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Research brings new insights, for instance, into machine learning in pharmaceuticals development and emissions from dairy production.

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation has awarded more than two million euros to research projects where universities and research institutes are working in close collaboration with industry partners. This was the second call under the Tandem Industry Academia funding programme, which is aimed at enhancing the impact of research through increased cooperation with industry partners. The new funding decisions amount to the same level of investment that was made one year earlier in the previous call.

The newly funded joint ventures include projects to research and develop technologies for the measurement of small atmospheric particles; emissions from dairy production; the role of forests in climate modulation; highly repellent coatings; and prospects for machine learning and artificial intelligence in pharmaceuticals development and in sawmill processes.

The research teams involved in the 11 projects come from the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Oulu, Tampere University, LUT University and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

The business partners involved in the projects bring to the table their R&D expertise and market know-how. The partner companies are Vaisala, Satellio Company, Orion Pharma, GE Healthcare, Finnos Oy, Valio, nLIGHT Oy, Danfoss Drives/Vacon, Finnadvance, Bluefors and Polar Electro.

One of the new projects is a joint effort of research teams from the University of Helsinki and Orion Pharma, who are breaking new ground in Finland by combining state-of-the-art chemistry technologies with machine learning in pharmaceuticals research. Their aim is to optimize the process of pharmaceuticals synthesis and to identify improved synthetic routes to drugs and thereby to accelerate pharmaceuticals manufacturing processes.

“FRIF funding means that we can proceed with our research which has definite impact potential. It’s also an excellent way of supporting and promoting scientific collaboration with business partners, which in a best case scenario can pave the way to wider cooperation,” says University of Helsinki Professor Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma, who is principal investigator of the project Optimizing synthesis of pharmaceuticals by machine learning.

More information on all the 11 projects funded »

The Foundation received 80 applications to the second Tandem Industry Academia funding call, which closed on 25 April 2021. The FRIF Board decided to award funding to 11 projects of the highest international standard that are expected to deliver greater impact by virtue of their collaboration with business partners. The projects involve precompetitive research, which will not only produce important scientific results but also strengthen Finnish industry and its competencies.

“The assessment commissioned by FRIF in spring 2021 made it clear that our work to deepen and strengthen academia-industry cooperation can indeed yield substantial benefits both in the short term and in the long term. The Tandem Industry Academia funding model plays an important part in supporting this effort,” says Lauri Oksanen, Chairman of the Board of the Finnish Research Impact Foundation.

“We again received a large number of extremely high-quality applications, which is obviously pleasing. The choices we had to make were not easy, but it will be exciting to follow the progress of the projects funded,” Mr Oksanen continues.

In projects funded under the Tandem Industry Academic model, academic researchers with a PhD will work for one year in the academic partner organization and another year more closely with the business partner.

“We expect that the projects will inspire the movement of new knowledge and competencies in both directions and in this way promote both scientific and commercial interests,” Mr Oksanen adds.

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

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation’s first Annual Report 2020 looks back at the events and highlights of our operations in the past year.

Read messages from the Chairman of the Board of Directors Lauri Oksanen and CEO Petro Poutanen.

The Annual Report also features interviews with Tandem Industry Academia projects’ partners!

Read the Annul Report here →

The call for applications for Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) 2021 closed on 25 April 2021 and the Foundation received 80 applications. The TIA funding model has been developed by FRIF with a view to encouraging ambitious precompetitive projects that further the aims of both leading-edge academic research and business and industry.

This was the second round of TIA funding calls. The first TIA call in 2020 attracted 92 eligible applications, and 11 successful two-year projects received a total of two million euros in funding from FRIF.

The Foundation is looking to award funding to roughly the same number of projects in the spring 2021 call. The funding decisions will be made public in August 2021.

A report commissioned by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation on the current state of business-academia cooperation in Finland attracted wide attention both in the news and social media. Commentary on Twitter highlighted the continuing decline in funding from business and industry for RDI activities in the university sector since 2010 – even though research projects in Finland are funded from multiple sources.

Jointly produced by VTT Finland and Tampere University, the report was published at the beginning of February – and to date has been downloaded an impressive 631 times.

The slowdown of cooperation between academia and industry was widely noted in national news media and in several blog posts. For example, Riikka Heikinheimo, Director of the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, pointed out that “if we can’t find the time to build up interaction and trust, then we also won’t find the time to align the true needs of business development with the agenda of academic research. This will frustrate both sides and cause them to drift apart.”

Another important commentary was made by Jari Hämäläinen, Chairman of Universities Finland UNIFI Vice Deans for Research. He reminded that different disciplines have different roles in cooperation and that academic career paths don’t always favour mobility between the academic world and business and industry. “All in all, I sincerely hope that universities continue to work closely with businesses and that they commit themselves to making an impact,” Hämäläinen says.

Pauli Kuosmanen, Director of Innovation Services and Partnerships at Tampere University, was likewise keen to stress the key importance of collaboration for the creation of business value and for the promotion of societal development. This is an issue that warrants serious concern. Kuosmanen believes one possible reason for the slowdown of cooperation could lie in inadequate or outdated support mechanisms: “Even the highest quality research does not automatically translate into usable business concepts, but that requires specific translation mechanisms …  it’s crucial to update existing structures and support mechanisms so that they correspond to constantly changing business needs and the demands of effective cooperation.”

Click here to download the report (available in Finnish only).

The Finnish Research Impact Foundation will be live on Zoom every Tuesday at 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm, from 23 March through to 6 April. The live sessions are dedicated to answering applicants’ questions regarding the TIA 2021 spring call. You can send your questions in advance using this form. The Foundation’s CEO Petro Poutanen will be available to answer your questions.

Join us on Zoom! Link to Zoom Q&A sessions. Tuesdays 1:00-1:30 pm from 23 March to 6 April 2021.

A report just out by VTT Finland and Tampere University highlights a worrying trend in the Finnish RDI field.

Commissioned by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation FRIF, the report raises concerns about a slowdown in cooperation between academia and industry.

“Finland has been quite at the cutting edge compared to its European peers, but recent indicators suggest that cooperation has been on the decline and that we’ve become increasingly detached and isolated from each other,” says Arho Suominen, one of the report’s authors who works at VTT and Tampere University.

Suominen says that there are several bodies in Finland that provide funding for joint projects between the university and business sector. In recent years these joint efforts have been significantly curtailed, however.

“In the current financing environment the two sides quite simply don’t see each other as attractive partners in cooperation. Because of the scarcity of meaningful research problems and limited opportunities to achieve academic merit, research funding doesn’t give enough incentive for researchers to join forces and work together,” Suominen explains.

Based on an extensive review of the research literature and indicators of research cooperation, the report puts forward a range of new initiatives for deepening cooperation between universities and businesses.

Close collaboration between academia and business has generated significant growth and contributed to regenerate and revitalise the Finnish economy. It has long been recognized as one of the major strengths of the Finnish system compared to other European countries. Yet the momentum of this cooperation is now waning.

Over the past decade the amount and relative weight of business-funded research have continued to decline at universities across the country. This is in stark contrast to trends in other EU and OECD countries, as indicated by figures for business-funded academic research in Finland in 2000–2018 compared to the EU average (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Universities’ funding from business and industry in Finland, EU28 and OECD countries. Source: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators

Chairman of the FRIF Board, Mr Lauri Oksanen says that Finnish business and industry is certainly keen to undertake research cooperation and to take advantage of the unique skills and competencies and the new business generated.

“There is no doubt that both parties benefit from the coming together of research and innovation. It’s crucial that we get this cooperation back on track,” Mr Oksanen says.

Improving and intensifying cooperation between academia and industry is important so that Finland can continue to build on its key success factor – a culture of cooperation and interaction – and so that it does not fall behind international developments.

“Our research system in Finland is world-class, and we also have a very strong export industry. The obstacles to cooperation are largely structural and cultural in nature and cannot be overcome by money alone. We need to have open dialogue about the bottlenecks of cooperation and to show a true commitment to finding solutions,” Arho Suominen says.

The report makes a range of observations and suggestions about developing funding opportunities that will serve to promote cooperation. One of these observations is that rather than making funding available for individual projects, funding schemes should be specifically geared to advancing cooperation, promoting interaction and securing the continuity of cooperation.