Beiersdorf Opens New Research and Innovation Center in Shanghai

• New Beiersdorf Innovation Center strengthens skin care expertise for China and emerging markets
• Location will be co-working space for all innovation-related functions
• Investment is part of a new road map for China outlined in the C.A.R.E.+ strategy

Hamburg/Shanghai, July 23, 2020 – Beiersdorf, one of the leading skin care companies, has opened a new research and innovation center in Shanghai, the biggest outside its headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. The new center also serves as a co-working space for other innovation-related functions and teams. Beiersdorf intends to significantly expand its growth here in the coming years.

“The opening of the Beiersdorf Innovation Center in Shanghai is an important milestone in our company’s history. This significant investment in R&D shows a clear commitment to innovation and growth in the region. The new location enables us to work closely with consumers, with research institutes and our suppliers, which will help us to develop relevant innovations in a timely manner. The center will serve not only China but also the emerging markets and will be closely connected to the global R&D network, which will enable the exchange of new technological and development insights across the globe,” said Dr. May Shana’a, Corporate Senior Vice President Research & Development and Member of the Executive Committee at Beiersdorf AG.

Beiersdorf invested a total of ten million euros in the new center located in downtown Shanghai. With around 7,500 square meters of floor space spread over eight floors, the new Innovation Center now offers state-of-the-art working environments and highly flexible space for cross-functional collaboration to about 100 employees. The new location also includes a dedicated Consumer Experience Center, which is designed to intensify contact with end consumers and thus accelerate the innovation process.

Zhengrong Liu, responsible Board Member for Northeast Asia, congratulates the local team on the accomplishment: “It’s the first completion of a major strategic investment since the outbreak of COVID-19. Our people overcame many challenges especially during the first half year in making today’s opening possible. Using all the positive lessons learned from working together in recent months, we are determined to turn our new center in Shanghai into one of the first showcases that fully embodies the ‘new normal’, meaning seamless cross-functional and cross-regional collaboration as well as a high degree of work flexibility determined by the teams themselves. This is the only way to fulfill our ambition to be ‘closest to consumers’ in China and in other emerging markets.”  

For more than a decade, Beiersdorf used its R&D facility in Wuhan for local innovation. The new hub in Shanghai will be, after the one in Hamburg, the second-largest research center of Beiersdorf’s sprawling global skin research and development network, including locations in Brazil, India, Japan, Mexico and the United States.