The center further propels Unilever’s growth strategy in the U.S. market, raising the bar for research and development in the consumer goods industry and powering the company’s portfolio of innovative and desirable brands. Centrally located in one of the world’s fastest-growing biosciences innovation clusters, the digital-first and AI-powered center will deliver deeper insights to fuel Unilever’s ambition of reshaping product categories. The center will advance how Unilever’s teams of scientists and experts push the boundaries of the fundamental differentiators that make the company’s brands distinct and products desirable: superior science, aesthetics and sensorials.
The center brings together a new and differentiated combination of assets and capabilities that will accelerate breakthroughs and enable Unilever’s brands to bring the next generation of market-making beauty, wellbeing and personal care products to people faster:
- New technologies to drive scale and speed to market: Powered by AI and emerging quantum capabilities, the center positions Unilever to be the leading innovator in the consumer goods sector. Fueled by the State of Connecticut and private investment, the computational power of quantum will accelerate advanced materials discovery in the coming decades, unlocking new possibilities for market-making products that drive desire by scale.
- End-to-end integration of the R&D process to push the boundaries of desirable products: All R&D capabilities — including formulation, fragrance creation, packaging design and consumer insights — will be housed under one roof. By co-locating every stage of the innovation cycle, the center will enable deeper collaboration to further accelerate product development.
- Located in the heart of the New Haven biosciences ecosystem: With access to dozens of world-class universities, hundreds of companies and some of the brightest minds in the world, the center places Unilever’s U.S. R&D at the heart of innovation in bioscience, building on the company’s expertise in understanding skin biology, the microbiome and the skin-brain axis. The center will enhance Unilever scientists’ use of cutting-edge neuroscience to create the next generation of desirable products, connecting sensory attributes like texture, fragrance and bioactives with emotional, behavioral and wellness responses.
The center advances Unilever's strategy to become a sharper, focused personal care, beauty and wellbeing company, built upon shared capabilities across science-led innovation, demand creation and operational execution. Unilever will invest $270 million in the project over the long term, including $50 million in capital expenditure. Total combined investment of public and private funds in the center will exceed $300 million. This investment builds on nearly $15 billion invested in Unilever’s U.S. business over the past decade, across both acquisitions and capital projects.
Approximately 300 employees will work at the center. It will succeed Unilever's existing R&D facility in Trumbull, Connecticut, which has operated since 1972, marking the next chapter of Unilever's long partnership with the State of Connecticut and its scientific community.
Herrish Patel, President of Unilever USA and CEO of Personal Care North America, said: “New Haven gets us to the future faster. Our Global Innovation Center is where we'll innovate at the intersection of science, technology and culture — for the U.S. and for the world. We will build on our deep heritage of innovation to develop the next generation of brands and products that people love.
“As part of Unilever’s global network of innovation hubs, the center will connect closely with our other leading locations worldwide, sharing technology, insights, and breakthrough ideas to accelerate innovation at scale. As the U.S. becomes a center of gravity for Unilever, we’re harnessing the best of American innovation to match our growth ambition here in the U.S. and around the world.”
Specific capabilities to be housed at the center include:
- Global center for skin care and cleansing, anchoring the site and powering the future of Unilever’s skin care and cleansing business through advanced capabilities, building on its long legacy of product innovation in the U.S.
- Polycultural skin and hair center of excellence, specializing in creating ingredients and products that address the unmet needs of millions of consumers
- Human performance lab, generating unprecedented new data and insights into human physiology, enabling on-site testing of ingestibles, and accelerating growth across Unilever’s wellbeing brands
- Unilever Fragrance House, with perfumists, chemists and packaging designers working together from the earliest stages of development, placing fragrance at the heart of product creation and sensory experience
- Packaging innovation studio, incorporating real-time consumer feedback to accelerate the development of prototypes that perform across physical and digital shelves
Richard Slater, Unilever Chief Research & Development Officer, said: “Behind every Unilever product is world-leading science that delivers superior performance, combined with design, fragrance and sensory experiences that make our brands distinctive. Our new Global Innovation Center will bring these capabilities together to develop new, category-defining innovations in the U.S., and scale globally. The real shift here is integration and speed: science, design and sensorials working as one, with AI and partnerships accelerating every stage of innovation.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said: “Unilever’s decision to make this investment in New Haven reaffirms Connecticut’s global reputation as a leader in innovation, research and development, and discovery. This innovation center will serve as an important foundational piece for this burgeoning hub that will not only strengthen New Haven’s existing tech centers but will also boost our innovation ecosystem statewide. I am glad we have Unilever as a valued member of Connecticut’s growing business community, and I look forward to this company continuing to succeed here for many years to come.”