Insights

Resource scarcity is the new trend. We have e.g. too little clean water, energy, and rare raw materials. At the same time many resource side-flows from production are being thrown away or seen as waste. The mountains of garbage at the landfills are growing as we speak. Could your waste be my gold? Can this even be seen as a new underused business opportunity? According to the CTOSurvey2014, the respondents believe so.

Inefficient solid waste disposal is a huge global problem that has substantial deteriorating effect on our quality of life. The nasty consequences include emissions, hazardous effect on human health, environment pollution, health problems and land depletion.

European partnership focusing on nanoelectronics ENIAC Joint Undertaking has granted funding for a project coordinated by Okmetic Oyj. The total budget of the “Processes for MEMS by Inkjet Enhanced Technologies,” or PROMINENT project is 9.4 M€, and the coordination is managed by Spinverse Oy.

On March 12th Beneq opened a subsidiary and operations in Saint Petersburg to commercialise its atomic layer deposition technology (ALD) in the Russian market. As part of the overall strategy, the company will sign an agreement to launch a joint laboratory for research and development of industrial applications in ALD with Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University (SpbGETU).

Finnish Chief Technology Officers have stayed optimistic according to the CTO Survey 2013, which was published last week. Almost half of the CTOs believe in increasing their R&D investments and nearly a third their recruitments. The number has however decreased from the last two years.

The Spinverse coordinated Tekes Fuel Cell programme will have an exhibition stand and organise a delegation to the world's largest exhibition and conference specialised in Hydrogen & Fuel Cell: 9th Int'l Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Expo. The event is held in Tokyo 27.2.-1.3.2013 as part of the World Smart Energy Week - exhibition.

Beneq, world-leading provider of thin film coating equipment for research and industry, has on November 1st announced its plans to establish operations in Russia and the CIS following the investment of 25 million euros in Beneq by Rusnano in April, and as a part of its planned expansion into existing and emerging markets. The company’s operations in Russia, both in the fields of research and industrial sales, are projected to exhibit a rapid increase during the coming years, and these customers will be best served by a local organization.

The measurement of chemicals develops with Russian technology

CTO Forum, organized on the 19th of September by Spinverse and Technology Academy Finland, gathered Finnish technology leaders to network and exchange ideas on the role and significance of CTOs in companies. The call for nominations for CTO of the Year 2013 was launched simultaneously.

The miserable state of Finnish growth company funding continues. Even though there has been slight improvement in early stage funding, growth funding still needs to be retrieved from abroad. Stock exchange listings are missing. Could the Helsinki Stock Exchange just be shut down?