Unilever Plans $270M New Haven Innovation Center

Consumer goods giant Unilever unveiled plans May 28 to develop a new $270 million global innovation center in New Haven, slated to open by spring 2029.

The center will be a leading hub for the company’s research and development for its personal care, beauty, and wellbeing businesses in the U.S. and globally.

Company officials described the project as Unilever’s largest U.S. research-and-development infrastructure investment in four decades and part of a broader corporate strategy emphasizing higher-growth beauty and wellness brands.

The new facility will replace the company’s long-standing R&D campus in Trumbull and house approximately 300 employees, most of whom will relocate from the Fairfield County site.

The planned center will sit on a 1.75-acre parcel at 2 Church St., adjacent to the city’s growing bioscience corridor near the 101 College Street tower.

‘Digitial-First’

The four-story, roughly 200,000-square-foot building will focus on research tied to beauty, personal care, and wellness products, including skin care, hair care, fragrances, and ingestible wellness products.

“This center will connect science, technology, and culture,” company officials said in a statement, adding that the facility will be “digital-first” and powered in part by artificial intelligence and emerging quantum-computing capabilities.

Herrish Patel, president of Unilever USA and CEO of Personal Care North America, said the company evaluated sites both inside and outside Connecticut before deciding to remain in the state.

“We’ve looked extensively at many different locations.”

Unilever’s Herrish Patel

“We wanted to build a site for the future,” Patel said.

“We’ve looked extensively at many different locations, including outside of the state, and we’ve decided to maintain the R&D sites in the state of Connecticut, in the city of New Haven.”

State and local officials said Univlever’s decision will strengthen Connecticut’s growing reputation as a hub for bioscience, artificial intelligence, and advanced consumer-product innovation.

State Support

Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Dan O’Keefe said the state will support the project with a $10 million forgivable loan incentive package.

The announcement coincided with the final day of the Yale Innovation Summit, an annual gathering that drew thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers to the city this week.

Unilever executives pointed specifically to New Haven’s concentration of universities, research institutions, and diverse talent.

Unilever executives pointed specifically to New Haven’s concentration of universities, research institutions, and diverse talent as key factors in selecting the city.

“That’s why we’ve chosen New Haven,” Patel said.

“The proximity to universities, research institutions, talent, partnership and emerging science.”