Tandem Industry Academia (2022)
General-purpose quality control in 3D-printing for novel product development
Project title:
AI-assisted 3D-printing for Zero Defect and Zero Waste Manufacturing (AIM-Zero)
Approved funding:
247 123 €
Applicant:
Aalto University
Industrial partner:
Electro Optical Systems Finland
“The project can shift the performance frontier of products by eliminating defects and significantly reducing costs, lead-time, and waste.”
Jan Akmal, principal investigator of the project, Aalto University.
The principal investigator of the project until August 14, 2024, was Mika Salmi from Aalto University.
Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is emerging into a disruptive general-purpose technology such as the dynamos and computers that drive our industries. However, its uncertainty in passing stringent quality standards hinders its widespread adoption. The AIM-Zero project—introducing an ideal synergy between Aalto University and EOS Finland Oy—develops a novel process to create a general-purpose in-situ quality control system as opposed to the current part-specific ex-situ system. It deploys artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and compensate spatial and temporal defective regions layer by layer using in-situ process monitoring sensors.
More effective drugs for ocular diseases
Project title:
Platform for targeted drug delivery to the ocular tissues
Approved funding:
174 398 €
Applicant:
University of Eastern Finland
Industrial partner:
Bayer
“The technology for targeted ocular delivery of drugs does not yet exist, but this project aims to create such technology” Arto Urtti, principal investigator of the project, University of Eastern Finland.
Ocular diseases have a huge impact on patients’ lives and their treatment is a major financial burden for society. Unfortunately, there are no effective drug treatments for most eye diseases. Poor drug delivery to the retina is a major bottleneck in ocular drug development. In this project, researchers from the University of Eastern Finland are teaming up with the pharmaceutical company Bayer to create a technology for targeted ocular delivery of drugs. The technology is based on the use of targeting compounds and nanotechnology. The drug will be inserted into the nanoparticles, and the compounds on the surfaces of drug-containing nanoparticles will direct the drug into the cells of the retina. This will allow the homing of the drug to the target site, thereby improving drug efficacy and safety. The technology will facilitate the development of effective and safe ocular drugs for unmet medical needs in ophthalmology. It will primarily benefit healthcare providers, the pharmaceutical industry as well as patients suffering from ocular diseases.
Fully bio-based packaging materials help decrease dependency on plastics
Project title:
Film formation mechanism of bio-colloids for sustainable coating solutions (FilmCO)
Approved funding:
190 700 €
Applicant:
Aalto University
Industrial partner:
Kemira
“Tandem Industry Academia funding is a unique possibility to work closely with a company towards a joint goal and on equal terms. Such collaboration allows us to deepen the connections between Aalto University and our industrial partner, Kemira. I also think it is an excellent chance for the postdoctoral researcher to gain a better understanding of how research work is conducted in a company and to expand their career and research opportunities.” Monika Österberg, principal investigator of the project, Aalto University.
The demand for fully bio-based packaging materials is continuing to grow as companies worldwide are seeking to decrease their dependency on fossil-based plastics. The use of fully bio-based materials is hampered by their poor barrier properties – meaning their capability to endure moisture, water vapour and oxygen. Whilst there are theories for film formation in synthetic polymers, biopolymers do not follow the same rules. This unique tandem project between Aalto University and Kemira is aimed at monitoring the actual film formation in bioploymers. This toolbox is expected to be very helpful in developing new sustainable bio-based coating solutions in the packaging industry. Also, the development of fully bio-based packaging products will have positive impacts in both the forest and chemical industries, which constitute a significant part of the Finnish economy.
A tool to predict the efficiency of cancer immunotherapies
Project title:
Solid-IO: Patient-relevant microfluidic platform for immuno-oncology drug testing
Approved funding:
275 762 €
Applicant:
University of Helsinki
Industrial partner:
Finnadvance
“In addition to novel scientific basic research, we want to change the world and first and foremost, help cancer patients. This grant from the Finnish Research Impact Foundation offers us a means to further develop our ideas and combine different fields of research with an industrial partner.” Heidi Haikala, principal investigator of the project, University of Helsinki.
Cancer immunotherapies encourage the patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. They have been life-changing and even helped to cure some patients, yet it’s still unclear why only a fraction of patients respond to immunotherapies. Thus it is difficult for doctors to know whether or not to prescribe these expensive treatments. In this collaboration, scientists from the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital and Finnadvance are pooling their efforts to solve the problem surrounding the predictability of immunotherapy response. They will be working to create a microfluidic tumour-on-a-chip and model human antitumour immunity. The platform combines the patient’s own cancer and immune cells and could help to functionally predict the patient’s immunotherapy response in the future. The aim of this study is to create a tool that would help doctors to prescribe the right treatment, increase the number of patients benefiting from cancer immunotherapies, and to enhance the cost efficiency of cancer care in Finland and beyond.
An interface that receives commands from the patient’s brain activity could transfrom the treatment of neurological diseases
Project title:
Brain–Computer Interface for Automated EEG-guided Brain Stimulation
Approved funding:
210 703 €
Applicant:
Aalto University
Industrial partner:
Bittium Biosignals
“The impact of this collaboration can be enormous because we will make it possible for people to use their own brain activity to control the function of therapeutic devices. We aim to apply the research outcome to patients with motor and mental disorders.” Pantelis Lioumis, principal investigator of the project, Aalto University.
There is an urgent need for advanced methods for studying and treating motor disabilities, which affect over 60 million people in Europe alone and result in annual costs of 400 million euros. Better methods for examination, diagnosis and treatment are desperately needed. This collaboration between Aalto University and Bittium Biosignals is aimed at developing a brain–computer interface that uses the patients’ intentions to move their limbs and translates those intentions into commands to guide a multi-locus neuromodulation device. This interface could personalise motor rehabilitation by improved targeting accuracy and timing via electronic control of the brain stimulator, automated robotic placement and artifact-free, real-time electroencephalography readings. The envisioned new product would enable Bittium to enter the BCI and rehabilitation technology businesses, with numerous other future clinical and scientific applications.
Completely new information about tiny atmospheric aerosols
Project title:
Resolving atmospheric ultrafine particle phase constituents with Karsa electrospray MION (ReMION)
Approved funding:
172 904 €
Applicant:
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (University of Helsinki)
Industrial partner:
Karsa
“Never before has it been possible to measure the chemical composition of such small aerosol particles that we are focused on.” Mikko Sipilä, principal investigator of the project, University of Helsinki.
Aerosol particles play a significant role in air quality and atmosphere. They are also used when identifying dangerous substances or developing clean-air technologies. However, it is difficult to evaluate the chemical composition of small aerosol particles with high accuracy because the technology is not available. This collaboration between the University of Helsinki and Karsa Oy aims to change this situation and create the technology that is needed to measure the chemical composition of sub-100 nm aerosol particles. The result will be an electrospray-based thermal desorption chemical ionisation mass spectrometer. This project has high potential to advance research on atmospheric aerosols, and it can also produce business opportunities for several industrial applications.
A new circular bioeconomy concept to minimise the environmental footprint of greenhouse agriculture
Project title:
Integration of greenhouse farming and microalgae bioproduction for a sustainable circular agriculture approach (AgriAlga)
Approved funding:
214 326 €
Applicant:
University of Turku
Industrial partner:
Oksasen Puutarha
“This funding tool gives academic researchers an excellent opportunity to interact with industrial partners and develop a truly innovative joint application. It is particularly suitable for postdocs who are interested in transferring academic knowledge to industry and developing their entrepreneurship skills.” Yagut Allahverdiyeva-Rinne, principal investigator of the project, University of Turku.
In Finland, horticulture in greenhouses is an important part of agriculture and ensures the year-round availability of fresh crops. To enhance crop yield and quality, extra nutrients e.g. phosphorous and nitrogen) are added to irrigation water. Afterwards, this water is discharged and the high nutrient levels add to the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Microalgae can utilise these nutrients from greenhouse drainage water for growth, which simultaneously results in clean water. This joint project between the University of Turku and Oksasen Puutarha strives to create high-value microalgal biomass in a novel agricultural-algal circular bioeconomy concept. The obtained biomass will be valorised as biofertilizer. This will provide a closed nutrient loop and decrease the environmental footprint of greenhouses, reduce the use of artificial fertilizers, and help to recycle waste streams.
Finding solutions for privacy and energy consumption issues in distributed machine learning
Project title:
WirelESS Network IntelligENCE at the Edge (ESSENCE)
Approved funding:
176 900 €
Applicant:
University of Oulu
Industrial partner:
Nokia Bell-Labs
“Key to our vision is a novel framework for the co-design of ML and wireless networks to enhance the reliability, latency and energy footprint of ML training and inference”, says Mehdi Bennis, principal investigator of the project, University of Oulu.
Machine learning has great potential for fast information transfer and processing across industries. However, when machine learning is trained at several different locations at the same time, for example hospitals, questions about privacy, latency, energy consumption and accuracy come to play a central role. The so-called edge ML and fifth generation of wireless communication systems (5G), and beyond, are key enablers of widely distributed machine learning processes. The goal of this collaboration between the University of Oulu and Nokia Bell-Labs is to lay the foundations for this nascent field of research. The project is aimed at developing the theoretical and algorithmic principles of distributed, communication-efficient, reliable, low-latency and scalable edge ML. The potential applications of this technology lie in several fields ranging from healthcare to retail and agriculture.
