IFRA expo at EU parliament highlights fragrance innovation

Entitled ‘Innovation in Every Sense’, the exhibition runs from June 4 – 6 and will form the centrepiece of  a series of meetings and debates that highlight ‘Innovation for Growth’ across a number of industries and segments in Europe.

European fragrance market dynamism​

The European fragrance industry is aiming to leave a dynamic impression of the sector by using multi-sensorial approaches to explain the different ways in which the fragrance industry innovates in order to continue its path of expansion.

The expo is divided up into three individual zones, explaining how the industry invests in social, scientific and market innovation to provide sustainable jobs and growth within Europe.

The first zone features the essential oils that the Capua family have been supplying from Calabria, Italy for generations, highlighting in particular the world famous bergamot oils – an essential for high end fragrance makers.

According to IFRA, the Capua family business has thrived through a continual focus on social innovation with the local community which essentially allows the business to act like a cooperative helping develop important infrastructure within the community such as education and distribution.

Ambergris and how to replicate it​

The second zone focuses on Ambergris, one of the most precious and expensive fragrance ingredients in existence. In this zone the story of how this substance is sourced in, amongst other areas, the Western Isles of Scotland, where sperm whales gather every year.

Ambergris is a complex mixture of digestive juices and mucus that is spat out by sperm whales. After years of floating in the ocean and drying out on a beach it is then ready to be used as a perfume ingredient and can fetch up to Euros 150,000 a lump in auction.

This zone also looks at the way scientists in Europe have been looking into ways of sustainably recreating this ingredient, using biotechnology and fine chemicals to replicate this fragrance.

The third and final zone features recreates the busy Paris metro at rush hour, focusing on the various ways that the fragrance technology impacts on our daily lives.

This focuses on how the fragrance industry produces solutions to help relieve the stress, solve every-day hygiene problems and improve our sense of wellbeing, including innovative new delivery systems for scents, such as encapsulation technologies.