The competition
One of the most challenging issues of the Cosmetic Valley is to detect and support the young innovative companies, as well as to promote the research and the cosmetic sciences. This led to the creation of The Cosmetic Victories competition in 2015, sponsored by the Cosmetic Valley-ESSEC endowment fund.
The competition, recognized by the profession, aims to reward and promote students, researchers, start-ups and SMEs in charge of innovative projects, related to the perfume and cosmetics industry.
Objectives of the competition
– To support and promote projects run by researchers, start-ups and entrepreneurs from the perfume and cosmetics sector.
– To facilitate the prize-winners’ access to the market.
This year, the Cosmetic Victories Awards consist in two prizes:
– The Academic Prize, for the most relevant project that meets the new technical challenges of the cosmetic industry.
– The Industry Prize, for the best cosmetic innovation of the year.
Who can take part in the competition?
The Cosmetic Victories is open to French and international contestants:
– The Academic Prize: for recent graduates, PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and researchers.
– The Industry Prize: for managers of business-creation projects, innovative start-ups and SMEs.
Which types of innovation?
All kind of innovation may be presented as a project submission, in any fields of application of the perfume and cosmetics industry: raw materials, formulation, packaging, tests, finished goods, …
Note: The innovations can come from the perfume and cosmetics industry or can be the result of technology transfer from other sectors to the cosmetic field: new technologies, new products, new processes, new services, new concepts or new organisations.
The prize
– Recognition by the profession. The international jury’s excellence adds value and considerable scope to each prize-winner’s project.
– International exposure. Following the competition, there will be major national and international press coverage.
– Technical backing. Cosmetic Valley is able to support the prize winners in their efforts to develop their business in France, through the Cosmet’Up tool: a national platform for working alongside and supporting French start-ups and SMEs. The prize winners will also be able to benefit from project engineering facilities at Cosmetic Valley, in order to help them obtain government funding.
– Financial backing. To support the competition’s prize-winning projects, and based on the Cosmetic Valley-Essec endowment fund, winners of The Cosmetic Victories award will receive a cash prize of €10,000.
Schedule
The jury
The Cosmetic Victories relies on a prestigious jury consisting of members of the major companies and top names in the perfume and cosmetics sector.This year, LVMH, Clarins, Sisley and Shiseido were represented.
We have also greeted two honoured guests, with Ms Axelle Tessandier, founder of AXL Agency, and Mr François Demachy, perfumer-designer for Christian Dior.
Research and innovation institutions, such as the CNRS [the French National Centre for Scientific Research], the GDR 3711 Cosm’Actifs [French Research Network], the SFC [French Society of Cosmetic] and Bpifrance will also be present, as well as ESSEC, our endowment fund partner.
The endowment fund
The Cosmetic Valley-ESSEC endowment fund was set up in 2013 to promote French research and to take part in developing employment in the perfume and cosmetics field, with the aim of showcasing the reputation of French cosmetics and the “Made in France” label.
That is why the Endowment Fund authorised the establishment of an annual international competition for young researchers, academics, university students and those from France’s prestigious higher education institutes, as well as people in charge of innovative projects (from start-ups and SMEs) in the perfume and cosmetics field.
The first edition of the competition was launched in 2015 with the name “The Cosmetic Victories”.
