ACR Innovation Award 2025
A Milestone for FreyZein: Winning the ACR Innovation Award 2025
We’re beyond proud to share some incredible news: FreyZein Next-Gen Textiles has been awarded one of the ACR Innovation Awards 2025 — a major recognition for innovation and collaboration between Austrian startups and applied research institutions.
Together with our partner V-Research GmbH who supported us with the transition to the market, FreyZein developed TerraTech™, a breakthrough 2- to 3-layer textile technology that redefines what performance means in a circular world.
The winning teams of the Innovation Award 2025 in Vienna, Austria.
From Petrochemicals to Pure Performance
For decades, performance in textiles was synonymous with plastic. We wanted to change that.
TerraTech™ is our answer: the world’s first all-cellulose 2/3 Layer fabric, engineered for pure performance, distinct aesthetics and true circularity protection — all without fossil-based inputs or microplastics. By using one of nature’s strongest and most abundant materials — cellulose — we created a fabric system that performs at the highest level while staying fully circular. Durable. Recyclable. Biodegradable. This is not about compromise. It’s about evolution.
Photo credits: APA-Fotoservice / ACR – Austrian Cooperative Research / Leitner
Innovation through Collaboration
The ACR Innovation Award means a lot to us because it celebrates what we deeply believe in: collaboration between science and entrepreneurship.
FreyZein developed TerraTech™ and V-Research GmbH supports us with the market entry, combining applied science and startup agility to bring lab-scale innovation to industrial readiness. This collaboration proves that sustainability can scale — when research meets business with a shared purpose.
As the ACR team and the Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour emphasized, innovation is what drives sustainable economic growth. We couldn’t agree more.
From the Alps to the World
Our journey started with a simple question:
Why do people who love the outdoors wear clothes made from petrochemicals?
Today, we’re answering that question with science, design, and collaboration — straight from the heart of the Austrian Alps.
Tom Wright (V-Research, third from the left) and Barnaby Caven (FreyZein, second from the right) receive the ACR Innovation Award.
Photo credits: APA-Fotoservice / ACR – Austrian Cooperative Research / Leitner