given the Green Tea Extracts Excellence in Research Award, in view of its work which has produced Greenselect Phytosome, an antioxidant-rich extract marketed as a neutraceutical targeting the anti-ageing market.
Flying the flag for cosmetics
However, it was Dr. Straetmans that flew the flag for the cosmetics industry at the awards.
In recent years the company has developed a strategy to focus on the growing trend for natural and organic products, which has seen it moving in on cutting edge formulation technologies that incorporate antioxidants, functional oils and anti-microbial ingredients to replace preservatives such as parabens.
Of the 18 companies that were recognized by the awards, Dr. Straetmans was the only one recognized for its innovation in ingredients development for the personal care industry, which in recent years has centered around the Dermosoft brand.
Dermasoft pioneers
The Dermasoft concept was introduced some 15 years ago, and as well as being developed around the concept of alternative preservative techniques, it was amongst the first line of personal care ingredients to be developed on the basis of using renewable resources.
More recently Dr. Straetmans has been concentrating on increasing its footprint in the arena of alternative preservatives under its Dermasoft brand, while also introducing symbio squat, a potato starch-derived conditioning agent.
Likewise, securing Ecocert certification for its range of natural origin active ingredients has also helped to drive Dr. Straetmans' profile, an achievement that the company believes also helped it to secure the Frost & Sullivan award.