Launched four years ago, the international innovation competition is a joint venture by the French Cosmetics Valley cluster, and it is supported by an endowment fund set up in partnership with the ESSEC Business School.
There are two key awards in the competition: the academic prize, which goes to projects by young graduates, doctoral and postdoctoral scholars, researchers and scientists, and the industry prize, which goes to industry players, entrepreneurs, startups and innovative SMEs.
The projects awarded put forward innovative solutions in any area of the fragrance and cosmetics industry—ingredients, formulations, testing, processes, packaging, chemistry, biotechnology, digital technology, distribution, and new products and services.
These innovations can come from the fragrance and cosmetics industry, or result from a technology spin-off from other sectors.
Finalists announced
This year’s six finalists have been announced, chosen from 90 projects across 14 countries. The overall winners will be announced on 6 June 2019.
Each of the two prize-winners receives an award of €10,000 and help from the Cosmetic Valley centre of excellence in the form of support from the Cosmet’up platform, dedicated to boosting development of innovative projects in fragrance and cosmetics, and a visibility package including national and international media coverage. The other finalists receive a prize of €1,000.
The finalists are:
Finalists for the academic prize
- MICROSPHERE500, micro-mixers for continuous, rapid production of fresh emulsions University of Nantes, France
- New generation of unique rhamnosyl active ingredients for skin and hair treatments – University of Hamburg, Germany
- New generation of anti-perspirant – University of Osaka, Japan
Finalists for the industry prize
- Smart-Pore™, the first artificial sudoral pore making it possible to conduct efficacy tests – Microfactory, FRANCE
- New mechanism for tanning and skin depigmentation – Chemcom, Belgium
- Cloud-based traceability solution for cosmetic products – KaiosID, Switzerland
