Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch Winners Named at In-Cosmetics

GERMANY: At the first Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch at this year’s In-Cosmetics, the global skin care company announced the three winners: Ashland Inc., Croda International plc and KPT. Each earned the chance to market their ideas under the umbrella of Beiersdorf‘s strong brands like NIVEA and Eucerin.

The Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch was an extension of the company’s open innovation initiative “Pearlfinder” that aims to further increase the company’s innovation power by integrating external knowledge into its research and development. For this pitch, Beiersdorf teamed up with In-Cosmetics when it returned to Germany after five years, this time in Hamburg—Beiersdorf’s home town.

Of 66 online entries from exhibitors at the event, 23 were selected to go through to the finals at In-Cosmetics. The ideas were evaluated by a jury consisting of experienced R&D, marketing and scouting heads from Beiersdorf. Key criteria included uniqueness, feasibility, consumer benefit, fit with Beiersdorf’s brands and market potential.

A world leader in natural based specialty chemicals, Croda impressed the judges with its unique concept which has potential for application in several categories, especially body and dun care.

Ashland was praised by the jury for a promising idea relating to the sun care category.

Beiersdorf judges detected high potential in the idea of the exhibitor Korea Particle Technology (KPT), which Beiersdorf considers valuable for its selective cosmetics business. 

At the ceremony, Dr. Ulrich Schmidt, member of the executive board at Beiersdorf announced the winners and thanked each participant for the dedication demonstrated during the pitch process.

“Innovation is a key factor for our company’s success. With our strong brands we want to become the No. 1 skin care company in our relevant markets but we can only achieve this with the innovative input from external partners. We are happy to call this Innovation Pitch a great success. The overall quality and potential of the submitted ideas exceeded our expectations,” said Schmidt.