Research Council of Finland funds research infrastructures — Tampere University leads three consortia
The Finnish Research Infrastructure Committee at the Research Council of Finland has awarded funding to 11 projects for building and upgrading national and international research infrastructures.
The total amount granted is more than €22 million. This is the last set of decisions in the FIRI 2023 call for research infrastructure funding.
Tampere University leads three research infrastructures, which investigate integrated optics, printed intelligence technology and wastewater-based surveillance.
Professor Goery Gentry from the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences leads the FinnLight-IO consortium which received funding for the development of integrated optics. Integrated optics can be applied, for example, in quantum computing, biosensors and communications to facilitate the digital transition.
FinnLight will create scientific impact and technological progress in the coming decade, supporting Finland’s position as one of the leaders of advanced technology while providing new business opportunities.
The other consortium partners are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and the University of Eastern Finland. The consortium’s funding totals some €2,6 million.
Professor Matti Mäntysalo from the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences leads the Printed Intelligence Infrastructure (PII) consortium.
Printed intelligence is in a key position in the development of next-generation electronic and photonic products. PII offers a world-class research and product development infrastructure for both academic researchers and technology developers. The application areas include, among other things, distributed sensors (IoE), diagnostics and on-skin electronics.
The consortium partners comprise VTT, University of Oulu and Åbo Akademi University. The Research Council of Finland granted more than €4,5 million euros to the consortium.
Senior Research Fellow Sami Oikarinen from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology leads the TAU-WBS research infrastructure (RI)consortium.
Wastewater-Based Surveillance (WBS) is a new scientific tool with the potential to act as a complementary approach to monitoring several variables such as local pathogens and clinically important indicators. The infrastructure is expected to promote necessary measures for high-quality research, digital and green transition and growth.
Tampere University will construct and implement the research infrastructure with collaborators and stakeholders in 2024-2026. The consortium’s funding totals some €2,5 million.
The ageing population creates economic, health-related, and societal impacts that emerge over time. To understand and monitor these effects, longitudinal data and appropriate methods are required. Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-FI) consortium promotes meeting such challenges by supporting a research environment that concentrates on gathering longitudinal data on the population of Finland. The project also develops methods that are suited for analysing such data.
Professor of Gerontology Anu Siren from Tampere University participates in the research infrastructure with a sub-project. The other partners are the Family Federation of Finland, University of Turku, and University of Eastern Finland that leads the consortium.
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In the FIRI2023 programme, the Research Council of Finland granted a total of more than €52 million. FIRI funding supports the establishment and upgrading of high-quality research infrastructures, which lay a solid foundation for high-impact research, development and innovation.
