Amsterdam-based chemistry company Avantium has won the Innovation Challenge of The Mills Fabrica, a platform for sustainable innovations in the textiles and agrifood sectors. The winning technology enables full recycling of cotton-polyester textile blends into high-value materials, and is partly rooted in research conducted at the University of Amsterdam on Amsterdam Science Park.
The Mills Fabrica launched its Innovation Challenge ‘Reimagining textile recycling’ in partnership with an American retail corporation. The challenge explored innovative solutions for processing cellulose-based textile waste from upcycled cotton-polyester garments. Avantium’s Dawn technology was announced as the winner last week, securing $20,000 in prize money.
The Dawn technology is partly based on doctoral research by Nienke Leenders at the Industrial Sustainable Chemistry group of the Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) at the University of Amsterdam. The group is led by Prof. Gert-Jan Gruter, who also serves as CTO of Avantium. The research was published in Nature Communications in early 2025. The Mills Fabrica Innovation Award recognises the technology’s potential to effectively separate polycotton textile waste, supporting scalable circular solutions that reduce landfill waste, lower environmental impact, and address growing demand for sustainable supply chains in the fashion industry.
Image: HIMS/Avantium
If you are interested in Amsterdam Science Park, exploring opportunities, or simply have a question, feel free to get in touch. We’ll be happy to help.
Subscribe to our LinkedIn-newsletter and we will keep you updated on all that our park has to offer. It will arrive to your inbox five times a year and you can unsubscribe easily at any time.
Subscribe