One-hundred and fifteen years after Eugène Schueller founded L’Oréal, his company touts some 87,000 employees and revenues of more than $45 billion.

 

With the US being the top contributor to business growth, the ecosystem for innovation is critical, says Qian Zheng, senior vice president, head of advanced research, North America, and global regenerative beauty discovery domain at the company. She and more than 8,000 scientists are on the Research & Innovation team at the beauty giant and Happi International Top 30 company.

 

During a fireside chat on May 2 during New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ annual Suppliers’ Day, Zheng said L’Oréal invests more than $1.3 billion annually in research education. With 20 research facilities (and another none under construction in Clark, NJ), L’Oréal’s research team had earned more than 600 patents for various areas in cosmetic innovation in 2023 alone, according to Zheng. 

 

In the skin and hair care arena, L’Oréal’s work emphasizes developing high-performance, novel ingredients, potent actives and raw materials that address consumer need – all while being cognizant of their impact on environmental health. 

 

This research has resulted in what Zheng calls “groundbreaking discoveries” that helped shape the beauty industry. 

 

“As a leader in the industry, we are responsible for driving positive changes towards our consumers and our planet,” she said. “We want to set very high standards for innovation and ethical practices.”

The scientists at L’Oréal are also working to shift from petro-based chemicals to bio-based components.

 

“Nowadays, we are looking more and more into emerging scientific categories, new innovation territories like biotechnology, where we want to leverage more of nature and organisms such as bacterias, micro-algae and fungi to produce novel ingredients,” Zheng explained. 

 

In its transformation to green science, L’Oréal is focusing on the following pillars: sustainable cultivation, green extraction, green chemistry, biotech and fermentation.

 

Zheng likens sustainable cultivation to using high-tech farming to leverage new technology to grow different plant types that fit into the biodiversity of that region without exhausting resources. A regional example is live marine plankton, which supports skin barrier health.

Sustainability is also paramount at L’Oréal, and as such, Zheng discussed L’Oréal’s role as a co-founder of the EqualBeauty Score—a consortium of scientists and personal care and cosmetic companies dedicated to developing an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetics products. 

 

Current members include 282 Cosmetic, Adopt; Amorepacific; Artdeco Cosmetic Group; Babor; Beiersdorf; Boots; Clarins; Colgate-Palmolive; Cosmebio; Cosmed; Cosmetic Valley; Cosmetics Europe; Cosnova; Coty; Eugène Perma; Febea; Henkel; Herbeast; IKW Beauty Care; Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc; JUST International AG; Kao, Kering; L’Oréal Group; Louis Wildmer; LVMH; Mibelle Group; Nafigate; NAOS; Natrue; Natura & Co; NOHBA; NuSkin; Oriflame; P&G; Paragon Nordic; Personal Care Product Council; Puig; PZ Cussons; Rituals; Shiseido; Sisley; Stanpa; Sustainable Beauty Coalition; The Estée Lauder Companies; The Fragrance Creators Association; The International Fragrance; and Unilever.

 

The consortium remains open for companies and associations to join that align with L’Oréal’s sustainability values.

 

“We will continue to bring forward new innovation technology in alignment with L’Oréal’s commitment to sustainability,” Zheng said. 

L’Oréal R&D Expert Shares Leading Skincare Trends for 2024