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
