Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Tekes is funding so far the biggest joint project on optical measurement in Finland. The research parties are Valmet Automation, VTT and Tampere University of Technology with several small and medium size companies. The Terävä project parties are motivated by the potential new business areas especially around quality controlling for web-like products as well as within medical, food, packaging and electronics industries.
The expectations Tekes have for their nearly 3M€ funding lie in the estimated 125 M€ combined revenue growth after the commercialization of the product development. The biggest research company in the project is Valmet Automation Ltd and they’re very familiar with the technology needs in the main application area. The other companies – Spectral Engines Oy, Oplatek Group Oy, Advacam Oy, Offcode Oy, TimeGate Instruments Oy, Rikola Ltd, FocalSpec Oy and Kemira Oyj provide a great variety of measurement technologies. The project will also be looking into the market potential outside the main application area. The research institutions in this project are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and Tampere University of Technology (TUT) with their central contribution.
– Terävä project splendidly supports the Valmet Automation research and development work on web-like products’ online quality measurement and control technologies. The well established collaboration with VTT and TUT has facilitated the development of our application area know-how in the research institutions and now the Terävä project makes it possible to combine the expert knowledge of various researchers. One of the most interesting things in this project is the collaboration with the young measurement technology spinoff companies. This gives us a head start with our own measurement technologies while making it possible for them to commercialize their technologies on other fields, states Valmet Automation technology manager Markku Mäntylä.
– The Terävä project consortium is exceptionally interesting for us. The best measurement systems are born by combining various technologies. The Department of Automation Science and Engineering at Tampere University of Technology brings over 15 years of experience on image-based technologies for measuring quality and structure of web-like products, sums Professor Risto Ritala from TUT.
– One of the most significant goals of the collaboration is to improve the competiveness of the technologies developed in R&D projects by VTT and commercialized into the spinoff companies. Moreover, the continued development of the technologies beyond current application areas will expand the potential markets. This project will clearly increase the efficiency of previous research and development investments while enhancing the Finnish high-tech expertise in this field as well our national competitiveness on a global scale, says Principal Scientist Mauri Aikio of VTT.
– Terävä project succeeds in the main aim of Tekes to link consortium parties and embrace the interaction of companies of all sizes with the research institutions. This project was initiated by the actual research needs of the companies and the will to work with the best researchers in the field. All the public research results by VTT and TUT are applicable both by the consortium companies for their own research projects plus widely in the Finnish business, concludes Tekes Financial Manager Timo Laurila.
