Unilever to build state-of-the-art fragrance facility in UK
FMCG giant Unilever is set to build an £80 million fragrance facility near Liverpool that will transform its longstanding facility in Port Sunlight. It should be complete in 2027, although many of its functions will start earlier than that.
It's part of a £300 million package of R&D spending in Britain over the next two years. It will take in a fragrance research and innovation laboratory, a compounding facility, and testing suites, The Times reported.
In terms of tech innovation, it will use robotics to blend fragrance oils and the firm's 'noses' will work with AI to develop their scents.
Richard Slater, chief R&D officer at Unilever, told the newspaper: 'We're one of the world's largest buyers and users of fragrance, which are absolutely critical to the product performance of so many of our brands and categories and the consumer perception.'
Even with the investment in the facility, Unilever intends to continue partnering with major fragrance houses such as DSM- Firmenich and Givaudan.
The news of the plan to spend the money was actually released last year but without the Anglo-Dutch giant disclosing the location.
At the time it said: 'We're investing €100 million to scale up Unilever's fragrance design and creation capabilities across our global portfolio. This supports our strategy to accelerate growth and increase productivity by allowing Unilever to gain greater control of the design and refinement of our fragrances, a key component of product formulation and consumer preference.
'Fragrance forms a vital part of many Unilever products, from indulgent shower creams to invigorating deodorants and the satisfying scents that our brands leave on freshly washed laundry.
'Historically, we've partnered with fragrance houses around the world to create the scents that consumers know and love. Such partnerships remain important to us as we move to grow our capabilities in-house which will see Unilever transition to a hybrid model, where our digitally enabled teams are involved in every step of innovation, formulating fragrances that fit perfectly with our products.
'We'll combine our own scientific expertise in areas such as neuroscience, AI and digital product development with existing strategic partnerships, to help deliver consistent and affordable product superiority across our brands more quickly.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
This AI company can visualise your dreams. Here's how it works
A Dutch company says it has developed a way to use artificial intelligence (AI) to record dreams. Modem Works, an Amsterdam-based think tank and design studio, claims the Dream Recorder can capture dreams in 'ultra-low definition' and in any language. 'Wake up, speak your dream aloud … and watch it come to life in a dreamscape in the aesthetic of your choice,' the website for the project reads. How does it work? Modem Works says the project is 'Do-It-Yourself by Design.' It asks prospective users to download the open-source code, gather the hardware, 3D print the Dream Recorder's shell and assemble everything. Once assembled, users can double-tap to start a recording of themselves recalling their dream, and once finished, the dream will be generated. Another tap will play the generated dream and up to seven others that will be stored on a small 8-gigabyte processor. The company published the open source code on Github, a platform where coders share their projects, along with a list of the products they would need and where to buy them. The parts listed for the Dream Recorder include an HDMI screen, the 8-gigabyte processor, a micro SD card and a USB microphone. The approximate cost for all the parts to build a Dream Recorder is roughly €285, the developers wrote. The device would also require paying for the application programming interface (API) from OpenAI and AI video generation company LumaLabs to help generate the images for the dream. The developers estimate it would be less than $ 0.01 or $ 0.14 per dream, respectively, depending on the quality of the image. The Dream Recorder is the latest attempt to map out dreams with AI. In 2023, Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories developed an AI system that uses MRI scans to visualise and record dreams with a 60 per cent accuracy. Another pre-print study from the National University of Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2023 came to the same conclusion.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
RTL to buy Sky Deutschland for €150mn in TV consolidation effort
RTL has agreed to buy Comcast's Sky Deutschland for €150 million as the media conglomerate seeks to stave off competition from US streaming platforms. On top of the €150mn upfront cost, the group may pay a further €377mn if RTL's share price rises above €41 apiece five years after the deal's close. RTL said that the acquisition, if approved by regulators, would allow it to become the third-biggest provider of streaming services in Germany after Netflix and Amazon Prime. The deal is expected to close next year. Comcast, Sky's parent firm since 2018, has been looking to sell Sky Deutschland for several years. The German subsidiary has never made a profit but it is expected to break even this year. The firm has notably been struggling as competition from streaming services heats up. However, Sky won a significant deal to exclusively show most Bundesliga football matches last year, through to the end of the 2028-29 season, boosting its attractiveness. 'The business is on track to achieve EBITDA break-even, reflecting the success of our turnaround plan. Combining the strength of our brand with RTL builds on that momentum and opens up even greater opportunities,' Dana Strong, Group CEO at Sky, said in a statement. Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL, noted: 'the synergies are estimated to be around €250mn per annum within three years after closing, creating significant shareholder value'. Combined, the groups will have around 11.5mn subscribers. Under the terms of the deal, RTL will have the right to use the Sky brand in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. RTL has been looking to secure new revenue streams through premium subscriptions, as it operates several television and radio stations that are free to air. The decision to buy Sky Deutschland is the biggest deal it has struck since it was formed in 2000. In 2023, RTL had its eyes on another consolidation project, bidding to acquire Dutch media conglomerate Talpa Network. Competition authorities said the merged group would be too dominant in the Netherlands. RTL then proposed to sell its Dutch subsidiary RTL Nederland to Belgium-based DPG Media, although regulators have yet to give the green light.
Euronews
4 days ago
- Euronews
NATO's 1.5%: Is this the detail that can derail the new spending deal?
NATO leaders are preparing to agree on a historic military spending target as they convene in the Dutch city of The Hague for what's been deemed the alliance's most important gathering since its foundation. Reaching a 5% GDP spending target would be a giant leap for most NATO members, as the vast majority currently invest less than 3% in defence. The only exceptions are Poland (4.12%), Estonia (3.43%), the US (3.38%), Latvia (3.15%) and Greece (3.08%), according to Atlantic Council estimations. What's in that 5% and what's the controversial bit? The biggest chunk is a 3.5% GDP for "core defence spending", such as tanks, jets, drones, soldiers, tons of new artillery ammunition and - of course - troops. But the remaining 1.5% leaves more questions open. NATO called it "defence and security-related investments". In other words, civilian and IT infrastructure designed to boost and support military operations, like bridges, roads and ports, storage, as well as cybersecurity and energy pipeline protection. However, experts argue that this part of the budget is vague and open to national interpretations. "With diverse traditions of civil preparedness across member states, this risks creative accounting and opportunistic prioritisation, while hampering cooperation", said Germany's Bertelsmann Stiftung think tank. "If the 1.5% target fails to deliver measurable improvements in European resilience, it could backfire and strain transatlantic trust." "NATO should establish a structured capability planning process mirroring its defence capability planning process, with clear alliance-wide objectives." Is the spending target binding? The devil is indeed in the details. A NATO letter sent on Sunday to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez seems to suggest that the 5% target might not be binding. Spain, the letter says, "will have the flexibility to determine its own path for reaching the Capability Targets set by NATO", with more countries possibly advancing the exact requests. Also, some allies could view it as a permission to allocate less than 5%, if they can prove they are nonetheless meeting the capability targets (whose list remains classified). NATO's reassurance followed Spain's concerns about "unreasonable" spending targets. "Allocating 5% of GDP to defence would slow down economic growth through an increase in debt", the PM has said. The country currently spends around 1.28% of its GDP on defence, one of the lowest rates in the alliance. The new NATO agreement will require countries to raise their spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, with a review of the allies' "spending trajectory" taking place midway in 2029.
