媒體看錫高新｜中國日報整版關注無錫高新區美麗健康產業

11月25日

中國日報整版刊發

《Charting distinctive path

for beauty brands》文章

深度報道無錫高新區

以“樓上研發、樓下轉化”的垂直生態為核心

全鏈條創新驅動

解鎖美麗健康產業百億新賽道

原文如下↓↓↓

Charting distinctive path for beauty brands

By 2030, Wuxi National High-tech District aims to grow cosmetics and wellness sector to 10b yuan, attract 30 leading firms

A technician (right) helps a China Daily reporter experience a skin analyzer at Jiangnan Institute of Beauty Research in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, in September. XU JIAYI/CHINA DAILY

Can you believe that an entire industry chain operates inside a single building in Wuxi, Jiangsu province?

In Wuxi National High-tech District, this is exactly how the beauty and wellness industry works.

At Jiangnan Beauty Bay, an industrial park dedicated to the beauty and wellness sector, raw materials travel upstairs and return as finished products, while livestreamers next door sell them to consumers worldwide. Here, "upstairs and downstairs" is literally "upstream and downstream".

Research and development are at the earliest stage of this industry chain.

Inside the R&D lab of the Jiangnan Institute of Beauty Research, a new facility established with help from Jiangnan University, scientists are creating the ideas that will shape tomorrow's beauty brands.

"Scientific innovation is the 'brain' and 'engine' of the modern beauty and wellness industry. It has shifted from a supporting role to the core driving force behind industrial upgrading and value creation," said Li Jinhua, a professor at Jiangnan University and head of the institute.

Li said the institute's technological capabilities also play a vital role in optimizing production processes, supporting industrialization and bridging laboratories with brand owners.

"R&D is no longer an optional link in the beauty supply chain — it is the lifeline running through the entire process. It determines whether products can stand out from homogenized competition, whether brands can build long-term trust and whether the whole industry can move toward higher efficiency, scientific rigor and sustainability," he said.

A foreign tourist checks out a Dexter skincare product at its flagship store in Wuxi in October. XU YAN/CHINA DAILY

Focusing on innovative raw material development, formulation technologies, efficacy evaluation and more, the institute has served more than 100 leading domestic and international cosmetics and personal care companies.

Inside the Jiangnan Beauty Bay building, innovation upstairs is quickly translated into commercial products downstairs.

On the production line of Rayting Biotechnology, rows of fermentation tanks have helped turn lab inspirations into tangible ingredients.

"Take fermentation technology as an example: once a promising strain is identified in the lab, it can come to us immediately for pilot-scale amplification and verification. If successful, it moves straight into production as a commercial ingredient," said Du Yangbiao, chairman of Rayting Biotechnology.

"This seamless handoff reduces the risks of innovation and accelerates the entire process," Du said.

Fermentation essentially creates the ideal growth environment for microorganisms, Du explained. The process begins with an original strain stored at minus 80 C and expands step-by-step until it reaches multi-ton fermentation tanks — a process that demands precise control.

After years of collaboration with Jiangnan University, the producer has built its own strain library and proprietary fermentation technologies, breaking the long-standing dominance of overseas suppliers in active raw materials.

"Raw materials are the core technology inside beauty products — they are the 'chips' of the cosmetics industry. Our job is to reliably scale up lab discoveries into ingredients that downstream manufacturers can use," Du said.

A view of a skin pigmentation analysis machine at Yiwei Testing & Evaluation in Wuxi. CHINA DAILY

The building's "vertical ecosystem" has rapidly attracted beauty and wellness companies to the industrial park. Since its opening in April, Jiangnan Beauty Bay has brought in 58 enterprises, achieved an occupancy rate of over 70 percent and created over 400 jobs, said Guo Zhilong, general manager of the park.

In terms of this year's development goals, Jiangnan Beauty Bay is expected to exceed 3 billion yuan ($422 million) in revenue with more than 100 million yuan in tax contributions, Guo said.

Once ingredients are ready, it's time for manufacturers inside the building to turn formulas into mass-market products.

"Scaling up a lab sample into industrial production isn't simply multiplying the quantities. It is a complex, rigorous process involving shifts in physical, chemical and engineering conditions," said Michael Jungho Kim, president of Kolmar Cosmetics (Wuxi).

Consumers gather at the booth of Kolmar Cosmetics (Wuxi) during a beauty industry expo in Shanghai in May. CHINA DAILY

To ensure quality, the manufacturer runs comprehensive inspections and validation throughout the entire process, with six stages of testing from raw materials entry to final shipment, Kim added.

As someone who has lived in China for 18 years, Kim said he has witnessed the rise and rapid growth of China's beauty and wellness industry.

"Chinese beauty ODMs (original design manufacturers) are increasingly competitive — not only in efficiency and cost, but also in rapid learning, technological accumulation and alignment with global market needs," he said.

As a bridge connecting Chinese and global beauty technologies and markets, Kolmar will continue advancing open innovation and integrating high-quality resources worldwide, helping Chinese ODMs shift from "serving China" to "serving the world", Kim noted.

What's built upstream and midstream eventually comes to life as brands that win over consumers.

As one of the first companies to settle in Jiangnan Beauty Bay, Dexter, a homegrown Wuxi brand, has grown into China's first infant and child personal care company with revenue surpassing 1 billion yuan.

"With labs upstairs and production lines downstairs, we compete on product development speed while others still compete on traffic," said Zhang Xiaojun, founder and CEO of Dexter.

"Fast R&D, fast iteration — sometimes our upgraded version launches before consumer feedback cools down."

Jiangnan Beauty Bay, a beauty and wellness industrial park, is seen in Wuxi National High-tech District in Wuxi in September. XU JIAYI/CHINA DAILY

Zhang, who once worked as an overseas shipping agent while studying abroad, is now taking his own brand global — a "reverse export", as he describes it.

"Not long ago, we were chasing international brands. Now they're studying our ingredient lists. This upstairs-downstairs model lets us integrate resources, test quickly, iterate quickly and innovate quickly," he said.

But how do brands know whether their products truly deliver results to end consumers?

Inside the same building, Yiwei Testing & Evaluation provides one-stop services from formulation design and consumer insights to efficacy verification and sensory evaluation.

For example, advanced sensory evaluation technologies help address a major industry challenge — the heavy reliance on subjective human perception in assessing product texture and makeup performance, which makes it difficult to quantify results, said Li Mingyuan, founder and CEO of Yiwei.

"Objective, quantifiable assessments of usage experience are provided by trained panelists. These sensory data can then be modeled with rheology, consumer behavior preferences and other indicators to generate measurable feedback," Li said.

Fermentation tanks are seen at the production line of Rayting Biotechnology in Wuxi National High-tech District in Wuxi. XU JIAYI/CHINA DAILY

The niche evaluation player now operates 4,000 square meters of labs covering efficacy testing, cell studies, skin-on-a-chip platforms and more, spanning skincare, makeup, scalp care and haircare sectors in the beauty and wellness industry.

The coordinated growth of R&D institutions and testing providers is a key pillar of Wuxi National High-tech District's strategy to develop the beauty and wellness sector — now one of its three signature biomedicine tracks.

By 2030, the district aims to grow the industry to 10 billion yuan and attract 30 leading enterprises, according to the administrative committee of the high-tech zone.

Future plans include building a full-chain ecosystem integrating R&D, manufacturing and marketing through Jiangnan Beauty Bay; developing specialized facilities such as collaborative aesthetic medicine centers; and strengthening platform-based innovation — including advancing synthetic biology and active ingredient encapsulation platforms — to chart a distinctive development path for the industry.

中文摘要如下↓↓↓

美麗產業獨辟蹊徑：

無錫高新區打造“上下樓即上下游”

產業發展模式

目標：2030年美麗健康產業規模超百億

集聚30家龍頭企業

“江南美灣”是一座位于無錫高新區的美麗健康產業園，在這里，原料運上樓便能化身為成品，而隔壁直播間的主播們正將這些產品銷往全球。在這里，“樓上”“樓下”就是產業鏈的“上游”“下游”，而研發則位居這條產業鏈的最前端。

在江南美灣研究院嶄新的研發實驗室里，科學家們正在構思、塑造未來美妝品牌新的創意。江南大學教授、研究院院長李金華表示：“科技創新作為現代美麗健康產業的‘大腦’和‘引擎’，已經從輔助角色轉變為產業升級和價值創造的核心驅動力。”研究院專注于創新原料的開發、配方技術、功效評價等領域，已經為超過100家國內外領先的化妝品和個人護理公司提供服務。

在產業園內，創新成果能迅速轉化為商業化產品。瑞霆公司董事長杜養標介紹：“以發酵技術為例，一旦實驗室鑒定出有潛力的菌種，就能交給我們立刻進行中試放大和驗證，若驗證成功，就能直接作為商業原料投入生產。”這種無縫銜接降低了創新風險，并加速了整個產業化過程。經過與江南大學的多年合作，瑞霆公司已建立起自己的菌種庫和專屬發酵技術，打破了海外供應商在活性原料領域長期的壟斷地位。

這種“垂直生態”模式迅速吸引了美麗健康企業入駐無錫美麗健康產業園。園區相關負責人表示，自4月開園以來，“江南美灣”已經引進58家企業，入駐率超過70%，創造了400多個就業崗位。今年園區預計營收將超過30億元人民幣，稅收貢獻超1億元。

科瑪化妝品（無錫）有限公司總裁金正虎（Michael Jungho Kim）已經在中國生活了18年，見證了中國美麗健康產業的崛起和快速增長。“中國的美妝ODM（原始設計制造商）競爭力日益增強——不僅體現在效率和成本上，還體現在快速學習、技術積累以及與全球市場需求接軌的能力上。”他指出，作為連接中國與全球美妝技術和市場的橋梁，科瑪化妝品公司將繼續推進開放式創新，整合全球優質資源，助力中國ODM從“服務中國”轉向“服務全球”。

上游和中游的成果最終會轉化為贏得消費者青睞的品牌。作為首批入駐“江南美灣”的企業之一，無錫本土公司戴可思已成長為中國首家營收突破10億元的嬰童護理品牌。戴可思創始人兼首席執行官張曉軍表示：“實驗室在樓上，生產線在樓下，當別人還在比拼流量時，我們比拼的是產品開發速度。快速研發、快速迭代——有時候，在消費者的反饋熱度還未消退時，我們就已經推出了升級版產品。”

那么，品牌方如何知道他們的產品是否真正為終端消費者帶來了效果呢？就在同一棟大樓里，一葦評測則提供從配方設計、消費者洞察到功效驗證和感官評價的一站式服務。這家專注于細分領域的檢測企業目前運營著4000平方米的實驗室，覆蓋美麗健康行業的護膚、彩妝、頭皮護理和護發等領域，涵蓋功效測試、細胞研究、芯片皮膚平臺等方面。

研發機構和檢測服務商的協同發展，是無錫高新區發展美麗健康產業戰略的關鍵支柱。根據規劃，到2030年，該產業規模將達到百億元，并吸引30家龍頭企業入駐。未來規劃還包括：通過“江南美灣”打造集研發、制造、營銷于一體的全鏈條生態系統；建設協同醫美中心等專業設施；以及加強平臺化創新，包括推進合成生物學和活性原料封裝平臺等，為美麗健康產業開辟一條獨具特色的發展路徑。

編輯 | 曾麗

來源 | 中國日報

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