What kind of projects received funding from Business Finland in 2024? What opportunities do the renewed BF funding instruments offer to the University of Oulu and our researchers? We dived into these topics at Business Finland Champions Award.

To make our experts more accessible to you, we are introducing them in this blog series. First up is Ville Saarenpää, our business expert.

Have a business idea you’d like to develop? Want to test its feasibility without taking on major financial risk? That’s exactly what Proof of Concept (PoC) funding is for – and it has been available at the University of Oulu for ten years now!

These entrepreneurs from Oulu prove that work friends can help you reach goals you’d never achieve alone! They share how their friendship and business ventures began, and how they continue to strengthen each other.

Researcher Ville Kaikkonen and his team are developing a new technology specifically designed to prevent icing on drones.

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.

Rheumatologist and researcher Johanna Huhtakangas, along with her team, is developing an innovative treatment for inflammatory joint diseases. Their aim is a solution that would work as effectively as cortisone — but without the side effects. In the future, the treatment might center on a compound of vitamin D.

Anna Pesonen has joined us to streamline the contract signing process and ensure smooth integration into the document management system.

Miska Visuri’s company, LessonLab, is on a mission to infuse education with a contemporary twist and fresh perspective. They offer customized, gamified learning solutions designed to train employees in an engaging and interactive way.

Researcher Timo Liimatainen and his team are developing new technology for hospitals where artificial intelligence helps patients position themselves for X-rays. The project has received Business Finland’s Research to Business funding.

The CAAMA process offers a cheaper, more efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for cleaning mine wastewater than what is currently available on the market.

At the University of Oulu, we celebrated inventors and inventions on University Inventor Day. At the event, we revealed our researchers with the most invention disclosures in 2023 and heard inspiring talks.

The Measurement Technology Unit's Smart Feed project has been shortlisted as one of the nominees for the European Innovation Award for EIP (European Innovation Partnership) projects.

The Innovation Centre's UniOulu Science Day workshop challenged researchers to think about how research results can be turned into new inventions, services and practices.

Mikko Koistinen and Peetu Nuottajärvi, founders of software company Buutti Oy, visited our living room for an InnoVisitor event. The duo opened up to the audience about Buutti's journey from 2016 until today.  

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.

When you search the University of Oulu study guide with the keyword innov*, you will find nearly 30 courses related to innovation. What is taught about innovation? Why is the topic so relevant that it is worth taking courses on?

New experts have joined the Innovation Centre team, and it’s time to introduce them! This time, we are introducing Business Development Specialist Ville Saarenpää and Business Development Manager Marika Koivuniemi.

My Christmas is always very easy-going: the Christmas Eve follows the same pattern, if it’s up to me (yes, I’m one of those crazy Christmas enthusiasts). Now that I’ve worked a while as a Communications Intern at the Innovation Centre, I started thinking about my Christmas celebration from an innovative perspective. What inventions would make my Christmas even smoother?