Nokian Tyres announced in its release published yesterday 26th Feb 2025 that it is to lead the FUTUREPROOF research, development and innovation programme to confront the key challenges of future mobility through solutions related to for example the digitalisation of tires and traffic, sustainable product lifecycle and advanced manufacturing technologies. The tire maker said that the mission of the five-year programme is to futureproof resilient European on- and off-road mobility by crosslinking industries to join the common cause. Spinverse supported Nokian Tyres in building the FUTUREPROOF plan and securing funding for this ambitious R&D&I programme.
As a leading company, Nokian Tyres will receive EUR 20 million funding from Business Finland for its five-year FUTUREPROOF programme. Business Finland has also committed to fund the ecosystem partners with further EUR 50 million. The FUTUREPROOF ecosystem is aiming to involve over 100 partners in joint R&D&I work.
The FUTUREPROOF programme aims to respond to challenges such as climate change and increasing vulnerability of the global value chains with innovations across business, process, and technical domains. It drives growth for both Nokian Tyres and the ecosystem partners while creating concrete benefits for drivers.
The expenditure on the research, development and innovation work of Nokian Tyres and the ecosystem combined is estimated to increase significantly during the programme. The programme is also estimated to create hundreds of new jobs in Finland by 2034.
Aiming to find new business opportunities for the mobility sector
In the release Nokian Tyres gave about the programme launch Paolo Pompei, President and CEO from Nokian Tyres, the results of the ecosystem collaboration can vary from a new innovative form of technology used in a tire to a new business opportunity for the mobility sector. Paolo Pompei stresses the strength of cross-industry ecosystem collaboration in rising to the challenges and finding the solutions.
Nokian Tyres’ FUTUREPROOF programme consists of four main themes: Future Mobility and Business, Sustainable Tire Lifecycle, Digital Foundation and Advanced Manufacturing. Every theme has specific objectives guiding the joint development with ecosystem partners. The themes aim to tackle issues such as improving the safety and sustainability of Finnish and European mobility, reducing emissions throughout the entire supply chain, developing advanced driving solutions and accelerating the implementation of Industry 5.0.
Spinverse provided Nokian Tyres with proposal preparation services
Spinverse team, Simo-Pekka Leino as project manager, Markku Heino as senior expert supported by Maria Rinkkala and Timo Ropponen, helped Nokian Tyres to design the comprehensive FUTUREPROOF plan resulting in successful outcome. "Collaboration with Spinverse has been straightforward and productive. It is always a pleasure to work with highly skilled and experienced professionals,” says Teemu Soini, Vice President, Innovations & Development at Nokian Tyres.
Principal Consultant, Dr. Markku Heino from Spinverse concludes: “FUTUREPROOF is cross-linking several industries and big themes such as sustainability, digitalisation, security and resilience. The ambitious research plan calls for key experts from many fields to join the ecosystem and tackle together well identified, critical research challenges through concrete joint actions — and develop new sustainable business.”
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Photo credit: Nokian Tyres
More information: Nokian Tyres press release 26.2.2025