Unilever will invest a further €35 million to expand its research and development capabilities in India, turning facilities in Mumbai and Bengaluru into a more integrated science and innovation network.
The Mumbai site is being transformed into a Product Innovation Centre that will combine consumer research, product and format science, packaging design, rapid prototyping, testing and manufacturing scale-up. The centre is also expected to include collaboration spaces for work with academic institutions, technology companies, start-ups, suppliers and other innovators.
Bengaluru will continue developing as a global science, technology and partnership hub, bringing together foundational and application science, digital and AI capabilities, and India Foods research and development. Unilever is allocating €5 million of the broader investment over five years to a Bio-Futures partnership focused on human biology, microbiome science, biotechnology, biomanufacturing and digitally enabled biology.
The new spending builds on more than €20 million invested in Indian R&D capabilities during the past five years. Those earlier projects include a liquids laboratory, a fragrance facility, an advanced manufacturing centre for soap bars, a packaging and flexible-materials design lab, and AI and digital-modelling platforms.
The two Indian hubs are part of Unilever’s global R&D network and together involve more than 800 scientists, researchers, digital specialists and designers. The company says their work covers consumer understanding, product adaptation, testing, validation, scale-up and deployment across categories including beauty, wellbeing, personal care and home care.
The investment expands capabilities that are already operating rather than creating an entirely new research presence. The planned changes are intended to place scientific discovery, consumer insight, design and product development closer together, with the company saying its next step is to build the facilities and establish the Bio-Futures partnership over the stated five-year period.