{"id":51160,"date":"2026-05-28T19:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/51160\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T19:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:57:12","slug":"unilever-to-invest-270-million-in-connecticut-innovation-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/51160\/","title":{"rendered":"Unilever to Invest $270 Million in Connecticut Innovation Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNEW YORK \u2013 Unilever<\/a> said it is investing $270 million in a global innovation center based in New Haven, Conn., to be open by spring 2029.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company said this will be a major hub for Unilever<\/a>\u2019s research and development for its personal care, beauty and well-being businesses.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNew Haven gets us to the future faster,\u201d said Herrish Patel, president of Unilever<\/a> USA and chief executive officer of personal care North America, in a statement released Thursday. \u201cOur global innovation center is where we\u2019ll innovate at the intersection of science, technology and culture \u2014 for the U.S.<\/a> and for the world.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe will build on our deep heritage of innovation to develop the next generation of brands and products that people love,\u201d he continued. \u201cAs part of Unilever<\/a>\u2019s global network of innovation hubs, the center will connect closely with our other leading locations worldwide, sharing technology, insights and breakthrough ideas to accelerate innovation at scale. As the U.S. becomes a center of gravity for Unilever<\/a>, we\u2019re harnessing the best of American innovation to match our growth ambition here in the U.S. and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new Unilever global innovation center will be digital-first and AI-powered.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe center brings together a new and differentiated combination of assets and capabilities that will accelerate breakthroughs and enable Unilever\u2019s brands to bring the next generation of market-making beauty, well-being and personal care products to people faster,\u201d Unilever said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tThese include: new technologies fueled by AI and emerging quantum capabilities to drive scale and speed-to-market; end-to-end integration of the R&D process to push boundaries of desirable products, and its location in New Haven, billed to be among the world\u2019s fastest-growing biosciences innovation clusters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe center advances Unilever\u2019s strategy to become a sharper, focused personal care, beauty and well-being company, built upon shared capabilities across science-led innovation, demand creation and operational execution,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe $270 million Unilever will invest includes $50 million in capital expenditure.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTotal combined investment of public and private funds in the center will exceed $300 million,\u201d Unilever said. \u201cThis investment builds on nearly $15 billion invested in Unilever\u2019s U.S. business over the past decade, across both acquisitions and capital projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new center is to employ 300 people and succeeds the group\u2019s existing R&D center in Trumbull, Conn., which Unilever has operated since 1972.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA rendering of the interior of Unilever\u2019s new global innovation center in New Haven.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Unilever<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new building will include a global center for skin care and cleansing, a polycultural skin and hair care center of excellence, a human performance lab, a Unilever fragrance house and a packaging innovation studio.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBehind every Unilever product is world-leading science that delivers superior performance, combined with design, fragrance and sensory experiences that make our brands distinctive,\u201d said Richard Slater, Unilever chief research and development officer. \u201cOur new global innovation center will bring these capabilities together to develop new, category-defining innovations in the U.S., and scale globally. The real shift here is integration and speed: science, design and sensorials working as one, with AI and partnerships accelerating every stage of innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnilever\u2019s decision to make this investment in New Haven reaffirms Connecticut\u2019s global reputation as a leader in innovation, research and development, and discovery,\u201d said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. \u201cThis innovation center will serve as an important foundational piece for this burgeoning hub that will not only strengthen New Haven\u2019s existing tech centers but will also boost our innovation ecosystem statewide. I am glad we have Unilever as a valued member of Connecticut\u2019s growing business community, and I look forward to this company continuing to succeed here for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013 Unilever said it is investing $270 million in a global innovation center based in New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20694],"tags":[5318,12213,25507],"class_list":["post-51160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-unilever","tag-u-s","tag-unilever","tag-wwdbeautyinc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116653971406902547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}