Cosmetic Valley in pole position: ten objectives to envisage the industrial future of France
Press release from Marc-Antoine JAMET, president of COSMETIC VALLEY
While Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has just announced the launch of the call for applications, known as "phase IV", at the end of which the major competitiveness clusters of the future will be selected, COSMETIC VALLEY and its President Marc -Antoine JAMET wanted to take the lead. Thanks to their General Assembly, organized this June 28 in Normandy, at the Théâtre de l'Arsenal in Val-de-Reuil, in Eure, and, in front of 200 business leaders, representatives of universities, research laboratories, training establishments and partners, they defined the ten objectives that will enable the cluster to collectively take a new step . French perfumery-cosmetics is neither nuclear nor aeronautical, but, in a market of 430 billion Euros and faced with 6 billion consumers, it recalls its essential role in the constitution of the country's second trade surplus. and the animation of 200,000 jobs.
1. Maintain a world leadership position
France is not the largest market in the world, nor the most competitive player in the perfumery-cosmetics economy, but it must continue to lead the way in its sector thanks to the four pillars (efficient innovation , environmental protection, authenticity of raw materials, consumer safety) of a Made in France that it has been able to establish and a culture of excellence, but also of tradition, which it knows how to play. The Cosmetic Valley, by ensuring the quality of its international partners, such as the Japanese Cosmetic Center in Karatsu, by not dispersing into parallel structures, must extend this victorious strategy.
2. Act at European level
If the cluster has already been able to bring together its partners in the Union in inter-clustering structures, it must not disperse and henceforth dialogue directly with Brussels to define research axes and funding at continental level. On the initiative of Cosmetic Valley, in partnership with 4 European clusters (Portugal, Romania, Spain, Italy), the Cosmetic4Well-Being pilot project was thus selected by the European Commission within the framework of the COSME program for the competitiveness of SMEs. Through a European cluster, ESCP-4i ( European Strategic Cluster Partnership-going international ), it will implement a strategy to support and internationalize cosmetics SMEs. Lasting 18 months, it has funding of 199,223 euros. This is the very example of what must be done.
3. Improve the quality of a regional network
By going from a simple territorial hub to a sector hub, a mission entrusted by the State, the Cosmetic Valley has changed in scale and ambition. Relying on its network of territorial strategic areas of excellence, the famous DESTs, it has been able to identify and specialize each of the communities that have accompanied it. It has found a new dimension with the creation of regional branches, such as in Bordeaux or Caen, by developing overseas agreements around cosmetics, particularly in Polynesia, by opening initial negotiations with the PACA, Brittany and Hauts -de-France, by cooperating with complementary clusters, such as Glass Valley/Vallée de la Bresle. To continue this network work, it must be confirmed by its efforts such as recognition by the public authorities as the only French strategic center in its field.
4. Digitize your actions
Digital, for perfumery-cosmetics as for any major industrial sector, cannot be a decoration or a… varnish. The digitization of the division's activities must continue: big data, connected objects, tutorials. 10% of its collaborative projects must now be part of this new economy made concrete by an incubator in Chartres installed with the city and the CCI of Eure-et-Loir. Their priority must be seen on its technological platforms such as Cosmet'up . This is why, like a symbol, like a sign, startupers will have, in 2018, a prominent place at the international Cosmetic 360 trade show , on October 17 and 18, at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. Thus, 200 innovations from 56 countries will be presented, in front of 5,000 visitors, while 170 open innovation meetings will take place, not to mention an extraordinary hackathon sponsored by LVMH.
5. Densify its industrial fabric
If the expression "hunting in packs" conceals an aggressiveness that is not appropriate, the cluster must be more and more the tool through which large groups support SMEs and start-ups (446 are listed in the perfumery-cosmetics), lead them towards knowledge and markets, the structure that allows public laboratories to work in basic research with private laboratories in applied research, to competitors to cooperate against foreign rivals often more numerous, sometimes more agile, the label of excellence that attracts businesses and foreign investment to our soil, forming an ecosystem that, in the automotive industry, we would call a “German industrial fabric”.
6. Consolidate essential financial independence
With 70% of private resources (not counting the promotion of the work of its administrators and members), the cluster, since its origins in 1994, has been able to cope with the gradual financial withdrawal of public authorities and certain local authorities. It must therefore continue to develop its own revenues (trade fairs, congresses, services) while ensuring that it maintains working capital commensurate with its commitments and does not inflate a payroll that this entrepreneurial risk-taking can inflate. However, it should not neglect the real leverage effect of public contributions. In a context of growing global competition, while other countries, including China, Korea and Taiwan, are investing massively in their cosmetics sector, it is important, with a view to fundamental reform of competitiveness clusters, that a circle virtuous is set up between public and private, that is to say that the State and the regions do not make their support disappear.
7. Intensify research programs
Innovation and performance are the DNA of Cosmetic Valley. They must be his signature for the future. The cluster must continue to be the world reference in terms of inventions, patents, but also audacity, imagination and youth. This requires the pooling of resources and the cooperation of intelligence between all its actors. 350 collaborative research projects have been launched by the cluster for an amount of 400 million euros and with 540 partners involved: universities, research laboratories, large groups, SMEs. The ambitious Cosmetosciences research and training program , the organization of R&D Connections meetings dedicated to exchanges between public and private researchers, and the international Cosmetic Victories competition , in association with ESSEC, the unprecedented partnership in the cosmetics sector with the CNRS, illustrate the quality and dynamism of exchanges between innovation players within the cluster.
8. Communicate better, differently and faster
Being a leader gives rights, but entails obligations. One of them is transparency, which implies that the cluster makes its successes and projects better known, the other is frankness, which should lead it to take a position on the major issues that mobilize the profession. Its presence in general or specialized information circuits must be affirmed. Its ability to publish content needs to grow. Its place on social networks must be more visible. Its media imprint, at the service of its members and its collective credibility, must be imprinted both in the news and in the long term.
9. Acquire appropriate infrastructure
To hold its rank, the pole must equip itself with a seat to its measure. After having intelligently conceded the former Lycée Marceau to a Grande Ecole de Cosmétiques, the municipality of Chartres offers the Cosmetic Valley to settle, in respect of the educational communities, within the Jean Moulin college, at the foot of the cathedral. known, and to equip itself with spaces for work, presentation, conferences or modern museums that correspond to the reality of its economic weight. This is a major project for the Board of Directors of the association. It's time for it to start.
10. Serve and increase membership
This last objective will be the justice of the peace and the efficiency indicator of the 9 others. At each board of directors between 20 and 30 candidates are proposed for membership. Associated professions are knocking at the door of Cosmetic Valley. It will be necessary in a measured contribution system, taking advantage of a young, competent, very friendly, intelligent and dedicated team which can be seniorized, to offer them more services, more opportunities, more support and support, to train them and inform them, take them abroad or offer them suitable research sites. The pole must be "a force that goes", especially not an impressive giant, but motionless.
Marc-Antoine JAMET, president of COSMETIC VALLEY said :
“Thanks to the union of energies and ambitious objectives, Cosmetic Valley has become the center of the sector and the sector. It has become one of the best French innovation ecosystems. New challenges await us: succeeding in the digital shift, ensuring an increase in skills in the sector, ensuring the development of the cluster's visibility internationally and above all, in a context of ever-increasing globalization of markets and competition , compete in creativity, audacity and innovation. This new roadmap should be implemented during phase IV of the competitiveness clusters with the involvement of as many stakeholders as possible, to help maintain the competitiveness and leadership of the French perfumery-cosmetics sector. This is an issue that I hope the Government will not forget. For our part, we must without delay prepare for the future and succession, consider changes in our management and our governance, support our growth by adapting to its size and speed. »
