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Public research funding plays a significant part in the background of successful products and solutions. It may support and boost the birth of active cooperation between academia and business.

“However, funding in itself does not guarantee innovations. At its best, it promotes the partners’ willingness to jointly understand the problem at hand and to come up together with a functional and also commercially viable solution by combining various kinds of know-how”, the director of the Confederation of Finnish Industries Riikka Heikinheimo says.

Heikinheimo has been active in a number of various duties in promoting cooperation between Finnish research and industry. She has taken part in making decisions on the funding for the research cooperation behind the bioproducts of the oil-refining company Neste for example.

“There were a strong vision of the future and a willingness to try out new things behind the project. There was also the ability to take risks boosted by public funding. At a later stage, the responsibility for the development moved to the company that has paid back the support it was provided many times over as taxes”, Heikinheimo says.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s objectives are to increase the impact of cutting-edge research and to improve connections with industrial life, with an increased cooperation between the enterprises and academic research organizations as its central aim. The Foundation’s recent Tandem Industry Academia call is a case in point.

“I would say that feeding curiosity and encouraging cooperation are the main factors behind the creation of the Finnish Research Impact Foundation”, Heikinheimo says.

Many new products and services have had their background in active research cooperation. The role of research is a difficult one to see afterwards since the products are often made by companies for other companies yet examples are found in pharmacies as well as on the milk and bread shelves of shops.

“Cooperation between experts of different branches is often part of the background of successful products and new inventions. There is strength in bringing together different approaches. Demand for multidisciplinary cooperation keeps increasing when global challenges are observed. It is important, however, to understand that the problems are not only academic ones. Instead, bringing research findings to the market and launching production are equally enormous challenges”, Heikinheimo says.

FRIF awards two million euros in funding to support joint industry-academia projects

Under its first ever call for proposals, the Finnish Research Impact Foundation has awarded 2 million euros to fund research projects in which universities and research institutes join forces with business and industry. The Tandem Industry Academia call invited applications for leading-edge projects that would achieve a significantly enhanced impact through their connection and cooperation with industry. The research projects span timely topics from the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to quantum computing and better predictive testing of cancer medicine.

The Foundation received 92 strong and competitive applications by the call deadline on 30 April, and the Board decided to award funding to 11 of them. The projects are all at the international cutting edge in their fields, and all stand to benefit from their cooperation with business and industry. The industry partners are Finnish-based companies of different sizes. The projects involve precompetitive research aimed at promoting the practical applicability of research results.

“We’re delighted with the strength of the applications we received, and the decisions were not easy to make. We’ll be keen to see what kind of impact these projects will be able to generate. Cutting-edge research offers huge untapped potential,” says Chairman of the FRIF Board, Mr Lauri Oksanen.

The idea of Tandem Industry Academia funding is that a postdoc researcher who has earned their doctorate works in a research project for one year in an academic organization and for one year in closer cooperation with the partner company. The aim is to encourage not only an exchange of ideas and knowledge, but also to increase mobility and to create new networks between academia and business companies.

“The research projects will be working to enhance the impact of science, while the role of the business partners is to make available their expertise, resources and research environments. The expectation is that the projects will inspire cross-border movement of new knowledge, skills and competencies and in this way promote both scientific and economic interests,” Oksanen says.

For further information on the projects funded, please visit the FRIF website at:
https://www.vaikuttavuussaatio.fi/en/funded-projects/

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation was launched in spring 2019 by the Finnish government. It was given an initial capital stock of 60 million euros. The mission of FRIF is to promote the impact of Finnish cutting-edge research by strengthening the connection and cooperation between academia and industry.

Further information

Lauri Oksanen Chairman of the FRIF Board tel. + 358 50 584 2143 lauri-oksanen@outlook.com

Petro Poutanen FRIF Managing Director tel. +358 40 767 1631 petro.poutanen@vaikuttavuussaatio.fi

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation will publish its Tandem Industry Academy call’s funding decisions on 3 Aug 2020. All applicants will be informed of the Foundation’s decision by email. Funding decisions are based on peer-review carried out by both Finnish and international experts. The first funded projects can be launched in autumn 2020.

The team of the Finnish Research Impact Foundation wishes you a great summer!

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s first-ever call for funding applications was announced in an online networking event on 13 March 2020. Addressing a predominantly remote audience because of the coronavirus pandemic, Chairman of the Board Mr Lauri Oksanen described the foundation’s main aim and role, i.e. to achieve greater impact from research excellence:

“The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s mission is not so much to produce completely new research, but rather to find ways of boosting the impact of all high level research, especially with a view to strengthening Finnish business and industry and Finnish competitiveness in general,” Mr Oksanen said.

“Joint research ventures are always a major risk, especially for smaller companies, and this is one of the barriers we hope to be able to lower through new funding models. Furthermore, the foundation will be working to create new contacts by supporting and promoting networking and by showcasing examples of effective cooperation – via both good experiences and bad,” Mr Oksanen continued.

In the first call for funding applications, FRIF highlighted the need for increased mobility between industry and academia. To this end the foundation launched the Tandem Industry Academia call for applications, which is intended to support joint projects between research organizations and business companies. As well as promoting the impact of high level research, it is hoped and anticipated that the projects funded will have a wider and longer term impact in terms of deepening industry-academia cooperation.

The call for applications closed on 30 April 2020 and attracted great interest. The FRIF Board will discuss and decide on the timing of the next call once it has accumulated more experience about current projects and processes.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s first call for funding under the heading Tandem Industry Academia invited applications for two-year research projects in which a postdoc researcher is hired to work for one year in an academic organization and for one year in a business company. The aim of the call is to fit together the needs of academia and industry and to enhance the impact of research via business and industry.

The call for applications closed on 30 April 2020, and it attracted a strong response from both academic researchers and business companies. The foundation received a total of 92 applications.

“We’re extremely pleased with the success of our first call, especially in view of the challenging situation today, amidst the corona crisis. I think this clearly attests to the need for a funding mechanism that increases mobility and that gives postdoc researchers a unique opportunity to build closer links with business and industry,” says Chairman of the FRIF Board Mr Lauri Oksanen.

“We have huge amounts of untapped potential in Finland on the interface between cutting-edge research and industry, and it’s clear that both researchers and businesses have noticed our call and seized the opportunity,” he continues.

Start-up as soon as possible

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation is currently recruiting outside experts to review the applications received. The FRIF Board will make its funding decisions during the summer, and the first projects are due to start up in the autumn.

“It’s important that the projects get underway as soon as possible. The development cycle is often intense in industry and in the marketplace, and the development and refinement of research ideas is a time-consuming process. We are keen to play our part in helping and supporting the research world and business companies in these economically testing times,” Mr Oksanen says.