Unilever announced that it has entered into a partnership with Silicon Valley-based Ampere Life Sciences to access Ampere’s Digital Biology™ technology platform and secure exclusive rights for the development of innovative consumer products. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. The 5-year initiative will bring together a worldwide team of Unilever and Ampere scientists working on the core biology of ageing.

Unilever’s Chief R&D Officer, Genevieve Berger said, “This deal is an example of Unilever’s approach to open innovation, partnering scientists from outside Unilever with specific biotech assets and knowledge with our own in-house science and development experts based in our six core laboratories across the world. I see the key benefits of this partnership with Ampere being a commitment to develop superior products across a number of categories and exclusivity that will potentially give us competitive advantage in the marketplace”.

Ampere’s technology platform will enable Unilever to build differentiated antioxidant-containing products spanning multiple product categories. Work on the project will begin immediately.