vaikuttavuussaatio

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has announced the funding recipients under its pilot call for Tandem Industry Academia Professorships, which was opened in autumn 2022. The six professors have been awarded TIA funding for 12-month research periods with their chosen industry partners. 

TIA funding provides an opportunity for professors to focus on their research and to take advantage of the practical knowledge and know-how of their industry partners. The combination of world-class research competence with sound industry understanding makes it possible to produce useful information that addresses the needs of both parties.

The Board of the Finnish Research Impact Foundation decided to award TIA Professor funding to the following six professors:

Tero Soukka, Professor of Biotechnology, University of Turku
Ulla Lassi, Professor of Applied Chemistry, University of Oulu 
Anne Juppo, Professor in Industrial Pharmacy, University of Helsinki
Hele Savin, Professor of Micro and Nanoelectronics, Aalto University
Clare Strachan, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, University of Helsinki
Jari Hyväluoma, Research Professor, Natural Resources Institute Finland
More detailed project descriptions are provided here. 

“We already have professors of practice who move from businesses to work in academia, but as yet there is no system to support mobility in the opposite direction. Based on our discussions with stakeholder groups and a questionnaire we conducted, there is strong demand for this kind of funding that gives professors from the academic world the opportunity to work more closely with business and industry,” says Leena Otsomaa, FRIF Board member who contributed to the working group that prepared the new funding scheme.

Hele Savin, Professor of Macro and Nanoelectronics from Aalto University, is clear that business companies play a critical role in the development of her field:

“My goal is to help resolve major social challenges as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that is to work closely with a major semiconductor company. They have the clearest picture and understanding of existing bottlenecks in the industry today. Without these insights that come from the business side, it would be difficult to know how the tools I have developed in the project can best serve the needs of an industry that is struggling with a global shortage of microchips.”

During their funding term TIA professors will spend a period equivalent to one full year working in facilities provided by the business company. The funding may be spread out over a maximum of three years. The purpose of TIA Professor funding is to support collaborations between industry and research organizations and to give professors first-hand knowledge about relevant areas of research interest for business companies. Projects may involve precompetitive research and other supportive activities.

The projects funded under the new TIA Professor pilot scheme address a wide range of themes, including the search for substitutes for lithium-ion batteries; the surface structures of pharmaceutical preparations; the use of soil improvement fibres produced from side streams of the pulp and paper industry; and the prospects of therapeutic proteins and peptides.

Professor Clare Strachan from the University of Helsinki says her TIA professorship offers a great opportunity to gain a deeper insight into industry needs. “Although my research comes close to the needs of the pharmaceuticals industry, I’ve never actually worked for industry. I’m very much looking forward to spending time with Orion Pharma and expect it will enrich my research and my teaching, as well as help create new contacts for future research projects.” 

Many of the TIA professors feel that the joint projects bring important added value to university tuition and education: “Stronger links with industry and practice should mean that in the future, we pay closer attention to the needs of business companies in developing the university curriculum,” says Tero Soukka, Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Turku. 

New Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) funding recipients met at a reception hosted by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation on 19 September 2022. The event included an interesting panel discussion about what lessons have been learned from industry-academia cooperation so far. 

There is no question that the world has become an increasingly complex place. One critical concern for businesses as well as for academic researchers is to overcome the challenges and implications of climate change, and answers are needed sooner rather than later. We can no longer afford to work in silos because there just isn’t enough time – a position shared by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Mattia Rossi, Professor Mikko Möttönen and Juha Nousiainen, head of the Climate Solutions programme at Valio.

“Valio has always been a technology-driven company. We’ve created solutions within the company, in an inside-out process. But the challenges of the modern world mean we are having to turn this around: we are now working more outside-in, with academic research closely involved in our development processes,” Nousiainen explains. Valio’s climate solutions team are currently working with the University of Helsinki to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy production. Nousiainen insists that cooperation and outside-in thinking are essential, not just a chic addition to the company’s research efforts.

Mattia Rossi says that cooperation is also a motivating factor for the academic researcher because the value of research is measured by its practical applicability and impact. “When research is optimized according to the needs of industry, that at once serves to maximize its potential and benefits.” Upon completing his doctoral research Mattia Rossi specifically wanted to sign up with a project that involved a business partner. He’s now working at Tampere University to improve the efficiency of electricity consumption in a joint project with Danfoss Drives. 

Mikko Möttönen, Professor of Quantum Technology at Aalto University, shares Mattia Rossi’s view that industry cooperation is pivotal to increasing the impact of research. But he is not sure whether we are moving fast enough. “Climate change is not going to wait for us. We have to act quickly if we want to leave a sustainable environment for our grandchildren.” Professor Möttönen is principal investigator in a joint project between Aalto University and Bluefors. 

So what are the means that make for efficient cooperation? Professor Möttönen says it’s important to maintain a suitable level of realism – to accept that the very first research idea will not necessarily deliver, that it might be necessary to move the goalposts and adjust expectations along the way. He’s also keen to stress the role of project management and an active orientation. “Academic researchers and business professionals are busy people. Nothing will happen unless they find the time to get together and decide what they want to do.” 

Rossi and Nousiainen both subscribe to the views of Professor Möttönen and stress the importance of internal team communication. It’s crucial that both partners engage with each other’s thinking. “There’s no reason not to make an effort to explain things in an easy-to-understand manner,” Rossi says. Nousiainen also highlights the role of internal communication within the company and the need to explain and justify the importance of collaboration upwards to the higher echelons. It’s not enough that research teams within the company are convinced of the necessity of academic cooperation, but the top management must also be persuaded that outside-in research and development is imperative.

Outi Vanharanta, Doctor of Science in Economics and Business Administration, has been appointed into the newly created role of Research Impact Officer at the Finnish Research Impact Foundation, starting 1 September 2022. Key aspects of this role include the development of funding programme evaluations and new funding instruments. We are delighted to introduce our new team member!

What motivated you to join us at FRIF?

–   The Finnish Research Impact Foundation plays a significant role in our society in promoting research-driven cooperation with industry. My own role at FRIF will allow me to explore and develop new ways of improving this cooperation even further. I’m convinced there is still untapped potential in this field – and really excited to have this opportunity to get involved in strengthening this cooperation and ultimately the impact of research excellence in Finland.

First impressions of the foundation?

–   My first impressions of FRIF are extremely good! Despite its young age the foundation has already done a great deal to promote research impact. It’s a small team but one that’s highly dedicated and motivated to find the best ways of increasing interaction between academic research and the rest of society. And importantly, there’s a strong commitment to constantly improve the foundation’s performance.

What’s your background?´Before joining FRIF I spent ten years as project manager and researcher at Aalto University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, working on various research projects concerned with innovation, organizational change and changes in the labour market. That was a great opportunity to get to work with different national and international stakeholder groups as well as with SMEs. It was truly motivating to get to do research that was academically interesting and at once relevant from a business perspective.

–   Before joining FRIF I spent ten years as project manager and researcher at Aalto University’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, working on various research projects concerned with innovation, organizational change and changes in the labour market. That was a great opportunity to get to work with different national and international stakeholder groups as well as with SMEs. It was truly motivating to get to do research that was academically interesting and at once relevant from a business perspective.

What’s the most important goal you are pursuing right now? 

–   At the moment I’m working on a research plan for assessing the performance of FRIF’s funding programmes. The aim will be to identify ways of developing existing instruments and to create a framework for assessing the impact of industry collaborations. During the autumn I will also be looking to get to know our key stakeholder groups and to gain an overall impression of the RDI system from the funding agency’s perspective.

What are your top tips for achieving impact in industry–academia cooperation?

–   Impact is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon involving a wide range of underlying factors. In the context of industry–academia cooperation, achieving impact requires at least the solid commitment of both partners and a shared view of the goals of cooperation. Furthermore, it requires mutual trust, open interaction and a preparedness to question one’s own ways of thinking and working. With these elements in place, you stand a good chance of producing research with high social impact.

What do you like to do outside of work?

–   My main interests are low-threshold outdoor sports such as running, cycling and swimming in the wild all year round, as well as forest hikes with the family. But I also enjoy lots of reading and studying foreign languages.

Welcome to the TIA Professor call Info on Monday 12 September at 14:00–15:00 to learn more about the Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s new funding scheme and to ask questions about the application process.

The TIA Professor call for applications opens on 12 September. Please, read the call for applications and the application guidelines.

The event will be held as a virtual Zoom-event. Register via the form below and you will receive a link to the event as a reply message!

REGISTER FOR THE INFO WEBINAR

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has awarded 1.7 million euros to support eight new joint projects between academia and industry partners. The projects include research into cancer drugs; the development of bio-based materials; and studies of atmospheric nanoparticles.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has awarded 1.7 million euros to support joint research projects between universities, government research institutes and industry partners. The third Tandem Industry Academia funding call attracted applications from top-tier projects aimed at significantly increasing the impact of research through closer industry collaboration. Since its launch in 2019, FRIF has provided funding for a total of 30 such research projects.

TIA projects provide an opportunity for companies and research organizations to pool their resources and best expertise in order to tackle significant challenges and to achieve significant impact. Projects funded in the third TIA call include research ventures to address challenges related to the quality of 3D printing; to develop bio-based packaging materials; to create tools that can support oncologists’ decision-making; and to build equipment for measuring the composition of atmospheric nanoparticles.

The research teams behind the eight projects funded in the current round come from the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Oulu, the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Turku.

Industry partners bring to the projects their research and development expertise as well as their knowledge and understanding of the market. The partner companies involved in the new TIA projects are Electro Optical Systems Finland, Bayer, Kemira, Finnadvance, Bittium Biosignals, Karsa, Oksasen Puutarha and Nokia Bell-Labs.

“Tandem Industry Academia funding is a unique possibility to work closely with a company towards a joint goal and on equal terms. Such collaboration allows us to deepen the connections between Aalto University and our industrial partner, Kemira. I also think it is an excellent chance for the postdoctoral researcher to gain a better understanding of how research work is conducted in a company and to expand their career and research opportunities,” says professor Monika Österberg, head of the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems at Aalto University.

The funding granted to professor Österberg and her team is for a joint project with Kemira, where the focus is to develop bio-based packaging materials and so to reduce and replace the use of plastic. The results will benefit both academic research and industry and hasten the transition towards a bio-based circular economy.

More information on the projects funded is available on the FRIF website: https://www.vaikuttavuussaatio.fi/en/funded-projects/

The third TIA funding call closed on 31 March 2022. Out of the 42 high-quality applications submitted, the FRIF Board decided to award funding to eight key projects. All of them represent top-tier research whose impact can be further enhanced through industry collaboration. The projects involve precompetitive research, which will not only produce important scientific results but also strengthen Finnish industry and its competencies.

The new funding model developed by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation inspires and encourages academic research teams and business companies to commit themselves to genuinely research-driven cooperation.

“There are various funding mechanisms for research cooperation that are close to the market and based on business needs, but we haven’t seen any other model that provides funding for cooperation from the vantage point of academic research,” says Lauri Oksanen, Chairman of the FRIF Board.

Under the Tandem Industry Academia funding programme, an academic postdoctoral researcher works on a research project for one year at an academic organization and a second year more closely with the partnering business.

“Our aim is to bring benefits to both parties and at the same time to promote the wider spread of academic knowledge and expertise in society,” Oksanen explains.

FRIF is set to launch a new funding scheme in September 2022. Tandem Industry Academia Professor funding is intended to give professors working at Finnish universities and research institutes the opportunity to spend a full year doing research on site with an industry partner. Details on the new funding call will be announced on the FRIF website in early September.

A new report commissioned by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation on research utilization in Finnish SMEs was published in June. A video summary of the report launch is now available to view. The main findings of the report are presented by Minna Saunila, researcher at LUT University. Others who took part in the discussion were Katriina Juntunen, CEO of Kasvuryhmä; Joonas Mikkilä, Head of Digital and Educational Affairs at Suomen Yrittäjät (Federation of Finnish Enterprises); Tiina Lindh-Knuutila, solutions architect at Lingsoft Oy; and Tero Rantala, one of the authors of the report from LUT University.

Discussions at the report launch dealt with best practices and barriers to research utilization, the needs of SMEs, and research organizations’ communication and interaction with companies in the SME sector.

Minna Saunila from LUT University, one of the report’s lead researchers, explained that the aim of the research was to find out whether and to what extent SMEs were interested in assuming a trailblazing role in research utilization and what kind of support they needed in order to do that. She said it was clear from the findings that as far as SMEs were concerned, the most critical factors for research utilization were having access to the necessary resources and the opportunity to commercialize results. The most important means of research utilization were developing staff skills and competencies, for instance through training and networking. The principal benefits, then, were the achievement and adoption of new knowledge and the improvement of skills. Minna Saunila pointed out that typically, these types of benefits only accumulate in the longer term.

The major barriers perceived to research utilization were the sense that research does not address issues of practical relevance, or that research is not thought to have direct benefit to the company’s business. Minna Saunila said she was quite surprised by this result because Finland is known to produce a diverse range of high-quality research:

“It’s possible that SMEs just don’t have the skills and know-how to find and extract the research results they need, or that research organizations are not reaching SMEs with their communication. The latter is supported by the finding that lack of communication about research results featured among the major barriers to research utilization.”

Research knowledge is crucial to bolstering new growth

Katriina Juntunen, CEO of Kasvuryhmä, pointed out that high-level research is especially in demand when companies are faced with new situations that require investment and renewal.

Tiina Lindh-Knuutila, solutions architect at Lingsoft Oy, said that SMEs definitely had the drive and desire to put research to good use, but noted that in the search for new knowledge they would initially and primarily turn to their own networks. “If you can get to have an impact via more informal routes, that’s much more convenient,” she said. 

Joonas Mikkilä observed that a large part of SMEs are under development pressure and that knowledge and know-how is the most important competition factor. In their collaboration with universities, he continued, SMEs placed great emphasis on training and education, a key factor in putting research knowledge to practical use: “I’d say there’s too great a separation between these two discourses, the RDI discourse and the training and education discourse.”

Tero Rantala from LUT University made the point that SMEs usually take an interest in cutting-edge research when they’re looking to generate new growth, which requires new sets of skills and competencies. It is at this point that they will start asking questions about how they can join in and get to benefit from research excellence and what this will require of them in terms of communications and dialogue.

Dialogue and networks between researchers and SMEs attracted much discussion 

Tiina Lindh-Knuutila said that the key to searching out new and relevant knowledge is that the company has recognized its need for that knowledge: that is going to steer its knowledge mining. “Research utilization requires the exact same kind of sales and communications work as anything else. The world is full of knowledge,” Katriina Juntunen added.

 Joonas Mikkilä said there are only few SMEs that have the competence to follow the communications of research organizations. For the majority of companies, the needs for information and knowledge come about on an ad hoc basis. “Instead of communication we should be talking more about guidance and advice,” Mikkilä said. He also stressed the role of universities, business associations and local operators in promoting networking.

Promoting research cooperation

Joonas Mikkilä expressed the view that the relationship between different public RDI funding instruments should be revisited in order to drive up the number of companies actively engaged in research. This, he said, would also entail discussions on the need for new funding instruments. 

Tiina Lindh-Knuutila said a lightweight service model was a good idea in that it would help companies review cases of research utilization and run short-term pilot projects.

Katriina Juntunen stressed the role of good examples in encouraging business companies to make better use of research. “We need to gain exposure for cases that show how cutting-edge research has helped companies grow or reinvent themselves. That will get SMEs interested and make them see the benefits,” she said.