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The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has awarded funding to support four professors’ research projects that tap into the data and expertise of their corporate partners. The grant recipients include both established professors and newcomers to the Finnish research funding system. The idea behind the new TIA Seed funding initiative is to facilitate the integration of new talent arriving from abroad into the Finnish business community.

In the image, Jenni Ervasti, Chief Researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Photo credit: Nina Karlsson.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) funding programme is intended to support collaborative research projects with corporate partners. companies. The TIA Professor and TIA Seed projects funded in the 2024 round are based around the professors’ own research ideas, giving them the opportunity to pursue their research interests and at the same time to make good use of industry data and expertise.

Funding was granted to four applicants:

• Cecilia Nauclér, Professor, University of Turku (TIA Seed)
• Anton Zasedatelev, Assistant Professor, Aalto University (TIA Seed)
• Jenni Ervasti, Chief Researcher, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (TIA Professor)
• Ismo Strandén, Research Professor, Natural Resources Institute Finland (TIA Professor)

The projects funded in the 2024 call are concerned with energy-efficient data transfer (TIA Seed, Zasedatelev); crop plant breeding models adapted to climate change (TIA Professor, Strandén); strategic work ability management (TIA Professor, Ervasti); and cellular metabolism (TIA Seed, Nauclér).

The corporate partners involved in the various projects are the Finnish pension insurance company Ilmarinen; Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd; NADMED and Faron Pharmaceuticals; and Picophotonics, Reflekron, and Microsoft.

Since the launch of the programme in 2022, TIA Professor funding has now been awarded in all to 11 professors. During the funding period the TIA Professor spends the equivalent of one year in premises provided by the corporate project partner.

Jenni Ervasti, Chief Researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and one of this year’s recipients of TIA Professor funding, says collaboration with a business partner provides an opportunity to develop new research questions: “Business cooperation opens up new research avenues but also offers new perspectives on studying work ability and disability. And new research questions can also pave the way to new research projects.”

Read more about TIA Professor projects here.

TIA Seed funding aims to support the integration of researchers in Finland

One key requirement for strengthening Finland’s international competitiveness is the ability to attract and integrate top-level research talent into the Finnish academic and corporate communities.

The TIA Seed funding initiative piloted in 2024 by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation is intended for researchers who have recently joined the Finnish research funding system, are early in their careers in Finland, and are progressing on the professorial career path.

“It’s important that researchers who are entering the Finnish research and funding system have the opportunity from early on to build up cooperation with companies. This funding programme is intended to support researchers in developing their networks and expertise so that their work is effectively integrated into the Finnish business field,” says FRIF Board Member Keijo Hämäläinen.

Professor Cecilia Nauclér, who previously worked at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, says the funding she received will allow her to build long-term relations, which in turn will support her further research. “It is very important for me as a new professor in Finland to gain from the expertise within our industry collaborations and to build new competence and networks that can impact on the future development of our projects,” she says.

TIA Seed funding is open to researchers who have been employed at a Finnish university or research institute for no more than three years and who have resided outside of the country for at least five consecutive years before moving to Finland. Applicants must be pursuing a professorial career and may not have received any significant research funding from Finland.

“TIA Seed funding provides a strong foundation for creating ecosystems between research organisations and public actors, which are crucial to promoting the impact of research,” Keijo Hämäläinen says.

Read more about TIA Seed projects here.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation is awarding funding to seven top-tier research projects for research conducted in collaboration with companies. These projects have been selected based on their potential to deliver significant new insights that benefit both science and Finnish businesses.

The FRIF will fund joint research between research organizations and companies with 1,5 million euros through its spring 2024 call for proposals. This year’s Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc funding call marks the fifth time the foundation has offered this program. Since 2020, the foundation has awarded over 10 million euros to a total of 56 projects.

The funding is directed at Finnish universities and research organizations to encourage collaboration with the Finnish business sector. The foundation aims to enhance the impact of world-class science and research on society through its funding.

The newly funded projects address several societally significant challenges. These include exploring the reconciliation of forestry and environmental protection, understanding the lifecycle emissions of Finland’s road infrastructure, involving logistics service providers in circular economy business models, and addressing bottlenecks in drug development.

The research teams receiving funding come from the following institutions: Åbo Akademi University, the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, and the University of Helsinki.

The partner companies will contribute their research and development expertise and industry-specific insights. These companies include Bayer, Valio, Ramboll Finland, Posti, Metsähallitus Metsätalous, Arbonaut ja Bittium Biosignals.

“Funding from the Finnish Research Impact Foundation offers a unique opportunity for Research and Technological Development by bridging the needs and expertise between academia and industry. The funding process is competitive and overall very straightforward”, says Shrikanth Kulashekhar, a postdoctoral researcher involved in a project developing a tool for dementia risk screening.

More information about the funded projects can be found here.

The foundation received a total of 61 high-quality applications for the call that ended on April 14, 2024, from which the board of directors decided to fund seven projects.

In 2023, the FRIF paid particular attention to encouraging industry-academia collaboration of the social sciences, humanities and arts. The foundation conducted an extensive study on the current state of industry-academia collaboration and focused its communication efforts on research organizations in these fields.

“The topics of the applications submitted to the foundation have diversified, and the range of disciplines has slightly expanded, which is what we aimed for. The quality of applications has remained high every year. A significant portion of the applications still comes from fields traditionally involved in industry collaboration, such as engineering and medicine, but we have now seen that business studies and multidisciplinary researchers, for example in environmental research, have also discovered our funding,” says Lauri Oksanen, chairman of the foundation’s board.

In the Tandem Industry Academia funding program, a researcher representing a university or research institution conducts one year of research related to the project within an academic organization and another year in closer collaboration with the partner company.

New funding to open in September for international top researchers who have recently arrived in Finland

On September 2, 2024, the FRIF will pilot a new funding program aimed at researchers who have recently entered the Finnish funding system. The goal of this funding is to initiate and accelerate the research work and industry collaboration of top talents who have come to Finland. The new TIA Seed call seeks significant breakthroughs that will contribute to the development of Finnish expertise.

“The foundation has recognized that top researchers who have recently arrived in Finland need special support to integrate into the Finnish research funding system and society. Our contribution to this is kick-start funding to boost industry collaboration in Finland. Researchers who have recently come to Finland from abroad do not have the same networks and opportunities as those who have been working here longer,” says Oksanen.

Alongside the new TIA Seed call, the foundation’s TIA Professor call will also open, intended for professors to conduct one year of research within a company.

Alongside the third TIA Professor call, the Finnish Research Impact Foundation is launching a new TIA Seed funding call. The new Seed funding is aimed at researchers who have recently entered the Finnish research funding system.

You are invited to the joint call info webinar for TIA Professor 2024 and the new TIA Seed funding calls. The info session will be held online on Monday, 2 September 2024, from 9:30 to 11:00. During the event, you will learn more about the Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s funding schemes for professors and have the opportunity to ask questions about the application process.

TIA Professor funding is designed to support collaboration between industry and research organizations, providing professors with first-hand knowledge of relevant research areas that are of interest to businesses. Projects may include pre-competitive research and other supportive activities.

TIA Seed funding is intended for researchers who have recently entered the Finnish research funding system, are in the early stages of their careers, and are on the professor career path. The purpose of this funding is to help initiate and accelerate both research work and business collaboration. The call seeks significant initiatives that contribute to the development of Finnish expertise.

The call for applications for both programs is open from 2 September to 13 October.

Join our info session to learn more about the TIA Professor and TIA Seed calls and to get answers to your questions. The event will be held via Zoom. Register for the info webinar here, and you will receive a link to the event in a confirmation email.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The reality of research is more versatile than the often sharp division between basic and applied research suggests. Even the creation of entirely new scientific knowledge benefits from solving practical problems.

The traditional view from the 1940s (e.g. Vannevar Bush) suggests that new knowledge is created in basic research, which is then used to solve practical questions in applied research, followed by (product) development, and finally production. This description links research goals and outputs with specific process stages. Reality, however, is not that straightforward and simple.

Research goals can be categorized based on whether they involve generating new fundamental knowledge or targeting specific usage (see: Donald Stokes). This creates a four-quadrant model (Figure 1), where traditional basic research focuses on increasing understanding and applied research on solving problems. Examples of the former include Niels Bohr and the latter Thomas Edison.

Figure 1. Use inspired basic research aims to deliver both fundamental knowledge and usable results.

The four-quadrant model also reveals a new area that we can call “practice-inspired basic research”, and which Stokes has named Pasteur’s quadrant. In this quadrant, the aim is both to create new knowledge and solve practical problems. A good example is Louis Pasteur, who was asked to solve issues in wine production, leading to further research and his significant role as a founder of microbiology. Another example from a different field is Claude Shannon, whose work at Bell Laboratories aimed at improving the efficiency of data transmission, leading him to explore the limits of efficiency and develop information theory. In both cases, the key to their groundbreaking scientific achievements was not isolation in a research chamber, but openness to the environment, the opportunity and resources to follow new questions, and the ability to create entirely new knowledge.

In reality, the boundaries in the four-quadrant model are not absolute, and research and researchers can move back and forth depending on the subject and stage of the research. Like Pasteur and Shannon, one way to move and enrich work is through collaboration with industry. Many researchers funded by the The Finnish Research Impact Foundation (FRIF) have shared how eye-opening and inspiring working together with industry has been. In addition to new questions, industry can also offer science resources such as data, materials, or equipment that are otherwise inaccessible.

It is time to forget the sharp division between basic and applied research and look for ways in which practical work and research can serve each other’s goals.

Lauri Oksanen, Chairman of the Board, FRIF

This article is based on a presentation given at the FRIF’s 5th-anniversary seminar. Read more about the foundation’s impact assessment here.

Enhancing Finland’s international competitiveness requires attracting and integrating top-level experts into domestic research and business activities. The Finnish Research Impact Foundation (FRIF) is piloting a new Tandem Industry Academia Seed funding program. This Seed funding is intended for researchers who have recently entered the Finnish research funding system, are in the early stages of their careers, and are on the professor career path. The purpose of this funding is to help initiate and accelerate both research work and business collaboration. The call seeks significant initiatives that contribute to the development of Finnish expertise.

More information about the TIA Seed call will be published on the foundation’s website with the call announcement on 16.8.2024.

At the same time on 16.8. the FRIF will also announce the 3rd round of the Tandem Industry Academia Professor call. TIA Professor funding is intended for those working in professor-level positions at universities and research institutions. The funding is applied for 12 months for research conducted in collaboration with a company. During the funding period, the TIA Professor will spend an equivalent of one year in the company’s facilities. The funding can be distributed over a maximum of 3 years. You can review the 2023 TIA Professor call announcement and guidelines here.

The TIA Seed and TIA Professor calls will be open from 2.9. to 13.10.2024. An info session about the calls will be held on 2.9.2024. More information and registration details will be published on 16.8.2024.

Moni tutkija on saanut rahoituksen kautta innoituksen työskennellä yksityisellä sektorilla tutkimustehtävissä. Säätiön vuonna 2020 rahoittamista yhdestätoista hankkeesta on siirtynyt viisi tutkijaa yrityselämään.

Akateemisille huippututkijoille suunnattu rahoitus on tuottanut korkeatasoista tutkimusta ja tiivistänyt yhteistyötä suomalaisten yritysten ja yliopistojen sekä tutkimuslaitosten välillä. Vuonna 2019 perustettu Vaikuttavuussäätiö on rahoittanut yhteensä 49 huippututkijoiden ja yritysten tiiviiseen yhteistyöhön perustuvaa hanketta Suomessa. Rahoitusta on myönnetty 9 miljoonaa euroa Tandem Industry Academia eli TIA-rahoituksen kautta.

Vuonna 2020 käynnistyneestä yhdestätoista TIA-hankkeesta työllistyi viisi postdoc-tutkijaa yritykseen hankkeen aikana tai sen jälkeen. Yksi heistä on Dilek Cakiroglu, joka muutti Suomeen Ranskasta TIA-hanketta varten. Siellä hän oli työskennellyt viisi vuotta postdoc-tutkijana. Cakiroglu tiesi, että teollisuuden puolelle siirtyminen on sitä vaikeampaa, mitä pidempään on ollut akateemisessa maailmassa. Siksi yrityksen kanssa yhteistyössä tehtävä projekti Aalto-yliopistossa houkutteli. TIA-hankkeen jälkeen Cakiroglu on työllistynyt Suomeen Beneq-nimiseen, puolijohdeteknologiaan erikoistuneen yritykseen. Työpaikka on tuonut paljon uusia kontakteja ja siten auttanut integroitumista suomalaiseen yhteiskuntaan.

“Tutkijana työskentelin yhdessä ainoastaan kolmentoista hengen kanssa ja tunsin vain heidät. Yritysyhteistyöprojektissa tutustuin sekä yrityksen johtoon että heidän verkostoihinsa. Yrityskumppanimme johtajat tunsivat nykyisen työnantajani johtajat ja se varmasti auttoi tämän työpaikan saamisessa”, Cakiroglu sanoo.

Vaikuttavuussäätiö käynnisti syksyllä 2022 oman rahoitustoimintansa vaikuttavuuden kartoittamisen jota säätiössä on toteuttanut vaikuttavuusasiantutija, KTT Outi Vanharanta. 

“On ollut hienoa huomata miten moninaisia vaikutuksia tiiviillä tutkimusyhteistyöllä voi olla. Tutkijan läsnäolo yrityksessä mahdollistaa tehokkaan tiedonvaihdon ja keskinäisen oppimisen, vahvistaen yritysten tutkimusosaamista ja tutkijoiden kykyä soveltaa tutkimustuloksia käytäntöön. Tutkimus–yritys-yhteistyöllä on paljon vaikutuksia joita ei voida määrällisesti mitata, mutta jotka on tärkeää huomioida arvioitaessa yhteistyön vaikuttavuutta”, sanoo vaikuttavuusasiantuntija Outi Vanharanta.

Tutkimusyhteistyö kannustaa pitkäjänteiseen yhteistyöhön

Tähän mennessä päättyneet hankkeet ovat raportoineet keskimäärin kolme hankkeen aikana julkaistua tieteellistä artikkelia tai konferenssijulkaisua. Peräti 80 prosenttia hankekumppaneista aikoo jatkaa yhteistyötä TIA-hankkeen jälkeen.

Tällä hetkellä 70 prosenttia päättyneistä hankkeista on saanut tai hakenut jatkorahoitusta. Esimerkiksi vuonna 2020 Vaikuttavuussäätiö rahoitti Aalto-yliopistossa työskentelevän professori Mikko Möttösen hanketta “Constituents of a Quantum Computer”, joka toteutettiin yhdessä kvanttiteknologiaan keskittyvän yrityksen IQM Finlandin kanssa. Möttösen tutkimushanke sai TIA-rahoituksen päätyttyä Euroopan tutkimusneuvostolta (ERC) 2,5 miljoonan euron kilpaillun ERC Advanced Grant -apurahan. TIA-hankkeen tuloksena syntyi unimon-kubitti eli esiaste ERC-hankkeessa jatkokehitettävälle kubitille.

Kubitti on yhdistelmä sanoista kvantti ja bitti ja on siis kvanttitietokoneen rakennuspalikka, joka välittää, säilöö ja prosessoi tietoa.

“Nyt tehtävän jatkokehityksen pyrkimyksenä on näyttää, että kehittämämme kubitti on ylivertainen. Vasta sitten kubittia voidaan soveltaa kaupallisissa kvanttitietokoneissa”, Möttönen sanoo.

Möttöstä ilahduttaa tutkijana erityisesti sellainen vaikuttavuus, “jossa keksitään jotain niin suurta, että se laittaa monen tiedemiehen rahoitukset uudelle raiteelle.” Entistä tarkemman kubitin kehittämisellä saattaa hyvinkin olla juuri tällainen vaikutus.

“Näemme rahoituksemme tärkeänä siltana tutkimusideoille, joita voidaan viedä akateemisen ja yritysmaailman yhteistyön kautta käytäntöön ja saada vaikutusta aikaan. Samalla rahoitus tukee huipputiedettä ja on ollut monille tutkijoille ponnahduslauta heidän akateemisella urallaan tai tie yritysmaailmaan”, sanoo Vaikuttavuussäätiön hallituksen puheenjohtajan Lauri Oksanen.

Säätiön vaikuttavuusarvioinnin perusteella 83 prosenttia yrityksistä pystyy hyödyntämään hankkeessa syntyneitä tutkimustuloksia jollain tavalla omassa toiminnassaan. Arvion mukaan puolessa päättyneistä TIA-hankkeista on syntynyt konkreettisia ratkaisuja, kuten algoritmeja, sovelluksia tai teollisia materiaaleja, hyödynnettäväksi teollisuudessa.

Säätiön rahoituksen ensisijainen tavoite on ollut yhteistyön tiivistäminen ja huippututkimuksesta ponnistavien innovaatioiden ruokkiminen yritysyhteistyön avulla. Moni hankkeissa työskennellyt tutkija on lisäksi siirtynyt yritysmaailman palvelukseen TIA-hankkeen jälkeen.

Säätiö seuraa jatkossa rahoituksensa vaikuttavuutta nyt kehitettyjen mittareiden avulla ja päivittää tarvittaessa vaikuttavuuden mittareitaan. Nyt toteutettu selvitys on kokonaisuudessaan luettavissa säätiön verkkosivuilta osoitteesta www.vaikuttavuussaatio.fi/vaikuttavuusarviointi