What Happened: L’Oréal today announced the 2023 winners of the L’Oréal North Asia Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program. Big Bang is the French company’s first regional program focused on driving innovation, inspiration, and the co-creation of future beauty solutions across China, Japan, and South Korea.
The 2023 Big Bang winners include 11 companies from China, one from the program’s China-France track, three from Japan and two from South Korea. These companies demonstrated a wide range of cutting-edge beauty technologies and solutions across various business fields, including operations, digital, research and innovation, sustainability, generative AI, raw materials, and beauty devices.
The announcement was made at the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE), the world’s largest import trade show, which is running from November 5 to November 10 at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center.
On November 6, L’Oréal announced the 2023 winners of the L’Oréal North Asia Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program (Big Bang). Photo: L’Oréal
L’Oréal also unveiled the L’Oréal North Asia Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Incubation Exhibition at the CIIE’s Innovation Incubation Area. L’Oréal’s exhibition is its first regional beauty innovation showcase featuring 16 Big Bang participants from Japan, South Korea and the China-France track, and their breakthrough sustainable beauty solutions, from advanced biotechnology and material science to the latest skin diagnostics and R&D technologies.
L’Oréal has been a consistent participant in the CIIE since its founding in 2018. This year marks a new chapter for L’Oréal as it extended its showcase to the Innovation Incubation Area spotlighting the latest beauty innovations from North Asia for the first time, becoming the only multinational beauty company to be featured there.
The Jing Take: As the world’s largest and most valuable cosmetics company, valued at $12 billion, L’Oréal has assumed a pioneering role in inspiring and nurturing beauty innovation.
The Big Bang Program was first launched in China in 2020 and expanded to Japan and South Korea in 2023, with the aim of cultivating the unique market strengths of what L’Oréal dubs the “C-J-K Beauty Triangle” (representing China, Japan, and South Korea). The region represents around one-third of the world’s total beauty market, makes up L’Oréal’s North Asia zone, and is L’Oréal Group’s second-largest market in terms of sales.
Maxime De Boni, Vice President, L’Oréal R&I North Asia and China, tells Jing Daily: “At L’Oréal, we believe in open innovation through partnerships; therefore, we work with innovative start-ups and all types of partners to inspire and be inspired. We are being recognized for bringing forward world-class open innovation practices and for fostering corporate-startup collaborations globally.
“More importantly, we aim to support start-ups and companies with beauty technology and ‘innovative sciences’ to transform at scale, both regionally and globally.”
Big Bang winners receive opportunities to collaborate with L’Oréal, join the North Asia Big Bang Entrepreneur Community for sharing and inspiration, and showcase their innovations at strategic regional and global platforms.
The CIIE is one such influential platform for overseas businesses operating in China to showcase products and forge relationships with lucrative partners. More than 3,000 businesses from nearly 150 countries are attending this year’s event.
Fabrice Megarbane, President of L’Oréal North Asia and CEO of L’Oréal China. Photo: L’Oréal
“The opening of the first regional beauty innovation incubation exhibition at CIIE is a key milestone in our drive toward open innovation and co-creation together with innovative businesses, partners, and governments,” said Fabrice Megarbane, President of L’Oréal North Asia and CEO of L’Oréal China.
L’Oréal’s thought leadership is providing a beacon for beauty. By embracing open innovation, the 114-year-old French conglomerate is winning over today’s consumers with disruptive beauty solutions, sustainable practices, and digital transformation.
The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.
