Global fast-moving consumer goods producer Unilever has announced an additional investment of 35 million euros in its research capabilities in India. These funds will be used to transform two of the company's research centers in Mumbai and Bengaluru into next-generation innovation hubs, as well as to establish a strategic partnership with Bio-Futures in the country.
These investments supplement more than 20 million euros spent over the last five years on projects such as the Liquid Future Lab, Unilever's Fragrance House, the Advanced Manufacturing Center for Bars, the Packaging Design and Flexible Materials Lab, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital modeling platforms.
The company emphasized that both research centers in India are an integral part of Unilever's global R&D network and cover a wide range of research in new sciences and technologies, innovation, product development, and market-oriented activities. This includes understanding consumer needs, product adaptation, testing, validation, scaling, and implementing various activities within the Indian R&D ecosystem.
Both centers also utilize Unilever's global science and technology platforms, scientific knowledge, and intellectual property. India is one of Unilever's largest global R&D centers, employing over 800 scientists, researchers, digital specialists, and designers.
Transformation of the Mumbai Center
The proposed transformation will turn the Mumbai center into a new Product Innovation Centre. It will integrate AI and digital technology-based forecasting and analysis capabilities, new measurement methods, product and format science, product and packaging design, rapid prototyping, scaling capabilities, and go-to-market functions into a single integrated environment. Furthermore, this center will create spaces to support collaboration with academia, experts, suppliers, startups, and the broader design ecosystem.
Richard Slater, Unilever's Chief Research and Development Officer, noted the critical importance of India as a global R&D hub for the company. He stated that this investment will provide a more connected approach to innovation, bringing together science, analytics, design, digital technologies, AI, rapid prototyping, and scaling capabilities. By linking Unilever with India's world-renowned bioengineering ecosystem, the company can leverage complementary sciences, capabilities, and partnerships to accelerate next-generation innovations in Bio-Futures for India and the world.
Additionally, Unilever will allocate 5 million euros over five years to the Bio-Futures strategic partnership in India. This platform will connect Unilever's global R&D capabilities with India's growing bioengineering ecosystem, bringing together academic institutions, startups, advanced infrastructure, and talent. The partnership will focus on areas such as human biology, microbiome science, biotechnology, bioproduction, and digitally and AI-driven biology.
The Bengaluru center will continue to develop as a global hub for science, technology, and partnerships for fundamental and applied scientific platforms, digital and AI capabilities, R&D in Indian food products, and collaboration with academia, startups, and Unilever's global innovation network.
Priya Nair, Managing Director and CEO of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, noted that establishing India as an innovation hub opens significant opportunities for the company. She stated that India's emergence as a global innovation powerhouse represents an exceptional opportunity. As one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, the company sees immense potential in delivering high-quality, scientifically backed innovations to Indian consumers. These investments reinforce Unilever's long-standing commitment to R&D in India and its confidence in the country's scientific talent, capabilities, innovative ecosystem, and its growing position in life sciences and bioproduction.
AI, automated experiments, cobot-assisted experiments, predictive modeling, and digital twins will be employed at both facilities to assist scientists and product developers in testing more options, accelerating learning, and faster conversion of promising ideas into scalable innovations.
