Welcome to Unilever’s Colworth Research & Development Hub
Creating brighter futures through scientific innovation, industry-leading safety science and collaboration. Working to create brilliant new product experiences consumers love.
At Colworth, we are pioneers in industry-leading safety and sustainability science and in developing ice cream and iced tea innovations to delight consumers.
Today we are part of a dedicated science park situated in the scientific heart of the UK within the Oxford-Cambridge Arc that is home to many of our strategic suppliers and university partners.
This means we have access to some of the world’s smartest minds and skillsets in one location. And that agility and collaboration makes us an engine for R&D innovation that attracts global scientific talent to work with us.
"Colworth is a one stop shop for R&D with dedicated teams of scientific and safety experts and access to facilities that help us to pilot, test and learn at speed."
Dr Julie Merrick, Colworth Site Lead and Head of R&D Pepsi Lipton Joint Venture
Read on to discover more about the hub and the future-shaping R&D at its heart.
Unilever Colworth in numbers
75+ yearsdelivering innovation
500+employeesin R&D
35nationalities
20+apprenticesbuilding their scientific careers
88 PhDswith focused expert knowledge
2 professorswith specialised scientific knowledge
44 companiesworking alongside (including suppliers and University partners)
554,000 sq ftof laboratory,office and ancillary space
284patented technologies developed... and counting
1 goalto leverage future-focused capabilities to create brighter futures
For 45 years, Unilever’s Ice Cream R&D Global Design Centre has been developing new flavours, formats and smart formulations to surprise and delight consumers. Twister lollies, award-winning Magnum vegan and Magnum minis and crackable pints were all developed at Colworth. Watch a day in the life of a scientist at our ice cream pilot plant.
Working to increase energy efficiencies, cutting emissions and enable growth are key innovation drivers too. Some highlights include:
Safety, Environmental & Regulatory Science (SERS) (2 of 4)
SERS is Unilever’s global capability in safety, sustainability & regulatory science and product compliance. At Colworth, a multi-disciplinary team of about 140 scientists work to apply modern techniques, deep expertise and an evidence-based approach to ensure that Unilever’s products are safe for consumers and workers, and better for the environment. SERS expertise includes: biology, chemistry, computational science, environmental science & life cycle modelling, exposure & risk assessment, informatics & data science, microbiology, process safety, regulatory science and toxicology. Read about the role of SERS in:
Working to make Unilever product formulations biodegradable
The Pepsi Lipton Tea partnership is a joint venture between PepsiCo and Unilever and a global leader in ready-to-drink iced teas. Lipton Iced Tea, Brisk and Pure Leaf all have sales of more than $1bn in sales and are available in 80 countries. Its R&D team at Colworth have been pioneers in developing iced teas made with natural sweeteners. Their work now means more than 90% of its European Iced Tea portfolio have below 5g sugar content.
Advanced Manufacturing Centre and Advanced Prototype Engineering Centre (4 of 4)
New ice cream products can be difficult to make and many need specialist equipment. These two facilities provide future-fit capabilities for the fast development and testing of new products and manufacturing technologies for ice cream and beyond.
The Advanced Prototype Engineering Centre (APEC) has a pilot scale mix plant and filling lines, 3D printing and CADCAM capabilities which allows equipment to be designed and made on site.
The Advanced Manufacturing Centre can make small batches of products to test in the market with consumers before launch. All of which allow Ice Cream R&D teams to react to consumer trends more quickly.
“The scientists in our Safety, Environmental & Regulatory Science group work to protect people and the environment by ensuring Unilever’s innovations and products are safe and sustainable by design and are compliant with all relevant regulations. We are proud to be industry leaders in non-animal safety science and environmental impact modelling.”
Dr Julia Fentem MBE, Global Head of Safety, Environmental & Regulatory Science
Five scientific innovations from Colworth you'll find in your home
Game-changing vegan ice creams
Colworth’s Ice Cream R&D team work to recreate the same great taste experience for Unilever’s vegan ice creams. Its scientists and Ben & Jerry’s flavour gurus taste tested more than 70 different formulations to develop a new oat-base for the brand's non-dairy portfolio.
Creating Magnum vegan ice cream was all about choosing the right protein, adding the right flavours and formulating them in the right way.
Pea protein was used to provide a creamy texture. Strong flavours such as caramel and chocolate ensured the beany flavour didn’t come to the fore. But their toughest challenge came with vanilla which needs dairy to be perceived as a vanilla flavour. The R&D team carefully selected a vanilla ingredient that worked best with non-dairy ingredients. The result was a delicious set of plant-based Magnums including Classic and Almond flavours which won Best Ice Cream in the 2019 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Vegan Food Awards.
Magnum pint products see luxurious shards of chocolate and lux ingredients distributed through its ice cream, then covered in a layer of crackable chocolate which is monikered with the brand’s distinctive logo.
Achieving this delux taste and texture experience required very new manufacturing techniques. The specialised equipment and processes were fully developed and prototyped at Colworth’s Advanced Prototype Engineering Centre. Small batches were then produced at the Advanced Manufacturing Centre to be tested by ice cream lovers and refined before launch.
The 'Instagrammable' Cornetto Rose ice cream
To create our popular Cornetto Rose ice cream, our engineering team designed a patented nozzle that replicated the shape of rose petals for our production lines. Each ice cream has two colours of different flavoured ice cream. These are connected to corresponding nozzles, frozen and squeezed into the ice cream cone, one colour at a time. Once the ice cream rose is fully formed it’s transferred into a freezing tunnel at -30⁰C to keep its iconic shape. The product is currently available in Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, the EU and China.
PETA-approved brands
Our long-term investment in non-animal safety science has enabled over 15 of our brands to be approved by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), including Dove, AXE, TRESemmé and Sunsilk.
We believe in using science, not animals, to assure the safety of our products and ingredients. Leading-edge non-animal safety approaches are developed by scientists in our Safety, Environmental & Regulatory Science (SERS) group, many of who are based at Colworth, in partnership with world-class researchers and global stakeholders. Our industry-leading scientific advocacy to end animal testing of consumer products has been recognised by PETA in certifying Unilever as a company working for regulatory change.
Lipton Iced Tea with 33% less sugar
How could we keep Lipton Iced Tea’s refreshing taste but make it even healthier and more sustainable? Our solution was to work to remove a third of its sugar. This is no simple task. Sugar doesn’t just add sweetness, it also affects intensity of taste.
In-house expertise worked to find a solution that didn’t use artificial sweeteners. And in 2023 new core flavour formulations that met our reduced sugar goals were rolled out western Europe with more market to follow.
An ecosystem nourishing progress
Our partners
More than 40 companies and universities have a presence at Colworth Science Park including: Symrise, Bedfordia, chocolate specialist Barry Callebaut and Cranfield University. And Unilever R&D’s welcoming approach to open innovation has seen a growing number of collaborations driving product innovation forward.
Our suppliers
Working jointly with Barry Callebaut, for example, led to the development of a new ‘dippable’ golden caramel chocolate that was a launch selling point of Magnum Double Gold Caramel Billionaire.
It’s also seen suppliers such as Firmenich, who work with us on flavour tonalities, move its UK operations to Colworth to foster closer links and work together on new opportunities.
Academia
We are also fortunate to be located within the Oxford-Cambridge arc and the Midlands Engine Catchment which gives us access to talent and partners beyond the sites environs that offer services including prototyping, engineering, scouting, sample production, 3PM audits and regulatory support.
Apprenticeships
Colworth also has 20+ Foods Professional Degree Apprentices working on site whilst studying for a BSc in Foods Science & Technology with Nottingham Tent University.
Our apprenticeships are designed to give new career scientists the chance to work on real business challenges. This can include work at the Advanced Prototype Engineering Centre on processing, prototype fabrication, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, electrical, control and digital engineering.
