Chinese beauty group Proya Cosmetics inaugurated a new laboratory in Suresnes on the outskirts of Paris yesterday, a move it calls a milestone in its European and international strategy. The laboratory follows the opening of the company’s Europe Innovation Center in La Défense, Paris, in 2024.
Proya Cosmetics says the new R&D center will be a key overseas research hub as it implements its ‘Double 10 strategy’, where the aim is to rank among the world’s top 10 cosmetics companies within the next 10 years.
Proya Cosmetics adds that the laboratory will collaborate with the company’s R&D team in Hangzhou Longwu, China (which handles product formulation, ingredients, safety and efficacy, as well as fundamental and applied research), and with the Shanghai center, which focuses on haircare and scalp microbiota.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Proya Cosmetics Chairman Hou Juncheng said: “The laboratory will be an important window for bringing in cutting-edge ideas from all over the world and feeding them back into our R&D at home. We will work with European suppliers, universities and research institutions, combining advanced international technologies with our insight into consumers in China to close the innovation loop, from forward-looking research and scientific insight, to technological breakthroughs, all the way to finished products. In doing so we will strengthen our three-pillar R&D system – in-house R&D, collaboration with industry, academic institutions, and the medical community, and international cooperation – and so reinforce Proya Cosmetics’ global research competitivity.”
The center, which covers 450m2 and houses a team of seven researchers, will focus on longevity, skin biology, biotechnology and sustainable ingredients and technologies.
Hou highlighted that Proya Cosmetics won the 2026 IFSCC Podium Fundamental Research Award at the 36th Congress of the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC).
“This means that a Chinese beauty company has stepped onto the highest academic podium in global cosmetic science, which is a historic breakthrough for Chinese beauty in international research,” Hou explained.
He added: “This recognition is strong evidence that Chinese beauty companies are becoming deeply integrated into the global cosmetic science chain, engaging with international peers as equals and learning from one another. With the opening of the Proya European Innovation Center laboratory, we’re extending this research strength overseas, offering a working model for Chinese brands to collaborate on research worldwide, and giving Chinese beauty a stronger voice in global science.”
Proya Cosmetics’ revenue reached Rmb10.597bn ($1.5bn) in 2025, ranking it first among Chinese cosmetics companies by revenue for the third consecutive year. The company has a portfolio of 11 brands.