The official launch of the Barcelona Beauty Cluster took place on May 12 in the headquarters of Acció, the agency for the development of Catalan companies. The beauty industry in Catalonia represents about 350 companies (53% of the companies from this sector in Spain) and 4.2 billion euros and 18,000 staffs.

The establishment of the cluster is the result of two years of joint analysis and reflection between the industry and the Catalan government, which kick-started this project in 2012. The cluster currently gathers 13 founding members specialising in formulation, filling, brand strategy, packaging and retail - Eurofragance, Carinsa, Ainea Perfums, MartiDerm, Genocosmetics, Bella Aurora Labs, Fit4Ever, Camacho Cosmètics, Laurendor, Teknics, Quadpack Group, CosmeticInMind and BlueMandarine - that account for a turnover of over 145 million and 700 employees.

"Spain ranks fifth among the EU27 producers in the beauty industry, with a market valued at over 7 billion euros. Catalonia yields over half of that, with its high concentration of businesses in the sector. So this is a very active part of the world and we saw an opportunity to set up a cluster, to work together for mutual benefit," explains Gloria Prats, cluster manager at Acció.

Just like its French alter ego - the Chartres headquartered Cosmetic Valley - the cluster aims to gather the companies of the sector’s entire value chain: raw material suppliers, packaging companies, fillers, and manufacturers, etc.

The cluster’s mission is to exchange knowledge, encourage partnership and promote its members’ products within Spain and beyond.

The cluster’s mission is to create an area of commercial cooperation between member companies, with the aim to launch new, creative and innovative projects," says Josep Maria Martinez Ribes, CEO of Bella Aurora Labs and president of the Barcelona Beauty Cluster.

There is so much energy and enthusiasm here and our number is sure to grow. Through grouping companies in the same value chain, we will be able to exploit synergies and learn from each other," comments Quadpack CEO Tim Eaves.