In a bid to reduce the lead time to bring innovations to market French cosmetics ingredients supplier Rhodia will invest in a brand new laboratory in Bordeaux, the company announced this week.

Organised in conjunction with the country's state scientific body - the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) - scientists from both the public and private sector will rub shoulders at the new 'Laboratory of the Future', destined to specialise in application and process chemistry.

'It forms part of an approach aimed at making a radical conceptual, methodological and technological break with previous methods,' Rhodia said in a statement this week.

The opening of the new laboratory is earmarked to create some twenty new positions for permanent Rhodia and CNRS research scientists and engineers.

Since the beginning of the year Rhodia has been involved in re-aligning its portfolio and shaking up the company structure in an attempt to boost slipping sales. The company is now represented by four key divisions - Automotive, Electronics and Fibers; Food and Consumer Care; Agrochemicals & Pharmaceuticals and Industrial Care & Services. A further key facet for improving the sales figures is the development of 'value-added' solutions for customers, the company said earlier in the year. The new 1,800 square metre laboratory in Bordeaux fits squarely into this strategy.