Go4Cosmetics

The cosmetic industry was valued as 79.8 billion Euros at retail price in 2019 making the European cosmetics and personal care market the largest in the world. The industry supports 1.8 million jobs, including direct, indirect and induced economic activity, and it´s also an important R&D sector with 30 000 scientists employed.

Go4Cosmetics

The majority of Europe’s 500 million consumers use on daily basis cosmetics and personal care products to protect their health and enhance their wellbeing. Although Europe is currently the highest revenue-generating region and is expected to lead in the next 5 years, Asia-Pacific is proving to be a lucrative market for cosmetics providers due to the favourable growth factors which include increasing disposable income and rising consciousness about personal appearance and care among consumers, mainly in countries such as India, China, and Japan.

​​​​​​​European cosmetic products have a positive image in the world as the industry is strictly regulated by legislation and the producers adhere to certain manufacturing standards that ensure the high quality and safety of products. Moreover, it´s not only the finished products that are of European origin, but the complete integrated value chain takes place in EU: extraction of ingredients, raw material, formulation, manufacture, packaging, finished products, distribution and logistics, engineering / machine tools, assembly lines, testing and analysis / quality control, services, research and training.

​​​​​​​The growing forecast for the cosmetics sector in Europe is very positive. The creation of the S3 thematic platform on cosmetics on industrial modernisation, called Go4Cosmetics, has been recognised by the cluster partners as being of high interest to foster interregional cooperation in Europe. Partnering clusters are willing to move forward to lead the creation of this platform, which is complementary to the Global Cosmetics Cluster-Europe actions and, thus enhancing its role. The European cluster Global Cosmetics Cluster-Europe gathers 6 cosmetics clusters: AEBB (Portugal), Beauty Cluster Barcelona (Spain), Cosmetic Valley (France), IKMIBB (Turkey), Polo della Cosmesi (Italy) and Transilvania lifestyle Cluster (Romania). The cluster, that has a connection with the S3P GO4Cosmetics, was born from a ESCP4i project co-funded by the COSME programme of the European Union.

​​​​​​​Go4Cosmetics highlights the European cosmetics ecosystem with a quadruple helix European cooperation in order to further the interregional collaboration along the cosmetic value chain through Go4Cosmetics and to shape a European cosmetic value chain. The GO4Cosmetics S3P is then is composed by 7 official partner Regions: Centre-Val De Loire (FR), Lombardy Region (IT), Catalonia Region (ES), Centro Region (PT), Olomouc Region (CZ), Sardinia Region (IT), North West (RO). Centre-Val De Loire Region and Lombardy Region are co-leader of the Go4Cosmetics partnership; Cosmetic Valley and REI – Reindustria Innovazione are managing the technical secretariat of Go4Cosmetics.
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Thematic working areas

This proposal is focused on the 3 following priorities:
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  1. Digital Transition: make the cosmetics industry stronger and more agile, by supporting its innovation and modernisation 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.   
  2. 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   
  3. 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 a true well-being tourism. 

To make Go4Cosmetics sustainable and dynamic, 7 working groups have been launched with concrete objectives, action, and deliverable, involving the relevant actors in each partnering region:
  1. Skills development
  2. Digital Factory
  3. Circular Manufacturing
  4. Naturality
  5. Waste and water management
  6. Consumer Awareness
  7. Industrial Tourism

List of regions involved

Contact details for Centre-Val de Loire

Justine Hegon
Project manager Europe and international at Cosmetic Valley
Idris Goudjil
EU networks and policies officer at Centre-Val de Loire Brussels office

Contact details for Lombardy

Contact details of DG REGIO

Small descriptions of the leading regions’ actors

About Centre-Val de Loire Region: Geographic base of the Cosmetic Valley cluster and major player in the production of cosmetics in France, the Centre-Val de Loire Region has 224 companies that employ 16,000 people. To strengthen the development of this essential sector for the region, the Centre-Val de Loire Regional Council has chosen to make cosmetics a major priority of its 2021-2027 smart specialization strategy (S3) through its "Biotechnologies and services for eco-responsible and personalized cosmetics" specialization area. By supporting the creation and development of the Go4Cosmetics platform, the Centre-Val de Loire Region is confirming its desire to support the cosmetics industry and its players on a European scale.
https://www.centre-valdeloire.fr/comprendre/international/la-region-centre-val-de-loire-une-region-ouverte-sur-leurope  
About Cosmetic Valley: The coordinator of the French cosmetics industry which, for 26 years has been supporting economic growth in the cosmetics industry by organizing the network, helping to drive exports, and supporting innovation. Cosmetic Valley represents a cross sectorial industry,  with  a  network  of  3200 companies from  the whole  value chain  of  the industry  (80%  SMEs) but also  research  and  training organizations (10 universities, CNRS...). In 2020 Cosmetic Valley opened the Beauty Hub, a 3-in-1 location based in Chartres in Centre Val de Loire region https://www.cosmetic-valley.com
About DEV’UP: DEV'UP is the economic development agency of the Centre-Val de Loire region, and its main missions are to assist in the development and promotion of the region. The agency also assists companies with their growth, location and innovation projects through its six departmental offices and in conjunction with the economic players in the Centre-Val de Loire.
https://www.devup-centrevaldeloire.fr
About Lombardy Cosmetic System: public-private partnership guided by actors coming from cosmetic manufacturing value chain and from the research field. Concerning private actors in Lombardy, we find the Association Polo Tecnologico della Cosmesi, based in Crema (CR – Lombardy) and characterized by the presence of more than 80 companies in the sector with an aggregate turnover that exceeds 700 million euros. In addition, Cosmetica Italia, as National Association of Cosmetic Industry, gathers more than 600 cosmetic industry in all of Italy, of which 304 concentrated in Lombardy Region. The Italian cosmetic industry contributes to the National DGP with 12 billion of Euro, rising to 33 billion considering the entire Italian cosmetic value chain. For the research side, five Universities are involved in the system: Politecnico di Milano, Catholic University of Cremona, University of Study of Milan, University of Study of Pavia and Milano Bicocca University. All the actors are supported by REI – Reindustria Innovazione, the local development agency promoting innovation and networking.  

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