Insights

Materials development renewing Finnish industry

The active two-day Annual Seminar (29.-30.05.2012) of the Tekes Functional Materials Programme coordinated by Spinverse, gathered together 250 experts and presented a bunch of new exciting results both from companies and research projects. Fresh result highlights include e.g. roll-to-roll ALD coating (Beneq), flexible & formable touch sensors (Canatu), novel solar thermal collectors (Savo-Solar, Aurubis, PolarSol), antimicrobial fabrics (Silvergreen), ultra-high strength biocomposites (Vivoxid) & injectable bone cement (Ozics) for bone fracture treatment, fibril cellulose for industrial applications (UPM) and as cell growth media (Helsinki University), and formable plywood (UPM Grada).

Co-operation between enterprises and universities requires substantial improvement

A study for Estonian Materials Technology Programme, ordered by the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, has been completed. The result is, due to the weak cooperation between universities and companies in Estonia, a big gap between university research & development and real business needs.

Tekes continues to strongly fund Finnish Materials Technology. In the beginning of 2011, the Spinverse coordinated Functional Materials Programme choose ten new research...

Matryoshka going nano?

The Annual Seminar of the Tekes Functional Materials Programme arranged by Spinverse in Helsinki on October 20th, 2010 gathered together the Finnish Materials Society. Among several discussion themes, the importance of life-cycle thinking and material and energy efficiency was raised up as a topic connecting the participants of several branches of industry and academia. Including these aspects already as part of the research and development phase is becoming more and more crucial for the competitiveness of the industry.

The Annual Seminar of the Tekes Functional Materials Programme arranged on 20.10.2010 in Finlandia Hall, Helsinki attracted about 200 participants representing several branches of industry and academia. The event disseminated recent research results of the Programme and provided an active networking and discussion forum for the whole Finnish materials society.

Spinverse's Managing director Pekka Koponen writes about materials technology, which is going to revolutionise several industries much in the way ICT did during the last couple of decades. The column was originally published in Kauppalehti on 19 October 2010.

Spinverse Oy has been selected to conduct a broad feasibility study for an Estonian Materials Technology Programme. Materials technology is identified as one of three strategic key technology areas in Estonia’s research and development and innovations strategy. The study was ordered by the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication.

For cleaner world, boilers go dirty. To reduce unwanted emissions, fossil fuels are today increasingly replaced by renewable biomass. This carries to combustion process a lot of impurities like chlorine, which promotes severe boiler corrosion by a catalytic process called active oxidation. This challenge is usually approached by reducing the boiler temperature, which leads to lower efficiency, or by adding significant amounts of coal or peat to the fuel, which in turn reduce the renewable fraction and increase emissions.