Symrise has opened a new Scent Creative Center in Singapore, strengthening its push to accelerate fragrance innovation, deepen customer collaboration and drive growth across Asia.
The facility brings fragrance creation, consumer insights and advanced evaluation capabilities under one roof, enabling Symrise to develop differentiated fragrance solutions shaped by how consumers experience products in everyday life.
The opening marks another step in the company’s multi-phase expansion in Singapore and puts its ONE Symrise strategy into action by connecting expertise across businesses to deliver faster collaboration and greater value for customers.
The new center brings together Consumer Fragrance, Fine Fragrance and Oral Care expertise, while drawing on capabilities from Care & Wellness and Taste, Nutrition & Health. The integrated approach is designed to unlock opportunities for multisensory solutions across categories by connecting insights around shared consumers.
Singapore’s strategic location also positions the center to link Symrise’s global capabilities with customers and consumers across Southeast Asia and the wider region.
“Singapore plays a strategic role in our ambition to grow with our customers in Asia. We continue to build an integrated ecosystem that connects our global capabilities with regional understanding and outstanding local talent. The new Scent Creative Center brings ONE Symrise to life and strengthens our ability to turn insights into long-term value for customers and consumers,” says Michael Friede, President Scent & Care, Symrise.
The opening builds on more than a decade of investment in Singapore. Symrise has invested more than €80 million in the country over the past ten years, expanding capabilities in neuroscience, artificial intelligence and automation.
Its long-standing partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has helped strengthen the company’s research infrastructure, technical expertise and innovation capabilities.
“Symrise’s new Scent Creative Center and Global Skin Cleansing Center of Excellence reinforce Singapore’s position as an innovation hub for the flavor and fragrance industry. The expansion strengthens Symrise’s ability to tap Singapore’s research capabilities and talent base to develop innovative, consumer-focused solutions for markets in Asia and beyond.
"We welcome Symrise’s continued investment and look forward to supporting its next phase of growth in Singapore”, explains Kelly Lai, Vice President & Head, Chemicals and Materials, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
Moving beyond conventional evaluation environments, the Scent Creative Center recreates the settings in which consumers actually use products, helping perfumers and customers assess fragrance performance under more realistic conditions.
Dedicated facilities mirror everyday experiences: a bathroom-like setting for skin cleansing, a salon environment for hair care and a specialised room replicating the laundry experience for fabric care.
These real-world environments allow perfumers, fragrance development managers and customers to evaluate how fragrances perform at the moment of use. A sensorial inspiration room further encourages creative exchange and the development of distinctive fragrance signatures.
The facility also enables customers to work directly with Symrise experts, incorporate regional consumer insights and move promising concepts towards market more quickly.
“Our customers expect fragrances that connect with consumers and perform in real life. Our new Scent Creative Center brings creation, evaluation and consumer understanding together in one inspiring environment. It gives our teams and customers differentiated capabilities to co-create relevant fragrance solutions faster and turn consumer insights into competitive advantage,” says Ricardo Omori, President Scent at Symrise.
Singapore will also serve as the home of Symrise’s newly established Global Skin Cleansing Centre of Excellence, a strategic move targeting one of the world’s largest regional markets for skin cleansing products.
The center will develop and share expertise across bar soaps, shower gels, handwash and emerging cleansing formats. It will also support global customer briefs and create fragrance solutions tailored to evolving consumer expectations around health, beauty, wellbeing and sensory experience.
Asia Pacific accounts for €12.1 billion of the €38.9 billion global skin cleansing market, making it the world’s largest regional market, according to Euromonitor data referenced by Symrise.
By combining perfumery with sensory evaluation, consumer and market intelligence, and innovation, the center aims to translate insights from different markets into distinctive fragrance solutions for customers worldwide.
“The opening of our center represents a key milestone for Symrise in APAC and globally. With a second key milestone coming up in Singapore very soon, we are further elevating the development of our innovation capabilities for Scent.” says Laurent Soubiran SVP APAC for Consumer Products.
Symrise’s Singapore expansion is set to continue. In the first quarter of 2027, the company plans to complement the Scent Creative Center with an adjacent Innovation Center, expanding its analytical and research capabilities while creating further opportunities for collaboration with customers and universities.
Together, the Scent Creative Center, Global Skin Cleansing Centre of Excellence and planned Innovation Center are expected to strengthen Singapore’s role in Symrise’s global innovation network.
The strategy brings creativity, science and consumer understanding closer together, positioning the company to pursue new growth opportunities across Asia and beyond.
