Funding for research infrastructures from Academy of Finland

The Academy of Finland has granted a total of 20 million euros for projects that will contribute to increasing the wide and versatile use of research infrastructures. The funding supports, in particular, the development of research infrastructures in collaboration with the business sector.

Among the funded infrastructures, Aalto University is involved in six research consortia that study and develop micro- and nanotechnologies as well as quantum engineering, shared digital spaces, future wireless technologies, bio- and circular economy, measurement of Earth-space ecosystem, and natural and new inorganic materials.

‘I am pleased that the funding was received for a wide range of research infrastructures. These infrastructures support the seven key areas of our research and enable scientific breakthroughs. Aalto University has a national as well as partly international responsibility for the maintenance and development of the infrastructures in its own area, and they are an important platform for cooperation both within Aalto and with our partners,’ says Janne Laine, Vice President for Innovation at Aalto University.

Research environments funded under the call ‘FIRI: research infrastructures as collaborative platforms'

OtaNano 1 415 708 euros (total funding 1 751 533 euros)

OtaNano is a national research infrastructure offering a wide variety of facilities for the needs of micro- and nanoscience and technology, and quantum engineering. The research environment is operated by Aalto University and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

OtaNano's specialty is the extensive innovation ecosystem of research and business. The funding will focus on equipment that will further increase business use. This will ensure that top-level research and special expertise in nanotechnology, quantum computing and low-temperature physics creates internationally competitive high-tech business in Finland. At OtaNano, it is possible for companies to move directly from research to pilot production, which speeds up the introduction of high-tech products to the market and brings savings in investment costs and time.

MAGICS 1 052 206 euros (total funding 2 366 876 euros)

The MAGICS consortium, led by Aalto University, focuses on research and development of shared digital spaces and remote presence.  Data gathering and digitalization will transform society. The technological shift on micro (body and individual), meso (groups) and macro (cultures) levels will be radical and affects all aspects of human experience. Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions will transform human interactions, design, learning, media, arts, robotics, and healthcare. MAGICS creates a national network infrastructure of complementary cutting-edge facilities to accelerate research into these complex phenomena.

Aalto University focuses on measuring and digitizing human experience, and the University of Tampere on multimodal and embodied interaction, game culture, representing visual data, and reconstructing and visualizing digital worlds. The University of the Arts Helsinki illuminates all this from the perspective of arts.

Read the story about the project

New technology makes telepresence seem almost authentic

Future wireless technologies (FUWIRI) 347 472 euros (total funding 1 397 476 euros)

The research infrastructure for future wireless technologies FUWIRI is a nation-wide high-impact research, innovation and collaboration infrastructure involving the University of Oulu, the University of Tampere, Aalto University and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The research environment enables the research, development and testing of new hardware solutions, algorithms, software and applications related to wireless networks.

Aalto University has an extensive measurement environment for the research and design of electronic devices. The funding will make it possible to complete the equipment so that future multi-antenna systems can be optimized better and more energy-efficiently. The project also supports the already strong cooperation between the project partners.

BIOECONOMY 301 000 euros (total funding 875 000 euros)

BIOECONOMY research infrastructure, hosted by Aalto University and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, supports research and development activities tackling such global challenges as climate change and resource sufficiency. The research environment is internationally exceptional as it covers the research value chain from lab to pilot scale and combines research and innovation facilities for material and chemical technologies as well as for biotechnical processes. BIOECONOMY allows methods for upgrading the forest raw materials and biobased waste and side streams to high-value products. It enables academic research discoveries to be scaled to near-market ready technology concepts.

RAMI RawMatTERS Finland 200 200 euros (total funding 614 403 euros)

The RAMI Circular Raw Materials research infrastructure is hosted by Aalto University, the Geological Survey of Finland and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. It is designed to strengthen the long-term core expertise and education to place Finland among the world leaders in natural and new inorganic material research needed for the circular economy. The research environment is especially important for activities related to closing the raw material loops and sustainable energy research, to increase the value of primary mining products, secondary raw materials, their processing, and sustainable use in high-performance applications.

Earth-space Research Ecosystem (E2S) 140 000 euros (total funding 712 600 euros)

Earth-space Research Ecosystem (E2S) consist of observations from Tähtelä and Metsähovi megasites and related observational sites. These sites are operated by Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of University of Oulu,  
Arctic Space Centre of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Metsähovi Radio Observatory of Aalto University, and the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute at the National Land Survey of Finland. Together, these sites form globally unique infrastructure covering measurements from distant and near-Earth space to atmosphere and ground.

At Metsähovi, the financing enables equipment purchases and other preparatory work for the purchase of a receiver representing the latest technology in the radio telescope. The University of Oulu leads the research consortium.

Read more:

Funding decisions by the Academy of Finland 30 November 2020Research infrastructures at Aalto University