Partnership with the city of Seoul
Sunday, October 23, at the Korean Cultural Center in Paris, the mayor of Seoul Mr. Se-Hoon OH and the president of Cosmetic Valley, Mr. Marc-Antoine Jamet, signed a strategic partnership agreement between the French competitiveness cluster, coordinator of the cosmetics sector, and the city of Seoul. This agreement will strengthen bilateral collaborations in research and training between French and Korean universities, will support the innovation of start-ups and SMEs in the two countries and will develop in each of their respective territories their ability to attract industry from the sector.
The agreement signed is the direct result of the mission that the competitiveness cluster carried out last May in South Korea with the support of the European Commission as part of the “Global Cosmetics Cluster Europe” project. Its objective is to strengthen the French presence on a promising market of nearly 6 billion euros. In addition to signing several partnerships with "Osong Biovalley", the IBITA cosmetics association, distributors and the Franco-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the cluster was able, through this exchange, to establish a relationship of trust with the municipal team of the Korean capital.
This merger comes as the City of Seoul, carried by the wave of "K-Beauty", intends to become one of the world capitals of beauty with an initial investment of 168 million dollars for the creation, in 2023, of a district dedicated to fashion and cosmetics.
The signing of this agreement once again demonstrates the dynamism of the Cosmetic Valley competitiveness cluster, one of whose essential objectives is to strengthen the potential of our export industry through a dual strategy aimed at protecting the interests of our country by putting forward the qualities of "Made in France" (authenticity of ingredients, innovation performance, consumer safety, environmental protection), while promoting international cooperation, in order to stimulate innovation within the French sector.
On the strength of our knowledge of the considerable public resources enjoyed by a competitor and now an ally, the competitiveness cluster now calls for equivalent support from the French public authorities for its international strategy, following the example, in particular, of the strong support provided by the authorities. of Seoul in the expansion of Korean soft-power. State recognition of the sector brand “Cosmetic Valley France” backed by “Choose France” is now more than necessary.
