BARCELONA (ICIS)–ICIS is proud to announce that Future Origins is the overall winner of the 2025 ICIS Innovation Awards for its technology which replaces palm oil as a raw material for the home and personal care sector.

The decision by a panel of independent chemical industry judges to award Future Origins was revealed during a lunch for winners, judges and sponsors at London’s Savoy Hotel on 13 November.

The company is commercializing high-volume production of C12/C14 fatty alcohols using engineered microorganisms to offer a drop-in alternative for a 3 million tonnes/year market that offers a traceable, deforestation-free supply chain.

The innovation is already approaching commercial stage, as a binding offtake agreement has been signed for the majority of the first planned commercial plant of 50,000 tonnes/year. Final investment decision (FID) is planned for 2026, with startup scheduled for 2029.

Future Origins see the opportunity to grow to several hundred thousand tonnes/year, both directly and via licensing. It is a joint venture formed by Genomatica (technology partner) along with large investments by industry majors Unilever, Kao and L’Oreal.

A CLEAR OVERALL WINNER
The judges picked Future Origins – which had already collected a trophy for the category of Best Process Innovation from an SME – as a clear overall champion, praising the big positive environmental impact the technology could have as a replacement for palm oil.

Alessia Ielo, global sustainable solutions manager and life cycle analysis expert at Brenntag said: “I loved Future Origins’ entry – it has all the characteristics I’d want to see nowadays in an innovation. It tackles all the main sustainability challenges: low-carbon, non-toxic, drop-in, avoids deforestation, and is highly market-relevant. A standout example of innovation with immediate real-world impact. Well done!”

Adrian Higson, managing director at consultancy NNFCC added: “It’s been a tough nut to crack – replacing palm oil ingredients for the cosmetic industry is a large market and it’s a valuable market. It’s not easy to replace those ingredients and that’s why I like this entry.”

Lars Kissau, formerly president Net Zero Accelerator at BASF and now general manager for Asia at Samsara Eco pointed out that: “Palm oil is a big issue to solve and biotechnology is certainly one path to the future. The potential is there and they have picked a good market and a big problem to solve.”

Denis Bortzmeyer, scientific director, open innovation, at Arkema added: “I voted for this entry because it’s an interesting market, and because I think that these guys really have a technology which is working.”