14 INTERVIEW Tim Probert – Editor, Personal Care Global
At PCHi 2025 in Guangzhou, China, editor Tim Probert moderated a panel discussion about product development between Provital president Ricard Armengol; Evonik global product development manager Christian Bellacanzone; Lucas Meyer Cosmetics global R&D director Mathilde Frechet; and Gattefossé actives marketing leader Laurie Canel. Here follows an account of this International Ingredient Technology conference track session
Tim Probert (TP): My first question is about your sources of inspiration for developing new ingredients for personal care. What is your starting position… perhaps you are inspired by scientific literature, or maybe you draw more inspiration from the market and consumers. Ricard? Ricard Armengol (RA): It depends! The market is a source of inspiration but when you work with active
ingredients, you have to try to see ahead to what will happen in six years. That’s because the process of developing a new active ingredient takes three or four years. You have to think in advance. So, it’s about trying to find
general trends in the market where you can imagine that the market will go. You have to a have a good crystal ball!
TP: Where does your crystal ball tell you to look for inspiration? RA: We take a look at what is happening in other areas, such as dermatology or food or many other fields that are not cosmetics and maybe are a little bit more advanced in some way. We then try to find general trends that we can follow.
TP: How does Evonik go about it, Christian?
Christian Bellacanzone (CB): Relying on a crystal ball is very difficult. We usually start from
PERSONAL CARE April 2025
reviewing the scientific literature in order to support, for example, a highly innovative delivery system. Of course, we are also looking into different fields, such as medical and pharmaceutical, for inspiration. Because it’s very difficult to
have a six-year view, one of our approaches is to try to take an incremental approach. This could be ranging (a delivery system) against a new application and then studying the synergistic effect with the system.
TP: Laurie, how does Gattefossé go about developing new ingredients? Laurie Canel (LC): I think we all agree on crystal balls, and the difficulty to be fully accurate if we look at five or six
years ahead. I would also like to add that
the creation of a new ingredient, whether it be an active or functional ingredient, requires a multi- disciplinary level of expertise. It starts by looking with market intelligence at what the market wants, what the final consumers want, or what our customers have in their wishlists, and it also requests great scientific monitoring But there are also other things
involved in product development. For example, CSR (corporate social responsibility) is now also part of
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the game. So, it really needs multiple expertise and a multi-disciplinary approach to overcome the challenge of innovating in our field.
TP: Do you have anything to add to that, Mathilde, from a Lucas Meyer Cosmetics perspective? Mathilde Frechet (MF): I agree with what my colleagues have said but perhaps we also need to take into
account what the market actually is. I mean, we also need to have an idea of the market limitations. More and more, we need to have a regulatory perspective, on CSR, on the Nagoya Protocol, and the preservation of biodiversity. I also think it’s really important to take climate change into account. So, all these factors are driving
cosmetic technologies. We are looking a lot into the biodiversity of the environment…and adapting
“ This raised level of consumer expertise is something we have to consider when developing
ingredients, and in the way we market them. ” Gattefossé actives marketing leader Laurie Canel
technologies – like biotechnologies - for the production of ingredients. We are finding new green approaches. This is something that can drive innovation over the next five to six years.
TP: You mentioned regulation, Mathilde. One of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics’ global product launches at PCHi – GlowCytocin – is an active ingredient that targets oxytocin receptors in the brain. Is that pushing against regulatory boundaries in an industry traditionally concerned with appearance, not brain function? MF: That’s not something that we have faced. We are more into consumer expectation and customer engagement. What I think is really important with these technologies is to make sure the sensory panel studies are more robust in terms of assessment. But, for the moment, I wouldn’t
say regulation is going to constrain us from developing these technologies.
TP: Does regulation keep you worried at night, Christian? CB: The cosmetics industry has a very high degree of regulation,
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