L’Oréal Groupe, the world’s leading beauty company, paves the way for a more sustainable future in seeking, advancing and scaling pioneering solutions through “L’AcceleratOR”, its flagship sustainable innovation programme.
Building on its long‑standing culture of innovation, L’Oréal has partnered with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)’s Canopy innovation experts to scout, identify, pilot, and scale breakthrough technologies addressing critical solution gaps within the industry in support of its sustainability transformation.
CISL’s extensive network of over 40,000 people driving impact and deep expertise in sustainable business development will provide crucial support to selected applicants through an up to 12‑month cohort‑based programme, facilitating pilot projects and scaling of innovative solutions within the L'Oréal ecosystem.
Eligibility and focus areas
L’Oréal is seeking bold startups, SMEs and innovative solutions from established companies from around the world working on deployment‑ready innovations, at TRL 7 or higher, that offer a solution to one of the L’Oréal sustainability challenges¹:
- Low carbon, climate‑smart technologies
- Water resilience solutions
- Nature‑based solutions
- Alternative ingredients and materials
- Eliminating fossil plastic use & plastic waste
- Circularity and resource management
- Sustainable & inclusive business models
Detailed list of challenge available here: Fostering sustainable solutions within the beauty industry | Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
Targeted Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
- Ideal TRL: 7–9
- Consideration for TRL 6 if significant potential is identified
Selection process dates²
- Applications: Opens 27 March 2026, 08:00 GMT and closes 6 May 2026, 08:00 GMT
- Interview phase: May–June 2026
- Final cohort selection announcement: September 2026³
- Tailored acceleration and mentoring: Starts September 2026 – closes November 2026⁴
- Tailored mentoring: Starts September 2026 – closes February 2027
- Execution of pilots (if applicable): Starts from December 2026 (expected 6–9 months)⁵
Application information
- The estimated time to complete this application is 1.5–2 hours
- Applications must be completed and submitted in English
- Upon applying, you will receive a unique application code, which will be used to anonymise your submission during the panel review process
- Only the primary user who created the application will be able to submit the final application form
(collaborators cannot submit the application if they have not created it) - L’AcceleratOR supports businesses only; NGOs and charities are not eligible
- We are unable to accept applications after the closing date, so please email us with any technical issues in advance
1 Challenges may evolve and do not constitute a binding commitment
2 Please note: all dates are subject to change
3 If you do not hear from the L’AcceleratOR team by September 2026, please consider your application unsuccessful. Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unable to provide individual feedback; however, general feedback will be given. Please check your spam folders.
4 Cohort sessions for the accelerator programme will take place mid‑day GMT
5 Participation in the programme does not guarantee future collaboration
How CISL uses your personal data
The University of Cambridge will store your personal information to liaise with you as a consequence of your interest in our work, and (with your consent) keep you up to date with University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) news and let you know of future programmes and events.
By completing this form you are agreeing that you are happy to be contacted by us about the Sustainable Accelerator Programme. We do not share your personal information with any third parties outside the University of Cambridge and L’Oréal or parties responsible for delivering all or part of a group, initiative, or event, except with your explicit permission. At times, personal data may be sent, including internationally, via email and other platforms for the purposes of efficiency.
For further information on the use of your personal data, see :
https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection/general-data.
How L’Oréal uses your personal data
By submitting this form, I agree that personal data collected directly through this application form, such as name(s), surname(s), phone number, email address, position and title, image and/or video, may be used in the context of the processing of my application for the Sustainable Innovation Accelerator, by L’Oréal SA whose head office is located at 14 rue Royale 75008 PARIS.
The processing is carried out based on your consent for the purpose(s) of evaluating and processing your application. Failure to provide this data will make it impossible to manage your application.
Your personal data is kept for 5 years from the moment of the collection and is only accessed by concerned L’Oréal employees and sub-contractors such as Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership on a need-to-know basis to be able to do their job. Your personal data may be transferred to other L’Oréal entities for evaluating and processing of your application. Any such transfer is framed in accordance to with applicable law. If you have any questions or concerns about how we process and use your personal data, or would like to exercise any of your rights (right of access, modification and deletion of your personal data, or limitation of processing) you can do so at any time, by contacting our Data Protection Officer at dpo@loreal.com.
If you are not satisfied with the way in which L’Oréal S.A. processes your personal data, you can submit a complaint to the competent data protection authority, the CNIL.
For more information, please see our link to our Privacy Policies:
L'Oréal Groupe :Privacy Policy for our Business Partners
L'Oréal Groupe: Privacy Policy for Consumers
If you have any questions regarding completing the application, please email sustainableinnovationaccelerator@cisl.cam.ac.uk
L'Accelerator Cohort 2
L’Oréal Groupe, the world’s leading beauty company, paves the way for a more sustainable future in seeking, advancing and scaling pioneering solutions through “L’AcceleratOR”, its flagship sustainable innovation programme.
Building on its long‑standing culture of innovation, L’Oréal has partnered with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)’s Canopy innovation experts to scout, identify, pilot, and scale breakthrough technologies addressing critical solution gaps within the industry in support of its sustainability transformation.
CISL’s extensive network of over 40,000 people driving impact and deep expertise in sustainable business development will provide crucial support to selected applicants through an up to 12‑month cohort‑based programme, facilitating pilot projects and scaling of innovative solutions within the L'Oréal ecosystem.
Eligibility and focus areas
L’Oréal is seeking bold startups, SMEs and innovative solutions from established companies from around the world working on deployment‑ready innovations, at TRL 7 or higher, that offer a solution to one of the L’Oréal sustainability challenges¹:
- Low carbon, climate‑smart technologies
- Water resilience solutions
- Nature‑based solutions
- Alternative ingredients and materials
- Eliminating fossil plastic use & plastic waste
- Circularity and resource management
- Sustainable & inclusive business models
Detailed list of challenge available here: Fostering sustainable solutions within the beauty industry | Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
Targeted Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
- Ideal TRL: 7–9
- Consideration for TRL 6 if significant potential is identified
Selection process dates²
- Applications: Opens 27 March 2026, 08:00 GMT and closes 6 May 2026, 08:00 GMT
- Interview phase: May–June 2026
- Final cohort selection announcement: September 2026³
- Tailored acceleration and mentoring: Starts September 2026 – closes November 2026⁴
- Tailored mentoring: Starts September 2026 – closes February 2027
- Execution of pilots (if applicable): Starts from December 2026 (expected 6–9 months)⁵
Application information
- The estimated time to complete this application is 1.5–2 hours
- Applications must be completed and submitted in English
- Upon applying, you will receive a unique application code, which will be used to anonymise your submission during the panel review process
- Only the primary user who created the application will be able to submit the final application form
(collaborators cannot submit the application if they have not created it) - L’AcceleratOR supports businesses only; NGOs and charities are not eligible
- We are unable to accept applications after the closing date, so please email us with any technical issues in advance
1 Challenges may evolve and do not constitute a binding commitment
2 Please note: all dates are subject to change
3 If you do not hear from the L’AcceleratOR team by September 2026, please consider your application unsuccessful. Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unable to provide individual feedback; however, general feedback will be given. Please check your spam folders.
4 Cohort sessions for the accelerator programme will take place mid‑day GMT
5 Participation in the programme does not guarantee future collaboration
How CISL uses your personal data
The University of Cambridge will store your personal information to liaise with you as a consequence of your interest in our work, and (with your consent) keep you up to date with University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) news and let you know of future programmes and events.
By completing this form you are agreeing that you are happy to be contacted by us about the Sustainable Accelerator Programme. We do not share your personal information with any third parties outside the University of Cambridge and L’Oréal or parties responsible for delivering all or part of a group, initiative, or event, except with your explicit permission. At times, personal data may be sent, including internationally, via email and other platforms for the purposes of efficiency.
For further information on the use of your personal data, see :
https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection/general-data.
How L’Oréal uses your personal data
By submitting this form, I agree that personal data collected directly through this application form, such as name(s), surname(s), phone number, email address, position and title, image and/or video, may be used in the context of the processing of my application for the Sustainable Innovation Accelerator, by L’Oréal SA whose head office is located at 14 rue Royale 75008 PARIS.
The processing is carried out based on your consent for the purpose(s) of evaluating and processing your application. Failure to provide this data will make it impossible to manage your application.
Your personal data is kept for 5 years from the moment of the collection and is only accessed by concerned L’Oréal employees and sub-contractors such as Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership on a need-to-know basis to be able to do their job. Your personal data may be transferred to other L’Oréal entities for evaluating and processing of your application. Any such transfer is framed in accordance to with applicable law. If you have any questions or concerns about how we process and use your personal data, or would like to exercise any of your rights (right of access, modification and deletion of your personal data, or limitation of processing) you can do so at any time, by contacting our Data Protection Officer at dpo@loreal.com.
If you are not satisfied with the way in which L’Oréal S.A. processes your personal data, you can submit a complaint to the competent data protection authority, the CNIL.
For more information, please see our link to our Privacy Policies:
L'Oréal Groupe :Privacy Policy for our Business Partners
L'Oréal Groupe: Privacy Policy for Consumers
If you have any questions regarding completing the application, please email sustainableinnovationaccelerator@cisl.cam.ac.uk