Evonik in France’s "Cosmetic Valley"

Now part of the Personal Care Business Line, Evonik's new Advanced Botanicals subsidiary was created in 2016 when Evonik acquired experts in biotechnological production of plant-based active ingredients, French start-up, Alkion Biopharma SAS. As a result, Evonik now boasts one of the world's leading technologies for plant-based cosmetic active ingredients.

At the opening ceremony in Tours, Evonik announced its plans to develop the site into a center for plant-based active ingredients. The Tours region is located in what’s known as ‘Cosmetic Valley’, the world’s largest cluster of cosmetic companies. This closeness to customers along with the possibilities for scientific collaboration with the University of Tours with its plant biotechnology department, will help to promote future growth.

“Our impressive portfolio of cosmetic active ingredient specialties already includes ceramides, sphingolipids, and peptides, so we are pleased to complement these with this very attractive technology,” says Dr. Tammo Boinowitz, head of Evonik’s Personal Care Business Line. Now, with this addition, Evonik can offer customers tailored, plant-based, high-performance active ingredients – in highly concentrated and reproducible forms, all manufactured in a process that conserves resources.

The new site in Tours is designed to produce commercial quantities of these plant extracts, and many customer projects for tailored products are already at an advanced stage. Evonik also plans to offer its own products developed and created at its new facility in Tours from 2018.

Representatives from well-known cosmetic manufacturers, the University of Tours, the city of Tours, and the Parçay Meslay commune expressed their delight at the opening of the Evonik Advanced Botanicals site, and all used the opportunity at the ceremony to learn about the company's innovative technology.

Evonik Advanced Botanicals has developed a process for cultivating plant biomass under laboratory conditions and recovering beneficial extracts achieving an extraordinarily high yield of complex ingredients. The technology itself is based on the plants’ ability to produce a broad spectrum of secondary metabolites when required. Evonik hopes to utilize this potential without modifying the plant genome. This makes it possible to produce plant extracts with a high concentration of the desired bioactive substances, allowing Evonik to offer its customers considerable added value.