With the support from Investe SP, P&G announces new innovation center in Brazil

Center will cover the whole Latin America and will be responsible for the development of product and process innovations to consumers

As part of its development in Brazil, P&G announced a new investment in the country, the multinational will have a new Innovation Center, located in the region of Campinas (SP), making the country its main technology hub in consumption of P&G in Latin America.The choice for the region was made after an analysis of the strategic advantages for the company, including high standard technical talents, proximity to leading universities and adequate infrastructure.

Investe São Paulo, the investment promotion agency associated with the Department of Economic Development, Science, Technology and Innovation of the state of São Paulo had an essential role in this process.

“P&G was already our client due to the expansion of the detergent factory, and it contacted us seeking support to help it better understand the support structure to research in the state of São Paulo.With strategic information and meetings that enabled a dialogue with some key institutions, we were able to show the executives that this investment could not be anywhere more appropriate than in Latin America,” said the Investment Director of the agency, Ermínio Lucci.

Initially, the center will be located in the former administrative building of the unit in Louveira, which was expanded in 2015 and meets the goal of sending zero waste to landfills.The P&G Innovation Center will be dedicated to Research and Development for the whole Latin America.The company is investing approximately R$ 150 million (US$50 million) to set up the facilities, enable the operations, hire skilled labor, etc.

The P&G Innovation Center will be responsible for conducting research studies to the units of baby care, beauty, house and cleaning, female and oral care, seeking to develop increasingly sustainable products, packaging and production processes.It will also conduct consumer surveys, ranging from focus groups to virtual reality sessions.“The company has been rapidly modernizing in recent years and now takes a new step for the future of the company.We will be even more focused on our purpose, which is to improve people’s lives through our innovations,” said Alberto Carvalho, president of P&G Brazil.

The new Innovation Center will demand approximately 120 specialized technical positions, such as that of Researcher, to meet the business needs of the region.The center will also have an on-the-job training program to provide college students a professional experience and the future possibility of being permanently hired.This team will look for trends and innovations to bring pioneering solutions to the market.

P&G will bring cutting-edge technologies and the best machines to the Innovation Center in Brazil, many of them developed exclusively for the company, which simulate weather conditions and even mini production lines to test the feasibility of a new product and develop prototypes, before the production processes for these new products and packaging are approved and developed.

“We want to offer the best to our consumers, whether with products, or through a better shopping experience for consumers, such as Gillette Club, which offers the recurring purchase option.We brought important innovations which revolutionized the market, such as the Extra Sec Pods technology to Pampers, the deep conditioner from Aussie and now from Pantene.We believe in Brazil and maintain our investments to make our business increasingly strong,” said the executive.

The P&G Innovation Center in Brazil completes the list of 17 centers across the world.Every year, P&G invests US$2 billion in R&D worldwide.“We have more than 7,500 scientists and over a thousand PhDs.And we can now develop our innovations here, with even more strength,” said Alberto Carvalho.

The Secretary of Innovation and New Business of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Services, Marcos Vinicius de Souza, highlighted the importance of the opening of the center:“Brazil has managed to keep the attractiveness to R&D centers and projects of large multinationals, as is the case of this important P&G center, which in addition to generating highly skilled jobs, contributes to strengthening the Brazilian innovation ecosystem.” The secretary also highlighted the partnership between the federal government and the São Paulo state government to attract investments in innovation:“Recently, the MDIC and Investe São Paulo entered into an agreement to work together in actions to attract centers like this to Brazil, which will boost the range of initiatives such as Innovate in Brazil – a program developed in partnership with APEX which works as a one-stop shop for companies wishing to invest in R&D centers or projects in the country.”

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality and leadership brands, including:Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks® and Whisper®.The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide.Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

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