Thanks to its active participation in ENRICH in Brazil programme, EBN is in touch with Brazilian innovation top players, like Natura - part of the Natura & Co Group, a cosmetic and beauty care group of companies (Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop) based in London.

Natura is the largest B-System Company since 2014 in the Beauty Segment and 2nd most innovative company in Brazil in 2019. 

Natura is now making a global call for proposals to find new means of combating waste generation and plastic pollution. They are calling for entrepreneurs, start-ups, research institutions, universities and companies to present innovative solutions, such as:

• New packaging materials involving renewable, biodegradable among other technological attributes
• New logistics and business models that enable waste reduction and add value to the people involved in the packaging life cycle

The open innovation process has been in place at Natura for over 20 years, and this unprecedented challenge is being promoted in partnership with Natura Campus and Natura Startups. “For us, it is only innovation if it generates a positive impact. We believe in the power of networks to transform modern day challenges.”, says Roseli Mello, Expanded Innovation Director at Natura. 
 
The call is for solutions that have already undergone a development stage, be it in applied research, validation or scaling. All the initiatives with the potential to meet the challenge will be studied by the Natura team. The solutions selected may be developed in the form of partnerships and/or investments to ensure feasibility. 
 
“We want to connect different types of solutions, to find and integrate proposals that truly add value for our relationship network. We want to learn and to teach using collective potential, in which technology, digital, chains and commercial models come together to further increase our chances of innovating” Luciano Abrantes, Natura’s Director of Digital Innovation, explains. 
 
According to a United Nations study, 1.3 billion metric tons of trash are generated annually worldwide. In Brazil, the annual average is 78 million metric tons. In 1983, Natura was the first Brazilian cosmetics company to offer refills. Since then it has increased the use of post-consumer recycled material and green plastic in its packaging. “We are currently economizing the equivalent of the trash produced daily by 4.4 million people, but we want to go much further”, claims Product Innovation Director Daniel Gonzaga.  
 
Enrolments for the Natura Innovation Challenge Zero Waste Packaging will be open until December 8. To enter, applicants only need to fill in the form on the website: innovationchallenge.natura/ (the challenge description is available in Portuguese, Spanish and English; the English version is not accessible on Google Chrome, make sure you use it different browsers)
 

EBN will host a webinar on November 14 (2pm CET) to present Natura and their Global Innovation Challenge. Register now!

Natura Innovation Challenge Zero Waste Packaging  - Recap

• When: enrolments open until November 30.
• Enrolments via the website innovationchallenge.natura/ 
• Feedback for submissions: by March 1, 2020
• Outcomes: In the event of partnership opportunities, Natura will get in touch with the applicant to conduct a joint assessment of usage alternatives for the innovations submitted, applying best collaboration practices and guaranteeing a legal contract. 
• Online infosession: November 14 at 2pm CET, registration link
• More info: EN version;  ES version;  PT version