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The Annual Report brings together the key events of 2022

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s Annual Report 2022 looks back at the events and highlights of our operations in the past year. The theme of the Annual Report is “What is research impact?”

In 2022, the FRIF took a number of important steps forward. The third round of the Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc call attracted 42 applications – funding decisions were made in August and 8 projects were funded. In autumn 2022, the Foundation piloted a new Tandem Industry Academia Professor funding scheme for professors.

At the start of the year, Rector Keijo Hämäläinen joined the FRIF Board as a new member. In the autumn, Outi Vanharanta started in a new position as a Research Impact Officer.

In the Annual Report you can read, for example, Outi Vanharanta’s views on impact and its antecedents. We have also interviewed key personnel involved in projects that received FRIF funding 2022 in order to canvass their views on the subject of research impact.

Read the Annul Report here →

The call for applications for Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc 2023 closed on 16 April and the Foundation received 80 applications. This is twice as many as last year, when 42 applications were received. The funding decisions will be made public at the end of August 2023.

The TIA funding model has been developed by FRIF with a view to encouraging ambitious research-driven projects between research organizations and companies that further the aims of both leading-edge academic research and business and industry.

This was the fourth round of TIA Postdoc funding calls. The FRIF launched the first TIA call in 2020. The foundation has funded a total of 30 TIA projects between 2020–2022, with about six million euros in funding from FRIF.

TIA funding for professors about to open up again

In autumn 2022, the Foundation piloted the TIA Professor funding for professors, with 6 professors receiving funding. The TIA Professor call is due to be re-launched in autumn 2023. More information on the call will be published on the Foundation’s website before the summer.

Almost all new industry innovations grow out of frontline research. But how do researchers and academia benefit from their collaboration with industry partners? We asked some scientists and researchers how they had benefited from stepping outside the academic world.

“There’s been very little research on emissions in northern environments, even though the climate here is completely unique. This project will allow us to show how our short growing season and topsoil freezing and thawing impact emissions.” Mari Pihlatie, Professor of Environmental Soil Science at the University of Helsinki, says that at the moment, this information is not available anywhere.

Pihlatie is currently working on a joint project between the University of Helsinki and Valio to produce completely new information about nitrous oxide emissions from dairy production.

Understanding and cutting the carbon footprint of milk production requires in-depth knowledge about true greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farming. To this end, the University of Helsinki and Valio have turned their focus to studying nitrous oxide, which contributes significantly to dairy production emissions yet has largely been overshadowed in research by carbon dioxide. 

The collaboration between the university and Finland’s biggest diary producer has made it possible for the project to conduct regular measurements at the SMEAR-Agri station in connection with the University of Helsinki Viikki campus and at Valio grassland farms around the country. The project’s academic goal is to report the findings in leading journals in the field.

What does research-driven cooperation with industry mean?

A 2021 survey conducted by FRIF found that while industry does often work closely with academic research, this cooperation is often driven by business needs. This means that research questions are typically formulated on the basis of business interests and that only the business partner will have access to the results. There is no open exchange of information between the business and the surrounding society.

The Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) funding programme launched by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation in 2019 aims to create a different kind of setting.

Chairman of the FRIF Board, Mr Lauri Oksanen explains: “Government funding for research cooperation in Finland has been heavily geared to supporting market-driven cooperation, but we want to support industry collaborations that are grounded in researchers’ interests and that have the potential to generate creative new innovations.”

Professor Pihlatie’s project has received TIA funding worth over 200,000 euros. The purpose of the grant is to support academia-industry cooperation that is grounded in research interests and considerations.

The terms and conditions of TIA funding are such that the results of cooperation remain accessible to the academic community and thereby society at large. Likewise, the research results are accessible not just to the industry partner but to all businesses, meaning that on completion of the project the research can also be shared by some other party. 

To date a total of 36 projects have received TIA funding. Applicants stress that industry cooperation brings multiple benefits, including the opportunity to refine research ideas, to integrate different disciplines and to pursue a common goal on a level playing field. 

“This funding will facilitate the university’s collaboration with business partners through the individual appointed to the position. This is why it’s an ideal way of exporting results produced in academic research into business companies’ products.”

– Mikko Möttönen, Professor, Aalto University & VTT

“This funding programme is a great way to combine both business and research interests. It’s also well-aligned to support our project idea as a whole. The project, its results and outcomes will benefit the business partner, the academic world and society as a whole.”

– Mika Komppula, principal investigator, Finnish Meteorological Institute

“The business partner cannot be content with knowing that the technology works in theory. It also has to work in practice. I get feedback from every version I develop, and that helps me improve the technology further. This is the kind of work you’d never get done without a company that needs to put the technology to practical use.”

– Tommi Jauhiainen, postdoc researcher, University of Helsinki

How to build a research-driven joint industry project: three tips

1. When you talk to a potential industry partner about your research subject, step into their shoes. What’s useful and interesting about your research from their point of view? What common interests and prospects do you potentially share? 
2. Define a clear set of goals for collaboration from the point of view of both the industry partner and academia: what benefits will there be for both parties? To this end, it’s important to have a well-defined research question. The research subject, too, must be defined closely enough so that it can be properly covered during the two-year project term. 
3. Contact the industry partner well ahead of time to agree on practical matters, such as in-team communications and the monitoring of project progress. Also, talk openly open about any risks involved.

Join us to learn more useful tips about planning industry cooperation at the TIA application info on 1 March 2023, starting at 9:30 am. Read more and register.

The Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc 2023 funding call opened on 1.3.2023. In the information session held on the same day Petro Poutanen, CEO of the foundation, and Outi Vanharanta, Research impact officer, presented the principles of the funding model and details of the application process. A recording of the session is now available for viewing here.

The call is open from 1 March to 16 April 2023. Read more about the call here and carefully read the application guidelines before submitting your application.

If you have any questions regarding the application or assessment process, you can book a personal 30 min appointment with the Foundation’s experts by following this link.

If you cannot find a suitable time or all the slots are full you can also send us an email or contact us by phone. See the Foundation’s contact details here.

Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc (TIA Postdoc) call is open from 1 March to 16 April 2023. Read more about the call here and carefully read the guidelines before submitting your application.

Do you have questions about the application process or the evaluation? Experts from the Finnish Research Impact Foundation will answer applicants’ questions in one-to-one video meetings.

Book yourself a 30-minute sparring session with the Foundation’s experts using this link. 
Please note that a limited number of slots are available. If you cannot find a suitable time or all times are full you can also email us or contact us by phone. See the Foundation’s contact details here.

The 4th round of the Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s Tandem Industry Academia Postdoc (TIA Postdoc) call will open in March 2023. The application period is from 1 March to 16 April. Applications must be submitted to the Foundation via the electronic grant system by 16 April at 23:59. The Industrial partner submits its own application no later than 7 days after the call closes.

Please read the call info and the updated application guidelines carefully in advance. The application form will be open for registration from 1 March.

We will organize an Info Session on 1 March at 9:30. Register for the webinar here. You will receive a link by email before the event. During the event, you will have the opportunity to ask questions to the Foundation about the application process. The information part of the event will also be available for viewing afterwards.

Currently, there are a total of 30 ongoing or upcoming joint top-research projects between universities, colleges or research institutes and companies funded by the Foundation through the TIA instrument. In these projects, a post-doctoral researcher works closely with an academic partner for half of the project duration and with an industrial partner for the other half.