L'Oréal Groupe and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) signed an open innovation agreement to launch L'Oréal Group's "Big Bang" program in Korea, to discover, support, and nurture promising SMEs and startups. The MOU for open innovation was signed at the L'Oréal booth at Viva Technology 2023, Europe's largest startup and tech event held in Paris, on June 152pm, local time. L'Oréal Groupe's Deputy CEO in charge of Research, Innovation & Technology, Barbara Lavernos and Minister Young LEE participated.

Through this MOU, L'Oréal and MSS will discover and support promising SMEs and startups in Korea with innovative digital and beauty tech technologies that can be scaled globally. In particular, the program will focus on beauty devices, beauty tech, skin diagnosis and delivery systems, enabled by digital and AI technologies. Globally, L'Oréal Groupe operates 20 research centers in 11 countries and has more than 4,000 R&I employees.

The Groupe is focused on working closely with partners through open innovation, breaking down boundaries and exchange ideas to help shape the future of beauty. L'Oréal Groupe's "Big Bang" program is a startup incubation program launched in North Asia, which has been running in China since 2020 and will be rolled out in Korea and Japan starting this year.