Insights

Matryoshka going nano?

Canatu, a spin-off from Aalto University (since 2004), is developing cost-effective manufacturing of transparent flexible conductive films based on carbon nanomaterials needed for touch screens, sensors and solar cells. Their R&D project done within the Tekes Functional Materials Programme aims to provide a superior alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO), which is brittle and difficult to process and based on scarce natural resources.

CTO of the Year Award 2011 announced, nomination period starts

A survey of almost 100 Finnish Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) has found that 70% plan to recruit more personnel in the coming 12 months. The survey was conducted by technology and innovation consulting firm Spinverse and launched at the CTO Forum on 16th December 2010. The CTO Forum also saw the announcement and opening of nominations for the 2011 CTO of the Year Award.

Spinverse continues to grow in the innovation management and technology commercialisation business areas. Recently the company has hired new talent to aid in the execution of next year’s aspiring growth targets.

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.

A chapter in Nanotechnologies for Future Mobile Devices by Spinverse experts Tom Crawley, Laura Juvonen and Pekka Koponen "make it stand out from other overviews and reviews" according to Science Magazine. The book, which is edited by Tapani Ryhänen, Mikko Uusitalo, Olli Ikkala, and Asta Kärkkäinen, is reviewed in Science Magazine's volume 329 (17 September 2010).