Mikael Pentikäinen, CEO of Entrepreneurs of Finland, joined us to discuss how universities and businesses can combine forces to discover even more avenues for collaboration.

The University Business Forum 2024 brought together over 200 participants to explore how collaboration and digitalization can pave the way to a more sustainable future.

"This job ties directly into my studies. I got hands-on experience in exactly what I'm studying", says Aleksi Korpela, a third-year civil engineering student at the University of Oulu.

The collaboration between Metsä Group and the University of Oulu generates new knowledge, fosters innovation, and addresses the challenges of sustainable development — all of which are crucial for Finland's international competitiveness. 

Northern Industry 2024 highlighted solutions to mitigate the environmental impact of industry.

The owner of intellectual property rights can be the university, the creator of the result, or a project partner. Ownership is influenced by certain laws, conditions given by the funder, and agreements between project partners.

The University of Oulu is running a 6G Flagship research program, which involves a wide range of research around 6G. Wearable wireless measurement devices enable early-stage diagnostics.

The goal of the Fossil Free Future project is to develop new fossil-free solutions that are used in the production and use of energy needed in industry and transport. Danfoss is currently looking for partners to design smart, sustainable and renewable energy source innovations in co-innovation projects funded by Business Finland and various EU-funded projects.

The University of Oulu is running a 6G Flagship research programme, which involves a wide range of research around 6G. One of the research projects is called EMETA (Enabling Metaverse).

SHAPE is an ecosystem of Mirka Oy, a manufacturer of abrasives, polishing compounds and tools, and its goal is to develop new sustainable solutions for industry and construction.

Marko Heikkinen, who is responsible for new business development at Pipelife, sees that cooperation is best achieved when ideas are processed and developed together. In addition, extensive networks between both small and large companies create new opportunities for collaboration.

The University of Oulu cooperates with both Finnish and international companies. Head of Research Pekka Kilpeläinen works on collaborative projects related to health and well-being.

Finland has official goal of increasing R&D investments into 4% of GDP by year 2030. For University of Oulu this means the increase in the volume of research projects. We intend to double the cooperation with different organizations by the year 2030.

As a celebration of Valentine’s Day, today’s InnoBlog lightly reflects on relationships as a central element in cooperation, and the professional friendship as a form of relationship.

Cooperation in research with businesses is an efficient way of expanding your networks and to increase reputation outside the university. Juho Yliniemi presented the progress of his network and benefits of company cooperation in January’s InnoVisitor event.

Arina Cooperative Association and the University of Oulu have a long history of cooperation. Last spring, the organisations started a new project in the form of a master’s thesis group established through multidisciplinary cooperation, where even more master’s thesis students could delve into subjects provided by Arina.