L’Oréal Groupe, the world’s leading beauty company, paves the way for a more sustainable future in seeking, advancing and scaling pioneering solutions through a Sustainable Innovation Accelerator programme.
Building on its long-standing culture of innovation L’Oréal partners with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)’s Canopy innovation experts to scout, identify, pilot, and scale breakthrough technologies addressing critical solution gaps within the industry in support of its sustainability transformation.
AboutL’Oréal has partnered with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)’s innovation team to scout, identify, pilot, and scale disruptive solutions within the beauty industry. CISL’s extensive network of over 40,000 senior leaders and experts driving impact and deep knowledge in sustainable business models and solutions, will provide pivotal support to selected applicants through an up to 12-month cohort-based programme, facilitating pilot projects and scaling of innovative solutions within the L'Oréal ecosystem.
Who is it for?We are seeking deployment-ready sustainability innovation from startups, scaleups, SMEs and established companies from around the world, at TRL 7 or higher, that align with one or more of the seven key innovation areas outlined below:
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Key Dates
Interested?The call for applications is open until 30th September 2025. Learn more and submit your application here.
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What support do participants receive?
Successful applicants will join an up to 12-month programme that includes:
- A 12-week group acceleration support delivered by CISL innovation team, focused on pilot readiness.
- Up to 12 hours of 1:1 mentoring and coaching from global sustainability, innovation and industry leaders.
- In-person or virtual peer-learning sessions.
- The potential opportunity to co-develop pilot projects with L’Oréal*, including, if applicable, the potential opportunity for commercial agreement or investment.
- Leveraging CISL's sustainability expertise and L'Oréal's leading cosmetics industry position.
*Participation in the programme does not guarantee future collaboration
The seven key innovation areas and a detailed list of challenges**
This ambitious programme is designed across seven areas to address the critical solution gaps within the beauty industry and accelerate the delivery of L'Oréal's 2030 sustainability commitments.
**Challenges may evolve and do not constitute binding commitments.
Low-carbon, climate-smart technologies
PACKAGING
- Innovative technologies and materials for spraying liquids (including no propellant systems, alternative aerosols)
- Decoration technologies to enable high-end packaging at low environmental impact (all packaging materials)
- Key enabling technologies for lower environmental impact of aluminium packaging (forming, shaping, assembling, coating and decoration)
- Key enabling technologies for lower environmental impact of glass packaging (forming, shaping, assembling, treatment or decoration)
INGREDIENTS
- Low-impact propellants
- Low-impact oleochemicals (C12-C14) for surfactants
INDUSTRY
- Fatal energy recovery solutions in plants or operated sites (monitoring, measurement, heat pumps, heat or energy storage without losses and better transfer yield)
- Solutions for hydrothermal gasification at industrial scale
- Solutions for biomethanisation of sludges or bulks at industrial scale
OTHER AREAS OF INTEREST
- Low-impact point-of-sale (POS) and promotional items
- Low-impact logistics solutions, including alternative fuels, carbon reduction solutions, fuel efficiency, and truck load optimisation tools
- Solutions to measure, control and minimise the environmental impact of IT and digital footprint, including AI
- Solutions for low-impact digital workplace and employee engagement.
- Tech-based or nature-based solutions for permanent carbon capture and carbon removal
Water resilience solutions
PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGIES
- Waterless or water-efficient innovations for hygiene and beauty habits
- Solutions for clean water access for hygiene and beauty habits
- Water use reduction, water recycling and wastewater treatment solutions applicable to the cosmetic industry (residential, commercial or industrial)
- Packaging technologies and solutions for dispensing or dosing liquids/paste/powders
Nature-based solutions
PROTECTING, RESTORING AND REGENERATING LANDSCAPES
- Weather-resistant, drought-tolerant, high-yield crop varieties (incl. rapeseed, palm, sugar cane, maise)
- Tools and technologies for regenerative agriculture practices to improve adoption, transition time and profitability
- Nature or tech-based interventions to reinforce ecosystem health, including soil health, water-cycle regeneration and biodiversity enhancement
- Innovative low-impact inputs for sustainable soil management
DATA MANAGEMENT
- Tools and technologies to enhance traceability, track and monitor natural and agricultural ecosystems, including MRV systems on biodiversity, carbon and water
- Predictive analytics & AI for nature state modelling
Alternative ingredients and materials
INGREDIENTS
- Alternative ingredients coming from biobased feedstock or issued from co-products or from recycled feedstock, including for dimethyl ether, monoethanolamine, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, non-ethoxylated surfactants, glycine, and glycolic acid
- Ingredients/precursors issued from gases, in particular C1 gases and dihydrogen coming from either bio-source (methanisation, fermentation) or recycled fossil source (industrial effluent), or air capture
- Mineral oils from innovative feedstock
OTHER MATERIALS OF INTEREST
- Sustainable, modifiable, reusable, recycled, alternative POS materials for luxury retail
- Wipes or sheet masks that are compostable, biodegradable, circular or bio-sourced or alternatives to tissue-based products
- Recycled materials or rare earth alternatives for 3D electronic components for beauty devices
- Magnet alternative for the same magnet effect, closure system with a magnet-like user experience or innovative closures
Eliminating fossil plastic use and plastic waste
REDUCE
- Technologies for plastic packaging lightweighting
- Technologies to decrease the environmental impact of plastic packaging
REPLACE
- Technologies for low-carbon alternatives to plastic materials
- Technologies for bio-based and biodegradable plastic material production
- Technologies for advanced and/or chemical plastic recycling with low environmental impact
- Recyclable and recycled, containing flexible plastic packaging for sachets, pouches, and tubes
- Technologies and materials for recyclable, functional, flexible paper-based primary packaging (forming technologies, barrier technologies, assembly, closures, decoration technologies)
- Technologies for rigid paper primary packaging (forming technologies, barrier technologies, decoration technologies)
- Materials and technologies for sustainable sampling
REUSE & RECYCLE
- Key enabling technologies for plastic packaging recycling at scale (environmental impact, improve quality and safety)
- Recycling of flexible plastic packaging
- Reusable wrap covers (incl. strapping) for transportation
Circularity and resource management
PRODUCTS
- In-store or at-home refill, recharge or deposit solutions
- Key enabling models and technologies to improve repairability and recyclability of beauty devices, including associated retro-logistics models
PACKAGING
- Innovative materials and technologies for reuse and refill models
- Technologies and materials for ultralight glass packaging or flexible glass (forming, reinforcement coating, assembly, glueing)
- Technologies for glass packaging recycling, including making opaque glass recyclable
- Technologies to improve recyclability management at conception (e.g. AI or software to assess the design-for-recycling of a packaging)
- Technologies to improve the end-of-life collection and/or sorting of packaging
- Innovative design, materials and technologies to recycle or dismantle and recycle small and complex packaging items (e.g. make-up)
- Decoration technologies to remove recycling disruptors (detectable and recyclable deep black, safe pure white, detectable metallic finish)
- Innovative technologies and materials for sustainable hinges, closure/opening
RETAIL
- Reusable, modifiable, sustainable merchandising solutions for make-up
- Technologies and solutions to enable design for reusability and recyclability of retail POS, including associated retro-logistics models
- Technologies and solutions to enable the collection, dismantling and sorting of retail POS
SUPPLY & INDUSTRY
- Reusable boxes and containers solutions for upstream transportation and logistics
- Quality-proof technologies for product return management
- Logistic solutions enabling “beauty as a service" models (leasing/subscription)
- Solutions for the recycling of complex cosmetic formulas (to be extracted from packaging or in bulk)
Sustainable and inclusive business models
COMMUNITIES
- Open source living wage database
- Solutions enabling living wage gap analysis and an action plan
- Critical weather forecast prediction and early warning systems for workforce adaptation
- Climate change adaptation solutions for workers
- Open-source due diligence models for human rights assessment
- Human rights risk assessment and mitigation tools for suppliers
- Local worker-voice solutions
- Gender specific prevention solutions for supply chain health & safety
- Value chain transparency solutions
FOSTERING SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION
- Market-specific solutions enabling consumer understanding and engagement on sustainability, including on water usage, circular solutions, timely weather-adapted hygiene and beauty habits
- Retailer solutions for sustainable assortment enablement
- Sustainable beauty brands or beauty products
Why L’Oréal and CISL?
L’Oréal is the world’s leading beauty company, with a longstanding commitment to sustainability leadership. L’Oréal for the Future programme, launched in 2020, is centred around four key pillars: steward the climate transition, safeguard nature, drive circularity and support communities.
CISL is a globally renowned centre for sustainability leadership, with decades of experience educating, supporting, and convening leaders across policy, academia, and business. Through our innovation work under CISL’s Canopy team, we empower mission-led startups to drive the systemic transformation needed across industries and sectors.
Interested?
The call for applications is open until 30 September 2025.
Learn more and submit your application here.
Contact us
If you’d like to discuss this programme, your solution, or any other opportunities, get in touch with our team.
The CISL Team
Viola Jardon
Viola Jardon is the Director of Innovation Programmes at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), where she leads strategic partnerships with corporates to drive sustainability transformation through startup-led solutions. She designs and delivers tailored innovation programmes that bridge corporates, investors, and early-stage ventures, supporting over 400 startups to date. Previously, Viola was a founding member of the London Fashion Fund and has over 15 years of experience in the tech sector across the UK and Asia. A 2023 finalist for the UK Asian Women of Achievement Award, she is also a regular speaker and judge at global sustainability and innovation forums, championing the intersection of corporate partnerships and sustainable innovation.
Sam Laakkonen
Senior Programme Director of the Canopy & Accelerator Team at CISL, Sam started his career as a management consultant in the City of London. He was headhunted to his first startup, FirstMark Communications Europe, which raised one of the largest Series A rounds in European history, over $1 billion. He has since been an early employee at Spotify, privately invested in 25+ startups, had 3 further exits from his own companies, helped 250+ startups accelerate growth, and works as an expert for the European Commission to distribute EIC equity and grant funding. Sam has been active in the Techstars ecosystem for a number of years, having been an Entrepreneur-In-Residence for Techstars Amsterdam, and a Lead Mentor on a number of programmes including Techstars Lisbon, Techstars Korea, Techstars Boulder and Techstars Energy in Oslo.
Yasmin Revell
Yasmin is an Innovation Project Manager and International Relations specialist. At CISL, she manages cross-sector innovation programmes and over 150+ events, including global accelerators and challenge-led collaborations, supporting startups, corporates, and policymakers to deliver solutions. Yasmin has worked across Europe, Latin America, and Asia, bringing a global lens to sustainability innovation. Now pursuing a Master’s in International Law at UNITAR and the UN-mandated University for Peace, Yasmin brings a systems-thinking approach to global governance, focusing on the intersection of human rights, law, innovation, and sustainable development.
Zoë Loughlin
Zoë manages the Canopy membership community, CISL’s Cambridge workspace and global community for impact-driven startups, small businesses and entrepreneurs, supporting over 150 entrepreneurs to scale their ventures. Zoë has over 10 years experience working in sustainability across the public and third sector and in the innovation ecosystem. She has specialised knowledge on waste reduction, recycling and sustainable food systems. Zoë joined CISL in 2016 working across programme marketing, external communications, publications, Network development, and the Unilever Young Entrepreneur Awards, before moving to her current position in 2022.
