Corporation/startup collaborations have reached a “tipping point” where over the next five years they will evolve from "optional extras" to business-critical investments, according to a State of Innovation report released Sept. 14 by Unilever Foundry, Unilever's own startup collaboration platform. Researchers found that 90% of corporations that have already worked with a startup expect to do so more frequently going forward, with partnerships fueled by both sides’ desire to learn, improve efficiency and solve business problems on scalable trajectories. By 2025, it will be commonplace for startups and corporate partners to share physical workspace, the firm predicts. The report emphasizes the winning potential of structured collaborations designed to drive meaningful, mutually beneficial business impacts, as opposed to "innovation theater" and other forms of "tech tourism" that are more publicity stunts and to which startups are increasingly averse. Unilever Foundry identifies four key elements of fruitful long-term collaborations: senior-level buy-in on projects; transparent and streamlined processes for contracting, procurement and payments; clear objectives and process for scaling up successful pilot projects; and education and learning on both sides of the collaboration.
Unilever continues to build its global beauty business with the acquisition of South Korean skin-care company Carver Korea for €2.27bil ($2.71bil) from Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs. Announced September 26, the deal fits with the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate’s stated strategy to expand into emerging markets with strong beauty concentrations and established skin-care demand. (Also see "Unilever Eyes Emerging Markets To Grow Acquired Prestige Brands" - HBW Insight, 18 August, 2015.) Unilever notes that South Korea is the fourth-biggest skin-care market in the world and "a source of global beauty trends, with the term ‘K-Beauty’ becoming a globally-used shorthand for sophisticated skincare that is widely exported." Founded in 1999, Carver has become the fastest-growing skin-care business in the nation and third-largest overall – after AmorePacific Corporation and LG Household & Health Care – with sales of €321m in 2016, driven by its ACH portfolio of age management and hydration products including its bestselling Eye Cream for Face, along with essences, toners, moisturizers, masks, and sun protection