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GO4Cosmetics

GO4Cosmetics
GO4Cosmetics

Context

Europe is a leader of the cosmetics industry worldwide representing €88 billion in the year 2022 with around 8 540 small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), nearly 3 033 000 workers, including 30 040 scientists and 740 191 life science students in the EU (Data retrieved from Market Performance 2022 - Cosmetics Europe).

For the past 20 years, stakeholders of the global cosmetics industry who share a similar vision of clustering activities and a strong ambition for sectorial development and reinforcement have been working closely together through an international network, the Global Cosmetics Cluster. European stakeholders came together around various opportunities, tools and support mechanisms of the European Commission with the aim of strengthening the European cosmetics value chain. In 2019 this collaboration led to the creation of the Global Cosmetics Cluster – Europe (GCC.eu), a European metacluster gathering the largest cosmetics clusters.

Complementary to GCC.eu, the European interregional network Go4Cosmetics was created to encompass the quadruple helix, involving all stakeholders of the different cosmetics ecosystems which have the cosmetic industry as a priority.

Year established: 2021

Regions (lead and partner)

  • Leading regions: Centre-Val de Loire (FR), Lombardy (IT)
  • Participating regions: Catalonia (ES), Centro (PT), North West Romania (RO), Olomouc (CZ), Sardinia (IT), Normandie (FR), Lubelskie (PL), Nouvelle-Aqutaine (FR), Bretagne (FR), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (FR)

Mission

To enable the European cosmetics sector to consolidate its position as a world leader in a highly competitive market, stakeholder of the cosmetics industry joined forces to create the European thematic partnership Go4Cosmetics.

Go4Cosmetics was designed to bring together the complete European cosmetics ecosystem which have the cosmetic industry as a strategic priority. This interregional collaboration aims to contribute to the implementation of the European Industrial Strategy and to provide solutions to the challenges posed by the Twin Transition. Although the cosmetics sector does not benefit from being formally recognized as a strategic industrial ecosystem, it works to address the same challenges as other industrial sectors.

Objectives

The partnership aims to strengthen interregional collaboration by encompassing the entire value chain, from R&D to the consumer. With a focus on strengthening innovation and competitiveness, Go4Cosmetics aims to drive the industry’s digital and green transitions, increasing consumer and citizen awareness, and building resilience across the European cosmetics value chain.

  • Digital Transition: make the cosmetics industry stronger and more agile, by supporting its innovation and modernization through digital transformation processes, in the framework of the existing opportunities at the European level such as the future EDIH, the Digital Europe strategy and the strategic connections with the recovery plans.
  • Green Transition: support more circularity in processes, waste management, and adapting the ecosystem to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the recovery plan.
  • Consumers and citizens awareness: Promote the territorial assets and the cosmetics industry attractiveness by making citizens aware of the cosmetics industry’s expertise and know-how along with the development of industrial tourism.

    • The partnership also aims to raise awareness on the value, challenges and need of the European cosmetics industry. Often associated with the chemical industry, the cosmetics industry is a sector in its own right, an innovative industry, and a significant economic contributor to the EU’s GDP. The partnership aims to solidify the sector’s position as the 15th European Industrial Ecosystem.

Main activities

The European cosmetics industry encompasses an entire value chain spanning across several sectors from raw materials, research and development, formulation, manufacture, packaging, packing, finished products, distribution and logistics, retail and services, engineering and machinery, IA, assembly lines, testing and analysis, quality control, and training. Drawing strength from its advanced manufacturing capabilities and abundance of raw materials, the EU harbours the entirety of the value chain.

To meet the objectives of the partnership, partners developed ACTT4Cosmetics – Improve Interconnected innovation ecosystems supporting Actions for Citizen awareness and Twin Transition in the entire cosmetic value chain.

ACTT4Cosmectics is an European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) EU-funded project that proposes a programme of joint actions hinging around European working groups to develop fourteen innovative solutions responding to the main local and European challenges of the green, digital and societal transitions.

Organisations involved

The partners’ involvement and interests are summarised in the below table, which evolves and adjusts to reflect progress and evolution of the partnership and its activities.

Czech Republic

  • Olomouc (CZ) : Inovační centrum Olomouckého kraje

France

  • Centre-Val de Loire (FR) : Regional Council Centre Val de Loire, Cosmetic Valley, Dev'up Centre Val de Loire, Orléans University, Cosmetoscience
  • Normandie (FR) : Regional Council Normandy, AD Normandie, Cosmetic Valley
  • Nouvelle-Aquitaine (FR) : Regional Council Nouvelle-Aquitaine, ADI Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Cosmetic Valley
  • Bretagne (FR): Regional Council Bretagne, BioTech Santé Bretagne
  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (FR) : Regional Council Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Innov’Alliance

Italy

  • Lombardy (IT) : Lombardy region, REI Reindustri Innovazione, Polo della Cosmesi, Politecnico di Milano, Univerità di Milano-Bicocca, Università degli studi di Pavia
  • Sardinia (IT) : Sardinia Region, Sardinia Ricerche

Poland

  • Lubelskie (PL) : Marshal's Office of the Lubelskie Voivodeship, Pulawy Science-Technology Park, Medical University of Lublin,

Portugal

  • Centro (PT) : AEBB - Associação Empresarial da Beira Baixa, CCDRC - Regional Coordination and Development Commission of Centro

Romania

  • North West Romania (RO) : North-West Regional Development Agency, Transilvania LifeStyle Cluster

Spain:

  • Catalonia (ES) : Beauty Cluster, ACCIO

Shared smart specialisation areas

Biotechnologies and services for eco-responsible and personalized cosmetics; advanced manufacturing; sustainability; new emerging economic opportunities based on technological capabilities and innovations; cosmetic and food supplements; traditional agriculture, processing industry and services; green economy; healthy society; digital society; material technologies, industrial and logistic processes; Increase synergies and innovation for health & wellbeing.

Related projects

  • 2023-2028: ACTT4Cosmetics. Improve Interconnected innovation ecosystems supporting Actions for Citizen awareness and Twin Transition in the entire cosmetic value chain, EIE Connect, Horizon Europe : The common action plan developed in the framework of Go4Cosmetics will be implemented in the framework of ACTT4Cosmetics through the development of 14 working groups gathering the cosmetic ecosystem of the partnering regions and answering the Go4Cosmetics priorities (twin transitions and citizens and consumers awareness) with innovative solutions. https://www.actt4cosmetics.eu/
  • 2020-2022: Global Cosmetics Cluster-Europe, ESCP4i, COSME : interregional partnership gathering 6 cosmetics clusters with the aim to boost SMEs internationalization. This partnership was a first step before the creation of the S3P Go4Cosmetics https://globalcosmeticscluster.eu/.

Contact

Centre Val de Loire:

Lombardy:

Latest news and upcoming events

  • Go4Cosmetics Steering Committee: March 27th 2023 in Barcelona (Catalonia region - SP)
  • Launch of ACTT4Cosmetics: May 23rd 2023 in Orléans (Centre Val de Loire region - FR)
  • Cosminov' Congress: May 24th and 25th 2023 in Orléans (Centre Val de Loire region - FR)
  • Conference on "The Future of the European Cosmetics Industry": July 3rd 2023 in Brussels (BE): Conference "The future of the European cosmetics industry" (youtube.com).
  • 1st Steering Committee meeting ACTT4Cosmetics: October 11th 2023 in Crema (Lombardy region - IT)
  • 2nd Steering Committee meeting ACTT4Cosmetics: May 6th 2024 In Brussels (BE)
  • Go4Cosmetics Steering Committee : May 6th 2024 in Brussels (BE)