ELC Opens New Advanced Biotech Center in Belgium

As a brand-led company with a long-standing commitment to innovation and sustainability, The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has announced the official opening of its new Biotech Center adjacent to its manufacturing and distribution campus in Uvre, Belgium. This new center will focus on producing cutting-edge bio-based raw materials. By identifying and creating proprietary bio-based alternatives to traditional ingredients, the company aims to further improve the sustainability of its product development and manufacturing processes and delight consumers.

At the Biotech Center, ELC’s engineers and scientists will create active biomolecules from plant, yeast and bacterial sources that will be used as raw materials for thousands of skin care products across ELC’s portfolio of brands. The local team will work closely with Advanced Technology Pioneers (ATP) scientists at the Research and Development (R&D) lab in Melville, New York, to complement existing work related to fermentation and bio-based materials and to co-innovate for the future. They will also work closely with ELC's manufacturing team in Belgium to pilot and scale production of these raw materials.

"Our premium beauty products rely on the highest quality raw materials. By producing our own biotech-based materials at one of our major manufacturing campuses, we are able to do so in a more responsible way and at scale," said Roberto Canevari, ELC's Executive Vice President of Global Supply Chain. "This is a great example of how our end-to-end value chain is collaborating to drive innovation and sustainability across the business."

The new state-of-the-art space includes highly specialized technology and equipment that will solidify ELC's leadership in fermentation and creating biomolecules for its products. Products from ELC's portfolio of brands, including Estée Lauder and La Mer, already utilize a number of bio-based materials. The site will provide further business continuity—particularly supporting the manufacturing of select flagship products—and enable the company to further expand its biotechnology efforts.

"At ELC, our exceptional team of scientists leverages breakthrough innovation and cutting-edge technologies, combined with a passion for sustainability, to drive the development of effective, high-quality ingredients that are used in luxury products that consumers know and love," said Carl Haney, ELC's Executive Vice President, Research, Product and Innovation Officer. "This new value chain site will be a key space for our scientists to continue embedding sustainability at the beginning of the product development process and build on our strengths in fermentation and proprietary ingredients."

The space will significantly increase ELC’s in-house capabilities for the production of bio-based raw materials and further optimize the company’s production processes in the EMEA region and other parts of the world. The center has been conducting production tests over the past few months and will begin commercial production in 2025.

ELC has been manufacturing products at its Belgian facilities since opening its first international manufacturing facility in Oevel in 1965. Over the years, the company has expanded its presence at the campus, including the recent opening of a new distribution center, strengthening its filling and assembly operations, and a new pre-operation warehouse. Belgium is recognized as a leader in European biotech, and the opening of the ELC Biotech Center highlights ELC’s commitment to innovation in the region.

"Our Biotech Center will support our efforts to provide consumers with more responsible and cutting-edge beauty solutions," said Jamal Chamariq, Senior Vice President, EMEA UK&I and Travel Retail, Global Supply Chain, ELC. "The new center’s location in Belgium also allows us to work more closely with leaders in the biotech space, further strengthening our innovation ecosystem in Europe and beyond."