One Year Since the Opening of the General Technology Institute: 'Synergy Effect' Accelerates Technology Development Across Boundaries
Average of 32 Registrations and Applications per Month... 10 Core Convergence Technologies Developed and 8 Products Launched
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] "Is this a medicine bottle or a cosmetics container?" This was the reaction of consumers who saw the packaging of 'Newtin,' a health functional food brand launched by HK Innoen last June. It broke away from the conventional perception of health functional food containers, which were designed solely for storing contents, by adding the clean and perfectly fitting sensibility of a cosmetics container. In particular, Newtin's container design aligns with the brand concept of 'building health,' featuring a Stack-Up structure that allows any product to be stacked and stored perfectly, combining storage efficiency, convenience, and aesthetics. This is a case where health functional food and cosmetics packaging design converged to create a new concept of health functional food container.
According to the industry on the 4th, Kolmar Korea is achieving outstanding results in R&D through convergence technology that transcends boundaries and fields. It has been over a year since the opening of the Seoul Naegok-dong Integrated Technology Center, which consolidated Kolmar Korea's 11 research institutes nationwide last year, and the synergy of technology development breaking down the boundaries between cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and health functional foods is now in full swing. As of October this year, Kolmar Korea has registered and applied for 164 patents, 160 utility models, and designs respectively, averaging 32 registrations and applications per month. Notably, they have developed 10 core convergence technologies and launched 8 products based on these technologies.
Recently, a so-called 'non-dripping jelly hair dye' has become popular on major home shopping channels. This product also incorporates Kolmar Korea's convergence technology. Reflecting consumer needs for hair dye that does not drip during self-dyeing, Kolmar Korea applied the 'thixotropic system' technology from the food industry to cosmetics, successfully developing a jelly-type hair dye that does not drip. The thixotropic system is a technology that prevents ingredients from dispersing, commonly used in making jellies in the food industry. Thanks to this technology, the hair dye not only does not drip but also adheres tightly to the hair, providing a strong coloring effect. This product, which allows easy self-dyeing without dripping, has gained high popularity, with 2 to 3 encore broadcasts on major home shopping channels.
There is also notable convergence of cosmetic technology and pharmaceutical ingredients. Kolmar Korea developed a stick-type skincare product containing 5% D-panthenol, an ingredient used in pharmaceuticals for skin soothing and wound healing, which can be applied without using hands. This development applied high-efficacy pharmaceutical ingredients to skincare cosmetics and incorporated makeup formulation technology for user convenience, adding a new cosmetics category called 'stick-type skincare.' Kolmar Korea plans to lead the rapidly growing dermocosmetics market by expanding product lines that combine pharmaceutical ingredients and technologies with cosmetic technologies.
Synergy from convergence technology is also evident in material development. Kolmar Korea, which extracts materials from natural plants such as the native Korean water lily (Euryeonkkot), sunflower, wintergreen, and starflower, succeeded in developing a new material called 'Phytoxin' that regulates neurotransmitters by combining these materials. This material, verified for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, has been published in an SCI-level journal and is currently being developed as a cosmetic ingredient.
These convergence technology development achievements by Kolmar Korea are rooted in 30 years of continuous research and development since its founding as a global cosmetics R&D and manufacturing specialized ODM company. Kolmar Korea consists of 30% of its employees as researchers and invests 5-6% of its annual sales in R&D, dedicating company-wide efforts to new technology development according to its management principles.
Hong In-gi, head of Kolmar Korea's Convergence Research Institute, said, "Our goal is to secure platform and core leading technologies through convergence of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and health functional foods to develop new category products that did not exist before," adding, "Based on convergence technology, we are creating Only One products and plan to secure future new business engines in various fields."
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