Construction on Shiseido's new global innovation center (GIC) in Yokohama was completed last month and will start research from mid-December. In April 2019, GIC will be operating at full scale, while offering an experience-based communication space where visitors can get inspired by beauty. GIC will act as an innovation hub, creating unprecedented value through integrating various knowledge and expertise of leading-edge research facilities and other industries in and outside Japan, as well as communicating with diverse people including consumers, according to the company.


The GIC is dubbed S/PARK and aims to be an open and inviting innovation center where Shiseido will welcome many visitors. With the establishment of GIC (S/PARK), Shiseido will further increase its innovation capability and continue offering new value to consumers around the world going forward. According to Shiseido, the name S/PARK encompasses two meanings: "Shiseido Park" where people come and gather, and "a research center that sparks" continuous innovations. GIC (S/PARK) will act as an "urban open lab" to create the best matched value through integrating various expertise, information and technologies of cutting-edge research facilities and other industries in Japan and overseas and realize innovations beyond national and industrial boundaries.


Furthermore, centering on GIC (S/PARK), which serves as the basic research base, Shiseido will promote a  "hub-and-spoke network" connecting its innovation centers around the world while each center is pursuing value development to meet local consumer needs. Through the hub-and-spoke model, Shiseido will centralize customer and technology information and communicate values to the world. In addition to these unprecedented approaches, Shiseido will also bolster researchers' ingenuity by upgrading research facilities and equipment and creating a comfortable working environment in the lab.


The first and second floors will be a beauty complex consisting of four communication areas, namely, S/PARK Cafe, which will offer healthy menus that are created being inspired by the research on beauty and dieting; S/PARK Studio, a sports facility in which visitors can experience beauty programs designed with the expertise of Shiseido Running Club; S/PARK Beauty Bar, which will offer an opportunity to create one's own Shiseido cosmetics; and S/PARK Museum, an experience-based museum presenting cutting-edge technologies.