Impulse 1/2012

VTT

1.2012

A MAGAZINE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS

Finns can!

ELECTRIC VEHICLES STRIVE FOR EFFICIENCY P. 20

SHOWING THE WAY FOR PRINTED INTELLIGENCE P. 52

ENERGY FROM RECOVERED FUEL P. 66

SCIENCE

VTT turns science into profitable business.

This section of VTT Impulse shows how multidisciplinary research leads to innovations (pp. 20–38).

EDITORIAL

Erkki Virtanen Permanent Secretary Ministry of Employment and the Economy

Research serving society and competitiveness National competitiveness is strengthened when productivity is at a high level, innovations translate efficiently into products and services, and a healthy return is obtained on investments. The capacity of society to create wellbeing is closely bound to the economy; only through a strong economy does society possess the resources to offer services to all its members.

The Finnish economy and national competitiveness are now at the crossroads. We are faced with two choices: pruning costs, at the risk of losing the new innovations now germinating; and supporting growth, which through properly targeted investment enables the sprouting of new business activity. The hope must be that we reach a fruitful compromise.

Finland enjoys the highest level of basic education in Europe. Why should we not transpose this into products so that we might create exports and new jobs? It is an uncomfortable fact that while the old, “traditional” Europe produces patents in abundance compared to other economic areas, she gains little commercial and economic benefit from them.

The EU is in danger of being left in the role of scientific actor while the well-being obtained from economic improvement and increased competitiveness – wrought by that very science – is siphoned off elsewhere.

The economies of Europe’s competitors – the USA and Asia – have moved over the past decade towards a forceful transference of scientific achievement into applied technology results and their consequent economic benefits.

Finland cannot afford to follow the EU model.

Instead, we must make sure that our efforts in science

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produce results and innovations. In a small country like ours, any and all information we generate – theoretical or practical – should be channelled for the betterment of overall society, business life, national competitiveness and social well-being.

Organisations such as VTT – where results and influence are founded on a solid scientific base and consequent business activity through applied research – are prime examples of how investment in research and development lead directly to economic benefit and societal impact. Science-based allocation of R&D resources – of a distinctly forward-looking nature – will create competitiveness, jobs and well-being.

Finland can act as a pacesetter, a producer of new knowledge capable of the speedy transfer of scientific competence into products, services and competitiveness. Efficient marketing and communication of results will serve to increase global demand and the level of foreign investment in Finland.

VTT is an exemplary model of international networking, and of a networked research centre, with an established and recognised status in the field of global research, and able to provide substantial evidence of how science can be transformed into results and well-being. VTT has been a pioneer in its chosen field of research, development and innovation for fully 70 years.

Benefiting from the operating models of organisations such as VTT, Finland can be Europe’s herald of change in global competition, an arena in which Europe has some serious work to do!

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VTT Impulse now

2 Meet and greet: Bruce Oreck 6 In short 9 Column 10 Focal point: Alexander Stubb 12 The land that can National identity is demonstrating its pull in international operations.

It is precisely in a crisis that Finland reinvents herself. p. 12

SCIENCE

20 Electric vehicles and machines – improving energy efficiency Electric vehicles still have limitations in range, power and cost.

Research Professor, D. Tech Kari Tammi, VTT

28 Managing the M&A process – from opportunities to new business creation Corporate acquisition is an important and rapid way for a company to gain new competence and new business. The danger of failure is real, however, unless the risks have been properly managed.

Senior Scientist, M.Sc. (Tech.) Tuija Rantala & Research Scientist, M.Sc. (Tech.) Minna Räikkönen, VTT

36 Energy renovations of buildings worthwhile You cannot go wrong: it always pays off to improve energy and ecological efficiency in building renovations.

Senior Research Scientist, M.Sc. (Tech.) Satu Paiho

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T EC H N O LO GY

40 Magic from molecules A Finnish-American research centre focuses on manipulating synthetic cells and molecules into chemicals and fuels.

42 Stop climate change The year of 2050 appears rather close when considering the EU’s target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by that time.

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46 EcoCity will solve urban problems Urbanisation brings challenges for global management of growth. Then again, a decaying urban structure causes difficulties of its own.

52 Let’s print intelligence!

Australia attracts innovative commercialisers.

Finland has climbed to the forefront of the emerging market for printed electronics.

56 Land of opportunity Australia is crying out for innovative commercialisers.

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58 Cars communicating Cars of the future will alert each other to danger on the road.

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BUSINESS

64 Metallurgical expertise tipped the scale The launch of cooperation between Luvata and VTT was no coincidence.

66 Waste can be worth paying for The first power plant in the world using only solid recovered fuel has been started up in Lahti.

72 On the first wave of progress

“It is like we and our competitors are playing catch up,” says Elias Boletis from Wärtsilä.

76 Sparks for welding!

Kemppi is turning welding into a service business.

82 Green-lighting a cell-phone projector

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Found in every pocket, the ubiquitous cell phone will soon double as a miniature projector.

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VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is the biggest multitechnological applied research organisation in Northern Europe. VTT provides high-end technol­ ogy solutions and innovation services. From its w ­ ide knowledge base, VTT combines different technol­ogies, creates new innovations and a substantial range of world class technologies and applied research services thus improving its clients’ competitiveness and competence. Through its international scientific and technology network, VTT can ensure the efficient transfer and utilisation of information and technology.

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VTT’s key technology fields Applied materials Bio and chemical processes Energy Information and communication technologies Industrial systems management Microtechnologies and electronics Services and the built environment Business research

VTT Impulse is VTT’s publication on science, technology and business. Published twice a year in Finnish and in English. Publisher: VTT, Vuorimiehentie 5, Espoo, Finland, P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT. Telephone +358 20 722 111. Editor-in-chief: Olli Ernvall, tel. +358 20 722 6747. Editorial Board: Erkki KM Leppävuori, Jouko Suokas, Anne-Christine Ritschkoff, Kari Larjava, Petri Kalliokoski and Paula Bergqvist. Produc­tion: Cocomms Ltd. Layout: MCI Press Oy. Printing house: Edita, Helsinki 2011. Subscriptions and changes in address: paula.bergqvist@vtt.fi. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the views of VTT. ISSN 1798-0178

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MEET AND GREET | BRUCE ORECK

Energy efficiency – a business bonanza Text Joanna Sinclair Photos Matti Immonen and iStockphoto

U

S ambassador to Finland Bruce Oreck is on a ­mission to heighten awareness on why our greatest global challenges have a silver lining.

It is a known fact our lack of energy and resources threaten to decrease the standard of living around the world. What is less widely acknowledged is that in all likelihood, these threats also hold in them the best business opportunities in the history of humankind.

It is hard to imagine a spokesperson better fit for this cause. Oreck is one of those rare speakers who can grasp his listeners’ attention immediately and carry them away with an array of anecdotes and genuinely appealing stories, mixed at regular intervals with an impressive command of relevant facts and figures. He starts his tale with oil: “The world consumes 85 million barrels of oil a day. Now, when you look at the rate at which the standard of living is rising in the 2

world, led by China and India, everyone realizes that 85 million barrels is nowhere near enough in years to come,” Oreck describes.

“But for the sake of argument, let us just assume that 85 million barrels per day is all we need to keep our world going. Even if this were true, we still would not have enough. In order to keep up with even the 85 million barrels a day, we should quickly find oil resources the equivalent of four Saudi Arabias.”

Companies as a challenge

As the likelihood of four new Saudi Arabias popping up on the map seems slim, Oreck places his bets on research and business.

“What we need now is hard basic science, great minds in labs, vigorous efforts to find new solutions and ultimately commercial innovations. I have full confidence in VTT as an important player in this respect,” Oreck declares.

As Oreck sees it, the true challenge of today does not lie in doing the right research or even identifying commercial applications – both of VTT IMPULSE

Bruce Oreck would like to make businesses really grasp and appreciate the growth potential in new ways to save energy.

Bruce Oreck Bruce J. Oreck is the U.S. Ambassador to Finland, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Prior to being appointed as Ambassador, Oreck practised law, specializing in taxation, for 25 years and made a successful career as a businessman, especially in real estate development. Together with his wife Cody Oreck, he founded the Zero Carbon Initiative in 2003, an organisation with a goal to reduce carbon emissions.

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these are areas in which VTT and its counterparts excel. The challenge lies in getting businesses to understand the new mindset. Getting businesses on board is pivotal; a prerequisite to ensuring rapid route to market for new solutions and investors who are ready to leap in and foster promising innovation.

“The World GDP is currently 100 trillion dollars. Much of this sum is tied to energy in one way or another. As we move away from fossil fuels towards renewable alternatives, it means that everything is fair game. The business opportunities are incredible,” Oreck estimates.

“What we need to do now is find a way to make businesses really grasp and appreciate where growth potential is. It is in finding new energy solutions and new ways to save energy.

The ideas do not have to be big to make a huge difference. Some of the best examples comes from local infrastructure, there is money just waiting to be made in the built environment all around you,” Oreck points out.

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Lucrative investments in infrastructure

Infrastructure investments are one of Bruce Oreck’s favorite examples.

A colleague’s residence in Athens has reached an annual 50% ROI from its energy efficiency initiative. The Empire State Building secured 33 % annual return on investment for the 13 million dollars it decided to spend on improving energy efficiency.

Bio energy, solar power, new innovative methods of water purification – the business opportunities that lie in solving our energy issues are immense.

As Ambassador Oreck is quick to point out, one of his main agendas – smart energy – lies at the heart of many of VTT’s ongoing spearhead and major innovation programs, which include initiatives in industrial biomaterials, green solutions in water and waste, as well as energy efficiency and renewable energy programs in road transport. To Oreck, VTT is currently in a great position to make a considerable impact.

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World GDP is largely tied to energy.

A scalpel and a storyteller

Bruce Oreck believes that the business opportunities that lie in solving our energy issues are immense.

Nothing stops the Ambassador once he gets going on local built environment. Examples of how energy efficiency programs in local infra­ structure have paid off follow one after another. They are all marked with impressive ROI. “Saving energy saves money and makes money. Local initiatives on smart building create one of the greatest returns on investments you can aspire to reach these days and what is more, it keeps the profits close to home.”

“Finland is an energy importer. Using excess energy not only costs money, it costs money that you spill into someone else’s pockets instead of using it to build up your own economy. Investments into the energy efficiency of your local built environment make sense on many levels: it gives incredible returns on investment, creates jobs, saves energy – and provides lucrative new business opportunities for entrepreneurs,” Oreck reminds. n VTT IMPULSE

BRUCE ORECK DOES not tire of emphasizing how the countries that have the most to gain are the ones that decide to shape their own future and believe in their ability to do so. Consequently, there are a few barriers Oreck would like to see Finland overcome. They have nothing to do with the way things are done and every­thing to do in the way Finns view their own potential in changing the world.

“Finns keep telling me they are a small country. As if small was something negative! I will use the U.S. and Finland as examples: the U.S. is a super power. We have economic influence.

When the US acts, it is like a sledgehammer,” Oreck assures.

“Finland, however, is known for its precision. Attention to detail. The appropriate metaphor to depict Finland’s role is a scalpel. Now, depending on what you want to achieve, surely there are times when a scalpel comes in handier than a sledgehammer.”

The buck does not stop here. As his final note, Oreck presents Finnish readers with a wish that comes across as something halfway between an enthusiastic praise and stern scold: “I am growing weary of Finns claiming that they cannot market. You have always been an export economy. It is something you are really quite good at doing. Marketing is all about storytelling and Finland is a country with its history cemented in storytelling. Your national heritage builds upon Kalevala, artists, poets.

You know how to tell a story,” Oreck says.

“Yet somehow, you have convinced yourselves that you cannot market. My sincere wish is that you stop telling yourselves that story and start a new one. Personally, I would like one where you apply your scalpel precision and solve a few of our global energy problems,” Oreck smiles.

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IN SHORT

MEDICINE

Diagnosing diabetes through the eye FURTHER INFORMATION: MARKO KAARRE, MARKO.KAARRE@VTT.FI

IN THE FUTURE, various diseases, such as diabetes, will be diagnosed by examining the fundus of the eye. This is made possible by a small, high-speed fundus camera, built with the help of a microtechnology-based spectrum camera and a spectrum light source filter component.

VTT, the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital are collaborating to study the use of new technology in imaging the fundus of the eye and in brain surgery. The aim

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is to develop a device which permits doctors – quickly, easily and inexpensively – to determine the condition of the fundus and to detect diseases.

The developers take advantage of a light source developed by VTT, based on the FabryPérot phenomenon. The fundus of the eye is illuminated rapidly using different wavelengths of light. The gained data can be combined to define the level of oxygen in the blood, for example.

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TRANSPORT

TECHNOLOGY

Lowering transport emissions by reducing friction FURTHER INFORMATION: KENNETH HOLMBERG, KENNETH.HOLMBERG@VTT.FI

ONE THIRD of a passenger car’s fuel consumption is caused by friction.

According to VTT, friction in different parts of the car can be reduced by 10–80 per cent with new technology. This would reduce fuel consumption and emissions by 18 per cent in the next 5–10 years, and by 61 per cent in 15–25 years.

Recent research conducted by VTT suggests that friction in passenger cars can be reduced with new coating structures, surface texturing, new lubrication oil ingredients, low-viscosity lubricants, ionic liquids and low-friction wheels with raised pressures.

A world first: industrial scale foam forming research environment FURTHER INFORMATION: JANNE PORANEN, JANNE.PORANEN@VTT.FI

MEDICINE

VTT IS BUILDING the world’s first industrial-scale foam forming environment to support product development by enterprises. Foam forming enables the development of new recyclable and lightweight natural fibre products, resulting in considerable savings in production costs.

Foam forming technology can be used to manufacture high-porosity, smooth and lightweight packaging, paper and cardboard products, e.g. hygiene products, insulation materials and filters. It may also be a solution for various printed intelligence, nano- or microcellulose applications.

PHYSICS

Heparin-like substances combat breast cancer FURTHER INFORMATION: MERJA PERÄLÄ, MERJA.PERALA@VTT.FI

ACCORDING TO NEW research, anticoagulant compounds such as heparin lower the risk of breast cancer cells grow­ing in bone and the resultant degradation of bone tissue. Most ­deaths from breast-cancer are caused by the cancer spreading into the bone.

Researchers from VTT made the discovery alongside the University of Turku, the University of Indiana in the USA and the companies Pharmatest and Biotie Therapies.

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VTT scientists amend the basics of surface physics FURTHER INFORMATION: LASSE MAKKONEN, LASSE.MAKKONEN@VTT.FI

EXCESS SURFACE TENSION has been thought to exist on a solid material, in a manner similar to that on a liquid. The 60-year-old Shuttleworth equation, considered a fundamental equation of surface thermodynamics, describes this.

Three years ago, VTT research scientists Lasse Makkonen and Kari Kolari, together with the British scientist David Bottomley, claimed in the journal Surface Science, that the Shuttleworth equation contradicts thermodynamics theory. Lively debate followed in scientific journals.

Lasse Makkonen has now proven mathematically that the disputed equation has no connection with the energy required for creating a surface. Excess surface tension on a solid material does not therefore exist at all in the previously suggested sense. Instead, the existence and nature of surface tension on a solid must therefore be sought by molecular dynamics at the surface layer only. Dr. Makkonen published an article on the subject in the journal Scripta Materialia.

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IN SHORT

TECHNOLOGY

MEDICINE

Eco holograms for packages FURTHER INFORMATION: EERO HURME, EERO.HURME@VTT.FI

VTT HAS DEVELOPED printable hologram technology for plastic- and fibrebased packages and plastic products to facilitate the introduction of dynamic printed surfaces and decorations in a cost-effective and ecological manner.

The new technology facilitates striking new looks for package wrappings, mobile phones, CD disc cases and laptops.

Iscent of Finland is commercialising the technology jointly with VTT to make it suitable for mass production, integrated into existing printing presses.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Birch fibril pulp used for plastic-like material FURTHER INFORMATION: TEKLA TAMMELIN, TEKLA.TAMMELIN@VTT.FI

VTT AND AALTO University have developed a method which, for the first time, enables manufacturing of a wood-based and plastic-like material in large scale.

The method enables inexpensive roll-toroll production of nanofibrillated cellulose film, which is suitable for e.g. food packaging to protect products from spoilage.

The films are manufactured by coating fibril cellulose evenly on plastic films.

Thanks to the management of spreading, adhesion and drying, the films do not shrink and are completely even. The finer the nanocellulose material used, the more transparent the films that can be manufactured.

The films can be manufactured using devices that already exist in the industry, without the need for any major additional investment.

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Finnish researchers discover genes inhibiting the spread of prostate cancer FURTHER INFORMATION: JOHANNA IVASKA, JOHANNA IVASKA@VTT.FI

THE RESEARCH TEAM of Professor Johanna Ivaska (University of Turku and VTT) has screened dozens of prostate cancers using gene silencing and discovered mechanisms of that inhibit the spread of cancer cells.

The study shows that cancer cell adhesive activity is directly linked to the ability of the cancer cells to metastasise. As a result, screening for regu­lators of cancer cell activity can lead to the discovery of new candidates for pharmaceutical development.

Researchers Teijo Pellinen and Juha Rantala utilised the cell spot micro array technology developed by VTT. The method allows researchers to study the impacts of all genes in an entire genome in a single experiment.

The study was published in the Journal of Cell Science.

MEDICINE

Sharpin regulates human cell activity FURTHER INFORMATION: JOHANNA IVASKA, JOHANNA.IVASKA@VTT.FI

THE RESEARCH TEAMS of professors Johanna Ivaska (University of Turku and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) and Marko Salmi (University of Turku and the National Institute for Health and Welfare) have discovered the protein sharpin that controls human cell activity.

The research proves that the protein sharpin regulates the movement and activity of inflammatory cells and of lung and prostate cancer cells. It is likely that the discovery will also have significant implications for other conditions such as Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, rheumatism and even MS. VTT research scientists Juha Rantala and Jeroen Pouwels discovered sharpin using a cell chip screening method developed at VTT. The study was published in the journal Nature Cell Biology in November 2011.

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COLUMN

Olli Ernvall Editor-in-chief VTT Impulse

70 years of technology impact Technology is meaningless if we can’t benefit from it. This sounds harsh, but in the modern world the content of products and services is measured more and more in terms of its added value.

I also maintain that technology without people, a technology lacking the user perspective, will remain theoretical and distant to most of us.

How can we bring technology into people’s everyday lives? How can technology make a practical impression, and how do we define its added value? Is added value, for example, that people are able to choose food items that are beneficial to their health, that they can enjoy a better quality of life and live longer, that the elderly are able to remain in their own homes to a greater age, or that the onset of serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s or diabetes can be predicted and intervention begun earlier? Or is it the ability to mitigate the over-use of raw materials and make raw material use more efficient, or to reduce CO2 emissions and moderate climate change?

Is added value measured by the improvements that can be made in the energy consumption of buildings, by the fact that water supplies can be safeguarded and water used more sparingly, or by waste being used to generate new products, such as energy and raw materials? Or, perhaps, that cars can be made safer or the need for them reduced, along with their emissions, or that traffic and logistics flow can be made more fluent by introducing controls and emission reductions?

The list of new applications for technology is long and impressive, and continues to grow. The

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examples mentioned above illustrate the technology results generated by VTT operations and VTT competence. VTT creates impact.

VTT has been producing technology results for the whole of its 70 years of existence.

In the post-war period VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland served a Finnish society that was rising to its feet through a programme of rebuilding. As Finnish society expanded in population and wealth our role began to shift towards developing ­technology and increasing national competitiveness.

The foundation pillar nevertheless remained unchanged: solid, science-based expertise on which the customer can depend.

Today, VTT is a multi-technological research centre producing high-quality technological solutions and innovation services for its customers. We contribute to the international competitiveness of our customers, thereby promoting sustainable development, employment and well-being in society. The result is born of VTT’s 3,100 specialists across a wide spectrum.

I believe that the role of technology as a creator of well-being will only get stronger. For this we will require research based on knowledge and a steady eye on the challenges of the future. When developed in a goal-directed and responsible manner for the good of society and the benefit of customers, new technology will serve as our springboard into the future. The ones who will reap the harvest will be today’s customers and consumers, and the generations to come.

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FOCAL POINT | ALEXANDER STUBB

Entrepreneurship supported by change in operating culture

A

Text Paula Bergqvist Photo Jussi Helttunen/Lehtikuva

ccording to Alexander Stubb, Minister for European Affairs and Trade, the atmosphere in Finland has undergone a change over the past few decades.

“Finns have come to understand the source of wellbeing,” says Stubb. “First you invent – after that you deliver and earn the rewards. Political juxtaposition has been removed; now all sides understand and acknowledge one a­ nother’s views. The black-and-white way of thinking has practically disappeared, paving the way for a new operating culture.”

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“We have always managed well in times of change. There was a time when we exported peat; other export items have emerged at various times since, including IT products, and now clean tech. The change in our export structure was inevitable.”

“The entire nature of business is changing,” Stubb continues. “Entrepreneurship is no longer viewed as the exploitation of others, or as mammon-hoarding. We now see how enterprises bring jobs and well-being. Many of them target well-being services, environmentally friendly technology, sustainable development.”

The top one hundred companies account for 75 per cent of total exports, while the remain-

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ing 25 per cent is shared out among 13,900 export enterprises. Stubb considers support for small and medium-sized companies as a prime point of departure. “These companies operate in our neighbouring markets and create added value. More must be done to foster the competitiveness of the SME sector.”

Companies are moving their structures and operations into new areas. Stubb gives examples of companies with new directions: Kemira, now operating in the field of environmental technology; Outotec, now a technology house; UPM, now focusing on bioenergy.

According to Stubb, Finland’s image abroad is one of a strong and capable player in IT and clean tech. The future aim is to strengthen these and other competences through SiliconValley-type community action, bringing with it international capital and start-up enterprises.

Start-up fever

“We now look favourably on entrepreneurship and the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs. It’s a clear sign of that sea change that is taking us in a promising direction.”

Another sign of the more open and tolerant atmosphere is the excitement currently being generated around start-up companies. This is something Stubb finds highly satisfying.

“Legislation must be provided in such a way that it creates the prerequisites for the birth of new business and new innovations.”

Stubb warns, however, that this will still come up short, unless combined with an atmosphere supportive of business activity, where success is respected and applauded, with provision made for those who fail. “We need creative thinking and an unfettered grasp of the matters in hand.”

Positive energies needed

A working group led by Matti Alahuhta has considered a new strategy for promoting Finnish exports and internationalisation. The background to the report is the Government’s desire to develop joint cross-sectoral action.

The report of the working group on Finland’s external economic relations was published in January.

“The report highlights ideas of how the Government can better support the internationalisation of Finnish enterprises. Positive energies should now be garnered in support of the

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Finland among the leaders THE OLD NOTIONS about Finland should be left on the shelf to gather dust – so says the Minister for European Affairs and Trade, and Finland’s top marketer, Alexander Stubb. “The difference between modern Finland and the Finland of the 1970s is nothing short of night and day.”

“Conditions in the 1970s placed us in the world’s top 30 countries,” says Stubb. “By my reckoning, we are now in the top three. Not in terms of GDP, perhaps, but certainly according to education and well-being metrics and in tackling corruption.”

Stubb sees Finland’s rise to the top as being down to the openness and international outlook of the Finnish people.

Finnish knowledge, skills, education and high technology are recognised globally, but what of marketing?

“Marketing needs to be developed,” says Stubb. “Globally, the Finnish brand carries a great deal of weight, and we must take advantage of it in our marketing.”

In Finland, a working group on brands, appointed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, has gathered ideas on what should be done and what, among other issues, would serve to promote foreign trade. “We have achieved some success in marketing, at least,” Stubb continues, “as Finland is recognised as a society that functions.”

Alexander Stubb Alexander Stubb, Doctor of Philosophy, has been Finland’s Minister for European Affairs and Trade since 2011. He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2011 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2011.

Stubb was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2008.

Prime Minister. I believe Finns will display a great deal of the Team Finland spirit.”

“This will mean defining our priorities,” says Stubb, “and strengthening the cooperation between the public and private sectors.” n

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The land that can Finnish national identity is demonstrating its pull in international operations. Our competence is noted – and valued.

Text Milka Lahnalammi-Vesivalo, Joanna Sinclair, Laura Terho Photos Karoliina Paavilainen, iStockphoto

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rofessor Pirjo Ståhle, who specialises in futures research and knowledge management, has given a great deal of thought to how intellectual capital can be converted into economic benefit – her report on its impact on GDP is about to be published.

According to Ståhle, Finland’s intellectual capital ranks with the best in the world, but the benefit derived from it is far less than in other countries: the United States or the United Kingdom, for example. In other words, we have not yet learnt an effective means of transforming our competence into cash.

Slow-burning research, quick-fire business

Another major challenge lies in the disparity of the timelines for research and business activity.

“Traditional human capital is tuned to its peak in the universities, while business strength is founded on structural capital,” Pirjo Ståhle points out. “VTT’s special forte lies in developing both these areas of intellectual capital.”

“Enterprises must learn to purchase innovation research. Production is shifting elsewhere and companies – in order to survive – must look beyond the quarterly cycle and set up long-term product development.”

How enterprises derive benefit from ­research results – produced at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, for example – ­depends not

Pirjo Ståhle only on the results themselves but on the company’s ability to put them into practice.

Ståhle’s view is that efficient internationalisation enhances the national benefit that can be derived from intellectual capital.

Finnish confidence is grounded in competence. This is something that must show clearly when we make contact abroad, even if selfpraise is hardly a major constituent in our cultural make-up. continues on page 17

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When the going gets tough, Finns get going Text Joanna Sinclair

TO MOST PEOPLE, technology and economic well-being go hand in hand. Ask an economic historian, however, about the technological and economic landmarks of Finland’s past, and the answer may come as a surprise.

Professor Karl-Erik Michelsen of the Department of Business Economics and Law School Of Business at Lappeenranta University of Technology, and a long-time economic historian, has an intimate knowledge of Finland’s economic past.

“In 1898 the leading article in the Scientific American journal contended that mankind would never recover from the latter-day surge in inventions, the auto­mobile, electricity or industrialisation. There was simply too much innovation,” says Michelsen.

Since then inventions have piled up to the sky, but mankind still seems to be managing pretty well.

In painting a picture of the main drivers in Finland’s economic past, Michelsen refrains from cataloguing individual technological insights or patent solutions, preferring instead to shape the concept of technology into schematic and operating models that have helped Finland get the most out of technology and grease the wheels of her economy.

Three operating models supporting economic development Karl-Erik Michelsen stresses that Finnish success over the past decades is largely owing to the ‘mobile’ concept, while the barrier that has since blocked the road to economic growth is partly due to Finns losing sight of the very essence of that concept – mobility.

“No one can say the telephone itself was a new invention,” Michelsen points out. “What was new was that Finns wanted to take it with them.”

“That this kind of idea should have been born here, in Finland, is quite natural when you think about it. Your nearest neighbour might well be dozens of miles away. If you decide to drop in, isn’t your neighbour always out in the forest somewhere picking lingonberries?

It’s no wonder we want to have a phone handy.”

Although Finns are not exactly renowned for their communication skills, Michelsen sees the Karl-Erik Michelsen highlights three key skills that will help a Finn out of many a crisis.

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value of communications as something that Finns are able to appreciate.

“In the United States, for example, technological insights are linked to achieving more and more from an ever-shrinking workforce. Assembly lines, mass production, factories. Here in Finland, on the other hand, understanding the significance of communications has proved a considerably more important economic engine. We have long had the world’s densest telephone network, and our very own Vaisala radiosonde has developed into a recognised and valued product all over the world.”

Michelsen then highlights a characteristic peculiar to Finns of instinctively pulling together in a crisis, something that cuts across any social divides.

“At critical moments civic society, government and economic life have invariably joined forces to get Finland back on its feet again. Once the crisis is over, Finns generally revert to ‘business as usual’.”

“The war reparations were a classic example of this, as was dealing with the complexities surrounding the construction of the Loviisa nuclear power plant, and our survival of the recession of the 1990s following the loss of bilateral trade that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

A culture of coping The ‘mobile’ concept, the significant of communications, the ability to pull together in a crisis – does each of these factors somehow determine the existence of the other two?

“This is certainly one way of looking at it,” says Michelsen. “The thing that strikes you most from all this is that we are survivors.

The ability to cope when things get tight is part of our national identity.”

In the minds of many the current economic situation appears to be the sum of a train of challenges.

Listening to Michelsen leaves you thinking that, if anything, we are looking at an opportunity.

“Exactly. It is precisely in a crisis that Finland reinvents herself. Though the feeling in many parts of Finland may not be good at the moment, history shows clearly that this crisis will drive us on to something better. Setbacks only serve to fire us on towards success.”

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“Investments in science need to be increased” Text Laura Terho

TORSTI LOIKKANEN, PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST at VTT, lists the prime formative technologies for our future: life technologies, such as genetics; knowledge and interaction technologies, such as communications technologies; living environment technologies, such as energy; and production and practical technologies, such as material technology.

“Biotechnology, genetics and medicine are developing apace,” says Loikkanen. “Stem cell research is one example of a fast-developing area where we expect wider applications in the coming decades.”

Investments in science will need to be increased if we are to achieve results.

“Competition among the different countries’ innovation systems is becoming ever tighter,” says Loikkanen. “That’s why support for science must be made more systematic.”

China, Brazil and India are rising stars in the world of research, and in challenging traditional research countries are producing an ever larger critical mass of science and technology.

Foresight more important than ever Research activity in Finland, as elsewhere in Europe, is heading towards a problem-based technology approach, seeking challenge-based rather than technology-based solutions.

According to Loikkanen, the ability to procure and exploit globally produced competence has now become a key competition factor. Central to this is forecasting of global market development, seeing where the most promising opportunities lie, and forming alliances accordingly. The question constantly being asked is: are we first, or are others in front of us?

“At VTT we are now developing our operations to make the production of foresight and future knowledge more systematic. We will then be able to exploit our competence more effectively when engaging in foresight activity in the various scientific fields.”

Broad-based applications Technologies incorporating broad-based application capabilities will be of major significance in the future.

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Examples include the nano-, bio- and gene technologies that are uncovering ever smaller units belonging to the microworld.

Properties that have emerged during the development of new technologies include intelligence, wireless connection, precision, remote work, accessibility and sustainability.

“Intelligence is being added to products, materials, production systems and vehicles. Intelligence is also being added to industrial processes and infrastructures, examples of which include intelligent motorways and heat and energy maintenance networks.”

“Precision is similarly becoming visible in health care, for example, from pharmaceuticals through to laser surgery systems, helping to achieve solutions of ever greater accuracy.”

Sustainability a key trend The world energy requirement is set to multiply over the coming decades. As a result, the search for sustainable solutions to energy and environmental issues is bringing together the scientific communities of various countries. Economically, socially and ecologically, the sustainable development perspective cuts across all technologies, and its demands can be widely observed, whether in industry, or in energy and road transport systems.

“The traditionally strong Finnish forest cluster is also demonstrating its new-found strength in the bioenergy sector,” says Loikkanen. “The energy sector is certain to become a significant future focus area for Finland.”

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Growth in human capital is meaningless if it happens in isolation.

“On the other hand, when it comes to knowledge-intensive, competence-based economy our national character has become something of a trump card,” says Ståhle. “We don’t make empty talk or promises, and that inspires confidence in others.”

ing when we involve ourselves in global inter­ action.

“We simply have to demonstrate our national character in a new way,” says Ståhle, “as the rock we stand on.”

We don’t go out into the world alone

VTT and others are keen to attract foreign research scientists to our country. It may be cold and dark for six months of the year, but Finland has an ace card, namely its horizontal and informal organisational culture. Here we acknowledge competence rather than titles.

“Innovations first see the light of day in a group – a group in which each member is free to bring his or her own competence to the table, on an equal footing,” says Ståhle.

Pirjo Ståhle has witness the impact of national differences on the speed at which creative work is taken in hand.

“A rigidly hierarchical culture won’t allow even straightforward discussion to last

Pirjo Ståhle reminds us that we have a time window on the world that now stands open.

We Finns are in the front rank in a number of research fields, and this has caught the world’s attention. Although we may be involved in many areas, we are still not sufficiently connected internationally.

“So far, growth in human capital is meaningless if it happens in isolation.What matters is how we link it to the outside world.”

Ultimately, our Finnish identity nonetheless supports our efforts at internationalisation.

As globalisation strengthens, so too does localisation. Finnishness takes on a new mean-

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Innovation through interaction

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Intelligence, wireless connection, precision.

long if management and subordinates are both attending.”

It is thus the case in many cultures that what might be interactive is in fact unidirectional. Finland’s strength lies in bidirectional communication that facilitates creative work and innovation, as well as in our culture of equality.

Unique player

The professor, who sits on the VTT Board, sees VTT as a unique player both in Finland and abroad.

This uniqueness is latent within the VTT organisation and among its specialists, she feels.

The idea that the kind of research undertaken

by VTT should be absorbed by the universities is to her mind seriously misguided.

“The principal tasks of the universities are research and teaching; these are free of the customer perspective and business cooperation that form such an integral part of VTT’s activities,” says Ståhle. “Strategic emphasis of this nature leads to the development of particular competences within the organisation, and means that both human and structural capital form along quite different lines compared to the universities.”

On top of this, there is a cross-disciplinary approach woven into the fabric of everyday VTT activity.

“It’s not always understood, even in Finland, the multifaceted nature of the work that we do here.” n

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Text Kari Tammi, Nils-Olof Nylund, Mikko Pihlatie, Henri Karimäki, Pekka Rahkola

Electric vehicles and machines – improving energy efficiency Electric vehicles still have limitations in range, power and cost.

This is why hybrid technologies will lead the way, with vehicles designed with a particular purpose in mind.

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he conditions for the large-scale market entry of electric vehicles (EVs) are better than ever. Several factors contribute to this, ranging from policy measures and rising energy prices to environmental awareness and advances in technology.

At policy level, the arrival of EVs is propelled by strategies and decisions to reduce CO2 emissions from transport and local emissions as well as dependence on oil.

One reason for research and development into EVs is the revival of the automotive industry. Car manufacturers are investing in allelectric EV models targeted at the mass market.

Several manufacturers will start bringing larger numbers of EVs on to the market in 2012.

Improvements and opportunities From a technical point of view, electrification contributes to improved end-use efficiency; this applies to road vehicles as well as mobile machinery.

Battery technologies have improved significantly through developments in mobile appliances. Major improvements have also been made in the energy density of rechargeable batteries, affecting the operating range of EVs. In terms of performance, however, allelectric EVs still fall short of the demands of today. Unless considerable development in battery technologies takes place, all-electric EVs may remain as city cars or second cars of marginal importance.

Estimate on the proliferation of EV’s and PHEV’s

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Figure 1. An estimate of the proliferation of EVs and PHEVs; the projection is based on IEA’s progressive BLUE Map scenario.

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Testing an EV

Plug-in hybrids are expected to proliferate at a faster rate than all-electric EVs.

Figure 2. Testing of an EV on VTT’s light-duty chassis dynamometer.

On the other hand, advances in information technology provide opportunities for making optimal use of EVs as intelligent recharge systems – one can foresee interactions among smart grids, electric vehicles and intelligent transport systems.

Hybrids likely to lead the way Different parties have made forecasts on the market penetration of EVs. Figure 1 shows the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) projection of EV sales development.

According to the IEA, substantial electrification of the passenger car fleet, together with low-carbon electricity generation, is necessary for the transport sector to achieve significant CO2 cuts by 2050.

The estimated share of EVs – battery-electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) – of new passenger car sales in 2020 ranges typically from 5 to 10 per cent, which means that the EV share of the total vehicle fleet is likely to be only a few per cent. This share will not grow significantly until around 2030.

In various projections, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are expected to proliferate at a faster rate than all-electric EVs. Achieving longrange driving with batteries alone is expensive with present-day technology, whereas combustion engines are relatively inexpensive.

By combining reasonably sized batteries and VTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

a combustion engine, it is possible to create a more cost-efficient car than is the case with an all-electric EV. PHEVs are capable of running on electricity alone for short distances, while being free of the limitations of an all-electric EV on longer journeys.

EV research methods at VTT At VTT, EVs are considered to include not only­ road vehicles but mobile machinery, i.e. different types of machinery for cargo handling, mining, forest, agricultural and other purposes. The power systems of interest scale roughly from 50 kW up to 1 MW. Relevant research facilities and methodologies vary significantly.

VTT is deeply involved in the electrification of vehicles and machines; R&D ranges­ from batteries, sensors, electric motors and other components through vehicles and their use and application and all the way to smart grids and intelligent transport systems. EV R&D employs road tests, dynamometers and test laboratories, as well as computer models for traffic, vehicle dynamics and individual components.

Figure 2 shows an EV being tested on VTT’s temperature controlled (+30…-30 °C) light-duty chassis dynamometer, and Figure 3 a hybrid bus on VTT’s heavy-duty chassis dynamometer.

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Testing a hybrid bus

File: Kari Tammi

Figure 3. A hybrid bus in VTT’s heavy-duty vehicle test facility.

Building national and international networks Many national EV programmes utilise a “living laboratory approach” to learn the best solutions for using EVs. This approach provides an open laboratory for the users interested in EV-related businesses.

VTT is one of the key players in Electric Vehicle Systems (EVE), the new Finnish ­national electric vehicle programme. VTT is in charge of Electric Commercial Vehicles (ECV), one of the five EVE projects.

VTT is also involved in two other EVE projects: Eco Urban Living (VTT’s activities relating to performance and development of passenger cars) and Evelina (VTT’s activities relating to intelligent transport system services).

ECV creates a large and versatile worldclass research and test infrastructure for electric commercial vehicles, encompassing a broad scope of vehicles from buses, vans and trucks to light and heavy mobile machines. The project unites most of the Finnish companies and research centres working in this area.

The main research topics are hybrid allelectric buses, light and heavy mobile machinery, electrochemical energy storage and other electrical components for power transmission in these vehicles.

ECV covers the entire innovation chain, starting from the design and performance of individual components, through the combining of components with subsystems and systems both separately and as part of the electric vehi22

cle, the laboratory testing of components, systems and entire vehicles, simulation and modelling at all levels and, finally, to field testing of electric vehicles and analysis and breakdown of their performance.

In ECV, Veolia Transport and VTT collaborate in starting up the first electric-bus field test in Finland. Veolia Transport will operate pre-commercial and commercial battery-electric buses in Espoo, and VTT will support the project with in-depth performance evaluations.

In addition, an electric research bus is being built to serve component and subsystem development and benchmarking. The severe operating conditions and comprehensive setup of the project have attracted both Finnish and international industrial partners.

The existing vehicle laboratories are being upgraded by adding a heavy power source and battery simulator for testing of electric commercial vehicle powertrains.

To meet the growing need for research on energy storage and traction batteries, a completely new battery research laboratory is currently being built in the vicinity of VTT’s vehicle laboratory. The battery facility enables characterisation of state-of-the-art electrochemical power sources suitable for different applications, and serves as a knowledge pool for the entire electric vehicle cluster.

The laboratory’s activities cover the whole range from individual battery cells to complete heavy battery packs. In addition to performance tests, the batteries are subjected to

Kari Tammi, who is a D.Sc. in Systems Technology and Automation, works as a Research Professor and Team Leader at VTT. His research focuses on eco-efficient machines, the energy-efficiency of machines and vehicles through electrification, and the related dynamic phenomena. Tammi has worked at VTT since 2000 researching dynamic phenomena in machines, measurement and modelling of such phenomena, and control technology. In 2007–2008 he was a post-doc visiting researcher at North Carolina State University.

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+20 no auxiliaries +20 auxiliaries 0,5 kW +25 aux + AC 1 kW -10 aux + heater 2,5 kW +40 aux + AC 7,5 kW -20 aux + heater 7,5 kW

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Supercapacitor

Electricrakenne load Polttokennohybridijärjestelmän PEMFC

Lead-acid Battery

Figure 5. Basic topology of the fuel cell hybrid powertrain.

different operating condition tests including mechanical and thermal shocks and oscillations.

Operating ranges under different conditions Knowledge of the actual driving patterns and true range of EVs is crucial when deploying them. Low temperatures shorten the range considerably owing to increased driving resistance, the need for heating, and the reduced ability of the batteries to deliver power.

Figure 4 gives an example of the effects of driving speed and ambient temperature on range.

In order to keep the EV concept competitive, the number of heavy and rather expensive batteries should be optimised for the operating cycle and conditions.

Fuel cell power in electric mobile machines

Figure 6. Fuel cell hybrid forklift during field testing.

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Material-handling vehicles and other similar mobile machines are considered potential early market applications for fuel cells.

Fuel cells allow a longer operating range than batteries as a primary energy source. Compared to internal combustion engines, fuel cells enable higher efficiency, quiet operation and zero local emissions.

However, the typical duty cycle in many mobile machines comprises wide and rapid variations in power demand. This is not ideal for fuel cells in terms of lifetime and system efficiency. A hybrid power source consisting of fuel cells, batteries and/or supercapacitors may therefore be preferable in such applications.

The use of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) was demonstrated as a part of the electric powertrain of a material-handling vehicle. A hybrid system combining a PEMFC system, supercapacitors and leadacid batteries was developed for an electric counterweight forklift with a lifting capacity of up to 5.5 tonnes (Figures 5 and 6). The system was designed to replace the vehicle’s original 80 V DC leadacid battery pack.

The energy storages were connected directly, in parallel, with no power electronics, which means that the internal resistances of the energy storages directly dictate the load-sharing within the hybrid powertrain. This kind of passive coupling enables a simple system structure, naturally fast transient load response, and the omission of DC/DC conversion.

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Current (A)

However, the passively coupled powertrain has its drawbacks. Control of the output power and state of charge of individual energy storage is not possible, and owing to a narrow bus voltage variation only a small part of the supercapacitor capacity can be utilised.

During field testing, the forklift was operated outdoors in typical Finnish winter conditions (-5 °C to -15 °C) according to a typical forklift work cycle. Supplying the 50 kW peak power demand, the system design was proven to be sufficient to guarantee the performance required in forklift operation.

The results (Figure 7) show that the requirements for PEMFC maximum power and dynamic response can be significantly mitigated through hybridisation. During the duty cycle the batteries were supplying moderate power variations, while the supercapacitors supplied the highest load variations.

700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 -100 -200 -300 -400 11,3

The results also indicate that, in certain applications, passive hybrid topologies can be a realistic alternative to more complex topologies using power electronics.

Fuel cell hybrid topology research has been continued within the on-going TopDrive project. This includes investigation of actively coupled hybrid systems and their control strategies, characterisation of commercial PEMFC systems, and different PEMFC system optimisation studies. This work has been carried out both by experimental testing and through modelling and simulations.

Vehicle concept evaluation New possibilities in vehicle design raise numerous questions about competitive concepts for specific purposes. Should a manufacturer provide a traditional, fully electric or hybrid vehicle? How do a customer’s load profile and

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Figure 7. Part of a forklift field testing work cycle.

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Knowledge of the actual

Diesel Clutch Electric Motor Gearbox Brakes

Control System

driving patterns and true range

Clutch Electric Motor Gearbox

Final Drive

of EVs is crucial when deploying them.

Battery Diesel Engine

Brakes

Brakes

Figure 8. Schematic picture of hybrid truck driveline.

operating conditions affect the concept selection and battery capacity required?

There are many requirements for the vehicle driveline design, from minimising fuel consumption and emissions to e.g. smooth and silent vehicle drive. The use of modelling and simulation tools makes it possible to study different driveline concepts, dimension the components and define parameters, while also serving as a platform for the design of related control systems.

Simulation of hybrid vehicle driveline behaviour is a multi-domain modelling task. Simulation includes modelling of the vehicle and its driveline mechanics, modelling of the electrical drive system and the control system on top of it.

The required level of model complexity depends on the optimisation targets. For the optimisation of fuel economy it is essential to model how the energy from the fuel flows in the driveline subsystems, and to ascertain the energy losses. Such models include energy storages (fuel, battery), energy converters (combustion engine, generator, electric motor), mechanics for vehicle dynamics, and control systems.

At the other end of model complexity and computational effort could be a simulation model used for studying the smoothness of the vehicle drive. Such a model should include detailed sub-models of combustion engine dynamics, electric motor dynamics, frequency converter phenomena, gear shifting and tyre-road interaction.

A parallel hybrid heavy vehicle is being studied as an example of vehicle driveVTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

line modelling and simulation. The modelled vehicle is a three-axled heavy truck of 26 tonnes gross weight. The driveline configuration, ratings for the diesel combustion engine, electric motor and battery, as well as transmission ratios, are taken from hybrid truck specifications.

The simulation model contains all the necessary subsystems for simulating driveline operation and vehicle longitudinal dynamics.

The subsystems are the diesel engine, mechanical driveline, electrical power system, and control systems for both traction and brakes. The main components of the truck’s driveline are presented in Figure 8.

The main power source is a six-cylinder diesel engine, which can be disengaged from the driveline using the clutch. A permanent magnet synchronous motor is installed in parallel with the diesel engine. The synchronous motor can supply energy to the driveline from the battery or recover energy from the driveline to the battery.

The sum of diesel engine and electric motor power passes through the gearbox and the mechanical driveline to the wheels. According to the driver’s actions, the control system defines the power demanded of the diesel engine and the electric motor, and automatically sets the optimal gear for the driving situation.

During vehicle braking, the control system manages the recovered power from the driveline, and when necessary, activates wheel brakes to achieve the desired deceleration.

Figure 10 presents vehicle speed according to the Braunschweig driving speed cycle, 25

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Speed Reference

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12 Speed

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Figure 9. Simulation model of hybrid truck driveline.

Compared to internal combustion engines, fuel cells enable higher efficiency.

the activated gear, the torques of the diesel engine and electric motor, and the battery state of charge during the driving cycle. The last figure presents the vehicle start-up from standstill in more detail. Start-up is performed using the electric motor only, the diesel engine starting to deliver torque when the second gear is activated.

This kind of a simulation model of the vehicle driveline includes the energy sources, but also the loading and basic phenomena from vehicle dynamics. The model thus acts as a basis for control system design and optimisation of e.g. torque split between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor, and of the gearbox control logic.

It also enables, for example, the testing of numerous special operating conditions of vehicle control systems in the early phase of the design process.

Conclusions Electrical vehicle research is multidisciplinary, multi-technical and multi-scale. As all-electric vehicles still have certain limitations in range, power and cost, several different technologies

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exist for different purposes. In order to avoid overinvestment in batteries, for example, the vehicle must be designed with a particular purpose in mind. In the Finnish environment, power and application scale is also fairly wide, ranging from a compact city car of tens of kilowatts to a large mobile machine of one megawatt.

In addition to vehicles, the entire vehicle infrastructure is under development, as are charging infrastructure, intelligent services for driver or operator and related businesses.

Research activities vary from driver behaviour and need for transport to detailed technological solutions. VTT is investing heavily in electric vehicles and electric mobility, because these are seen as a means of energyefficient transport.

Acknowledgements The research results presented have been achieved within the Transeco programme (www.transeco.fi), the Fuel Cells technology programme (www.tekes.fi/programmes/polttokennot), and the VTT Innovation Programme Electrical Vehicles and Mobile Machines.

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Figures 10. Simulation results: vehicle velocity and activated gear (top), torque generated by the diesel engine and the electric motor (middle), and torque and phase currents of the electric motor when the vehicle starts from standstill.

References IIAEA. 2011. Technology Roadmap. Electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. International Energy Agency. http:// www.iea.org/papers/2011/EV_PHEV_Roadmap.pdf Karimäki H., Pérez L.C., Nikiforow K., Keränen T.M., Viitakangas J., Ihonen J. The use of on-line hydrogen sensor for studying inert gas effects and nitrogen crossover in PEMFC system. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Vol. 36 (2011) No: 16, pp. 10179–10187.

Keränen T. M., Karimäki H., Viitakangas J., Vallet J., Ihonen J., Hyötylä P., Uusalo H., Tingelöf T. Development of integrated fuel cell hybrid power source for electric forklift. Journal of Power Sources. Vol. 196 (2011) No: 21, pp. 9058–9068.

Keränen T.M., Kukkonen S., Halme J., Liukkonen M. Fuzzy logic control of PEMFC hybrid drive train in industrial vehicle application. Conference presentation. European Fuel Cell – Piero Lunghi Conference & Exhibition. 14–16 December 2011, Rome, Italy.

Nylund, N-O. 2011. Future of electric vehicles in Finland.

Electric vehicles in the transport and climate policy context. Publications of the Ministry of Transport and Communications 12/2011. http://www.lvm.fi/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=1551284&name=DL FE-11701.pdf&title=Julkaisuja 12-2011 (In Finnish, English summary available).

Tekes, EVE – Electric Vehicle Systems 2011–2015. http:// www.tekes.fi/programmes/EVE Volvo FE Hybrid – Product Facts accessed on September 21, 2011. http://www.volvotrucks.com/trucks/global/en-gb/ trucks/new-trucks/Pages/volvo-fe-hybrid.aspx.

Wallmark, O. 2004. On Control of Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors in Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Applications.

Chalmers University of Technology. Gothenburg, Sweden.

Technical Reports at the School of Electrical Engineering, Technical Report no. 495L ISSN 1651-4998, p. 115.

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Text: Tuija Rantala and Minna Räikkönen

Managing the M&A process – from opportunities to new business creation As competition tightens, companies are faced with the challenge of business renewal. Acquisitions are an important and rapid way for a company to gain new competence and new business. The danger of failure is real, however, unless the risks have been properly managed.

I

ncreasing market competition is forcing companies to grow, internationalise and find new business opportunities. It also requires strong motivation and the willingness to take bigger risks. New business is expected to increase competitiveness, as well as to create opportunities for growth.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a potential and ever-more-widely used means of generating new business. Technology and manufacturing companies are seeking new growth opportunities through services. Companies in mature industries are turning to new markets that fit in with their strategy for the future. Companies are also acquiring innovations to complement or replace their own research and development activity.

Creating new business is challenging and associated with numerous uncertainties, especially in the context of M&As, of which it is argued that around 50–75% of cases end in failure.

Integrating a newly acquired company may prove challenging, especially where the new business outline lacks a clear vision and an operating plan. In a turbulent business en28

vironment, initiatives, information and viewpoints linked to new business opportunities can come from any direction, from within the company or as a result of a co-operation with customers and other external partners.

Research carried out by VTT and the Turku School of Economics (ManMAP – Managing the M&A process – From opportunities to new business creation, www.vtt.fi/manmap) focused on the management of mergers and acquisitions from the perspective of creating new business.

Research emphasised companies’ strategic decision-making and risk management in the various phases of acquisition, invariably starting with the identification of new business opportunities, at a point when acquisition is but one among several strategic options when it comes to implementing new business.

A total of 28 research interviews were conducted in 14 companies, mainly with M&A directors. The companies in question have vast M&A experience in terms of both growth and internationalisation. Practical tools were developed to support new business creation (NBC) through M&As. VTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

New business creation and acquisitions – the challenge for companies

petite may differ considerably from company to company.

From the strategic perspective, it is vital to be flexible and consider the full range of future visions – not only the most desired. The risk of not doing anything is often neglected or underestimated, which may leave the company drifting and directionless. The possibility of failure should also to be taken into account when creating new business. Over the long term, companies that see strategic planning in terms of risk and are able to incorporate a risk-intelligent perspective into the planning process will be most adept at managing risks and achieving sustained success.

The ManMAP research framework (figure 1) illustrates new business creation through M&A, taking account of risk management throughout the entire process. The framework concretises the way in which the new business creation is linked to the

The research interviews highlighted factors that promoted successful M&A. The creation of new business through M&A is a highly strategic issue. It requires a strategic vision, proactive procedures, and the ability to identify and evaluate new opportunities and to align them with the strategy.

Companies must be able to foresee essential changes in their business environment, and in technological development. Systematic assessment of risks and opportunities must be performed in a controlled manner throughout the M&A process.

Risks are part and parcel of operations in all companies. A particular challenge for management in creating new business lies in defining the acceptable level of risk – a decision must be based on the company’s risk tolerance. On the other hand, the degree of risk ap-

Opportunity an

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Figure 1. ManMAP framework for creating new business through mergers and acquisitions.

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”Bottom up”: look for opportunities to redefine strategy

”Top-down”: select opportunities to address current and future gaps relative to the strategy

Corporate strategy

Key functional strategies Innovation strategy

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Figure 2. “Top-down” and “bottom-up” perspectives to managing new business opportunities.

M&A strategy

company’s strategy, vision, and implementation through M&A. The framework divides the process into three phases: Opportunity management; new business creation through M&A; and business continuity.

Opportunity management The creation of new business through M&A begins long before the potential acquisition target is identified. This can be seen as starting with recognition of the new business opportunities brought by market and technological development, or by a special Business Intelligence unit, and ensuring the strategic relevance and fit of opportunities.

The ‘opportunity management’ phase in Figure 1 emphasises the importance of strategic planning and decision-making: the direction in which the company wants to steer its business in future. Systematic and formalised processes, methods and structures, and even the software tools related to new business creation have become ever more important within companies over recent years.

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Ideas leading to new business are generated both within the company and through external stimuli. It is still rare, however, for a company to perform systematic identification and evaluation of new business opportunities. This is an area that companies need to work on.

Market and technology foresight, and procedures they provide, can also be exploited in the identification of new business opportunities.

Acquisition is just one of the strategic options for implementing the new business, and even then, not always necessarily the right one. An evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses­, opportunities and threats of other implementation alternatives (including e.g. organic growth, strategic alliance, joint venture, licensing, and fusion) should also be performed early on.

Identification and evaluation of ideas leading to new business is not easy, especially where corporate renewal relates to a company operating in a mature market. A further challenge is brought by the vast amount VTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

Achieving synergies in M&A can take years.

File: Tuija Rantala Tuija Rantala, Senior Scientist, M.Sc. (Tech.) has worked in risk management research at VTT for over 10 years.

Her main research is related to new business generation, open innovation and IP management.

Tuija Rantala is Project Manager for the M&A research project mentioned in the above article.

of inadequate data during the early phases of the NBC. There is also a wealth of uncertainty surrounding new business creation, M&As and the decision-making that comes with it. Companies must pay more attention to the related risks, while also taking account of the opportunities this offers. The challenge for management is to determine how much uncertainty is acceptable, and to assess and evaluate it.

Research revealed that companies need to develop the identification and evaluation of risks and opportunities related to new business opportunities and M&As as part of strategic planning and decision-making. The strategic alignment of new business opportunities should be ensured (figure 2).

New business through M&A The ‘new business creation through M&A’ phase in figure 1 stresses the proactive nature of acquisition.

The majority of M&A occurs within the same industry or involves sectors closely bound to it. New business creation nevertheless demands a certain risk appetite, a stepping out of the comfort zone.

Where the industry is alien, the choice and evaluation of acquisition target, for example, becomes rather more challenging. Integration of the acquired company may take longer because of the broader need for information transfer and the extended learning process. As a consequence, the commitment and adjustment of employees to the new situation may become protracted.

Companies strive to manage their acquisitions systematically. The pre-acquisition phase – which refers to the selecting and evaluating the targets and deal making – is often well thought out. Due diligence (DD) as part of systematic analysis of the target company can also involve the participation of a number of specialists, both internal and external.

Conversely, the post-acquisition phase – the takeover and integration phase – is often weakly structured, and conducted on a case-by-case basis (figure 3). This is partly because every deal is unique, and the integration design should match the related contingencies. A further cause may be a scarcity of resources.

Integration approach: How do we best achieve the expected synergies?

STRATEGIC MOTIVE New business creation

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Realising synergies and creating value & new business

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POST-ACQUISITION INTEGRATION

Figure 3. Types of post-acquisition integration, with links to synergies and value creation.

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New business opportunities Comparing alternatives against main decision criteria M&A 2

Strategic Fit and Importance Innovativeness and Newness

Innovation 2 – new product

Business Impacts Market Attractiveness

M&A 3 Business Environment Innovation 1 - development of IT services

Implementation Feasibility

M&A 4

M&A 1

Figure 4. An example of a graph generated by the Business Opportunity Evaluation tool.

Discontinuity between pre- and post-acquisition phases forms one of the major challenges of M&As, indicated, for example, by changes in responsible persons in different phases of acquisition.

Business continuity The ‘business continuity’ phase in figure 1 places emphasis on efficient integration, feedback and monitoring of how effectively the new business corresponds to the strategic objectives laid down for it. Ensuring business continuity represents the most challenging phase when creating new business. Achieving synergies may take years.

Each acquisition is unique; nor is the acquisition process necessarily a straightforward, step-by-step process, but quite possibly highly dynamic in nature, leaping back and forth from one process phase to another.

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In order to create successful new business it is essential that there are clear motives and strategic drivers for the acquisition, together with synergy expectations and an operating plan for realisation of the synergies. It is also vital to specify what is being acquired, and why.

Integration should be planned on the basis of synergy expectations. Following integration it is advisable to check whether synergy expectations have been realised and to identify the factors for success or failure.

Practical tools for managing new business creation through M&A ManMAP tools were developed during research for the challenges of managing new business creations through M&A. The tools are strat­ egy-oriented and take account of risk-conscious perspectives of new business creation and M&As. VTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

The developed tools enable systematic evaluation and comparison of business potential and the feasibility of new File: Minna Räikkönen Minna Räikkönen, M.Sc. (Tech.), works as a Research Scientist at VTT, with 15 years’ experience of research on risk management, evaluation of investments and investment portfolios and on capital investment management. Minna Räikkönen is the leading research scientist in the ManMAP project that focuses on new business creation through M&A and M&A-related risk management.

opportunities and the M&A risks.

The tools can be exploited especially in situations where a need exists for companies to create new business. ManMAP tools are semiquantitative evaluation tools and were developed for: • evaluation of new business opportunities • analysis of the M&A risks and opportunities, and • supporting the integration.

The results of the evaluation are presented either as a numerical summary or as a graphical illustration (for example, figure 4). The tools were realised using the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 spreadsheet programme (VBA).

Benefits for the companies The tools developed during the research support companies in their aim to create successful new business through M&A and are useful and beneficial to companies ’as is’. Companies can also tailor them to their individual needs by introducing new features and characteristics.

The tools are designed for managers and other personnel involved in strategy and business development, risk management, investment planning, and acquisition activities, from business-unit to board level.

Although development work was intended primarily for large companies planning and carrying out cross-border M&As, the tools are also applicable to the business development and acquisition activity of small companies.

The analytical tools are not tied to any branch of industry and are thus broadly applicable to substantially different situations.

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Support for strategic decision-making and risk management in M&As The Business Opportunity Evaluation tool offers a solution for evaluating and comparing business potential and the feasibility of new opportunities, thereby playing its part in supporting and enhancing the medium- and longterm business planning and in ensuring business continuity.

Use of the evaluation tool helps to ensure that all relevant factors related to the new business creation, and of the various implementation alternatives are taken into account, before any investment decisions are taken.

Another use of the tool enables a comparison of the business potential of several different opportunities and of the strategic implementation alternatives for a new business activity, for example: in-house research and development, organic growth; M&A; joint venture; strategic alliance; and other forms of collaboration.

The core strength of the tool can be viewed as its capacity for highlighting significant aspects relative to strategic decision-making, and facilitating their inclusion in discussion before and at the time the decisions are made.

The other tool, The M&A Risk and Opportunity Analysis tool, acts in support of strat­ egic decision-making prior to the due diligence phase. Analysing the M&A risks and opportunities almost at the outset, before any acquisition steps are taken, improves the company’s prospects for success on the market.

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M&A risk matrix

Probability

Company 1

Almost certain (5)

0

0

1

1

1

Likely (4)

0

0

2

1

0

Possible (3)

0

0

1

0

0

Unlikely (2)

0

1

1

1

0

Rare (1)

3

0

0

1

0

Insignificant (1) Minor (2) Moderate (3) Major (4) Catastrophic (5)

Consequences

Figure 5. Risk assessment matrix to determine the severity of M&A risks.

Evaluation of M&A risks and opportunities contributes to M&A success.

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M&A risks and opportunities are manifold, depending not only on the relevant sector but on the company’s size, ownership, competitive situation and the activity of competitors, market maturity and dynamics, the role of the public sector, and a host of other factors. A further consideration, depending on the case, is that some risks are more probable than others.

A general M&A risk and opportunity map was developed during the research, consisting of the principal risks and opportunities classifications for • strategic perspectives and synergies • the business environment • financial perspectives • the integration phase • customers (including customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, canvassing, customer profitability), competitors and markets, and • the risks and opportunities connected with the phase of negotiating and deal making The framework developed within the research and incorporated into the tool can be

used as a basis on which to consider and identify the M&A risks and opportunities related to the case in question. However, it should be noted that the map is only indicative. The weighting for different M&A risk and opportunity categories should also be assigned at this stage. After identification the tool can be used to evaluate the probability and consequences of M&A risks and opportunities (figure 5).

Risk evaluation aids in ascertaining the magnitude of various M&A risks, when risk management measures can be properly targeted and prioritised. As a part of the risk-management process, all M&A risks and opportunities that exceed the acceptability limit should be incorporated into the response action and implementation plan.

Assessment of the M&A risks also promotes communication and a common conception, born out of discussion, of the factors threatening the M&A success, as well as of the opportunities it creates.

Conclusions The M&A research conducted by VTT and Turku School of Economics placed emphasis VTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

•

Figure 6. The research results have been published as a book.

on the strategic perspective of new business creation through M&A – the reason being that too little notice is taken of the strategic aspects of M&A and of building a clear and realistic view on transforming an opportunity into successful new business.

The research leaned towards the pre-acquisition phase and related strategic decisionmaking.

Research results revealed the dynamic nature of M&A and highlighted its role as a means of strategy implementation for the purchasing company. Major risks to emerge included the strategic fit and alignment of new business opportunities and M&A, the integration phase (especially where differences in business or national culture exist), and in safeguarding business continuity.

The research results appeared in a book published by Teknova: M&A as a strategic option – from opportunities to new business creation (figure 6).

The book describes the procedures and tools for managing M&A, and the views on mergers and acquisitions held by corporate M&A managers and strategic management. The critical points of M&A are also presented from the point of view of new business creation.

The aim of the book is to provide information and perspectives on new business creation through M&A by answering the following questions: • how can NBC-related strategic planning and decision-making be supported?

• how can management of risks and opportunities be incorporated in the planning process?

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how can the strategic perspective of M&A be developed in terms of implementation?

• how can the successful integration of new business opportunities be achieved?

The book also contains the practical procedures and tools: • The ManMAP Tool of Business Opportunity Evaluation • The ManMAP Tool of M&A Risk and Opportunity Analysis • The ManMAP Integration Task Tool.

The book is intended for managers and other personnel involved in strategy and business development, risk management, investment planning and acquisition activities (M&A), from business unit to board level.

References Cartwright, S., Cooper, C. L. 1999. Managing mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances – Integrating people and cultures. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, Great Britain.

Funston, R., Ruprecht, B. 2007. Risk in the Strategic Planning Process. Business Performance Management Magazine, 5(2), 4–7.

Haspeslagh, P. C., Jemison, D. B. 1991. Managing acquisitions – Creating value through corporate renewal. The Free Press, New York.

Hasset, M., Räikkönen, M., Rantala, T. 2011. M&A as a strategic option – From opportunities to new business creation.

Teknologiainfo Teknova Oy, Tampere.

Hillson, D. 2002. Extending the risk process to manage opportunities. International Journal of Project Management, 20, 235–240.

Marks, M. L., Mirvis, P. H. 2000. Managing mergers, acquisitions and alliances; creating an effective transition structure. Organisational Dynamics, 28(3), Winter 2000, 35–47.

Perry, J. S.,Herd, T. J. 2004. Mergers and acquisitions: Reducing M&A risk through improved due diligence. Strategy and leadership, 32(2), 12–19.

Prodyot, S. 2007. Solid enterprise risk management practices: An essential ingredient to a successful M&A transaction. Standard&Poor’s, New York, USA. Project website for ManMAP – Managing the M&A process – From opportunities to new business creation. http://www.vtt.fi/manmap.

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Text: Satu Paiho

Energy renovations of buildings worthwhile It always pays to consider energy and ecological efficiency improvements in building renovations. The widespread adoption of energy renovations is fostered by comprehensive renovation services, industrial renovation construction solutions and various political steering measures.

I

n 2009, there were 1.7 million residential buildings in Finland, with 5.1 million residents. Of the buildings, 72 per cent were actual residential buildings and 28 per cent holiday residences. Detached houses, i.e. single-family and two-family houses, made up 64 per cent of the residential building total.

For the same year, around half of Finns lived in detached houses, although detached houses made up only 40 per cent of total residences. Terraced houses totalled 380,000, equating to 14 per cent of the housing stock.

Blocks of flats contained 44 per cent of all residences, equating to 1,221,200 residences, although only a third of the population lived in this type of accommodation.

Table 1 presents residential buildings by their year of construction. With regard to both residential blocks of flats and detached houses, 58.4 per cent were completed before 1980.

Furthermore, 16 per cent of blocks of flats and 16.8 per cent of detached houses were completed in the 1980s.

A highly significant proportion of the entire building stock is now entering the renovation stage.

According to calculations performed by Statistics Finland, domestic energy consumption in Finland was around 64.1 terawatt hours in 2009, or around 22 per cent of the total consumption. (Statistics Finland 2011) 36

Including holiday residences, the heating of residential buildings consumed 54.1 terawatt hours of energy, of which almost 2.9 terawatt hours was used in heating saunas (5.4%) and around 7.3 terawatt hours in heating household water (13.5%). The energy consumption of residential equipment was around 10.0 terawatt hours (18.5%).

When residential buildings fall due for renovation the opportunity should be taken to consider improving their energy and ecological efficiency.

Renovation terminology Complete overhaul refers to regenerative renovation construction, where the building is repaired to the same condition as it was when new. Complete overhaul of a building may include renovation of water, sewage and heating equipment, for example. (Kalliokuusi & Kauppinen 1991.)

Fundamental improvement refers to a substantial change in the standard of the property to a level higher than the original. Existing renovation targets can be subjected to a fundamental improvement, as is the case with complete overhaul. At the same time, something new can be connected or built on the property. ([Checked February 1st, 2012] http:// www.taloyhtio.net/korjausjaremontointi/ peruskorjaus/) VTT IMPULSE – SCIENCE

Total

1920

1921– 1939

1940– 1959

1960– 1969

1970– 1979

1980– 1989

1999– 1999

2000– 2009

2010

Unknown

1 101 707

66 697

68 255

241 723

113 665

153 322

184 584

114 971

123 391

10 179

24 920

Terraced and linked houses

76 241

756

502

1 078

3 235

14 381

28 803

15 746

10 154

616

970

Blocks of flats

56 654

1 833

3 034

6 871

8 684

12 656

9 050

8 112

5 472

446

496

Detached houses

Table 1. Residential buildings in 2010 by year of construction (Statistics Finland, 2011 databases).

Fundamental improvement projects aim at keeping the property up to date. Typical proj­ ects of this kind include lift installation in a building that lacks one, or replacing natural ventilation with mechanical ventilation.

Energy renovation refers to repairs or other measures significantly reducing the buildings consumption of energy, water or electricity.

At the same time, attention is usually paid to energy production in accordance with sustainable development. In practice, this means that the purpose is to increase the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar power and ground heat.

Energy renovation can include additional insulation of the building’s walls, floor and roof, replacing the windows with a more energy-efficient type, installation of ventilation heat recovery, moving to ground heating and changing the sanitary tapware.

Supplemental construction refers to construction as part of the current community structure or in its immediate vicinity. It is also referred to as compacting and unification of the community structure. Supplemental construction may cover wide areas with several plots and dozens of buildings, or just a single plot.

Additional construction is a form of supplemental construction, where the construction is carried out on an existing plot. For example, a new block of flats can be built on the plot in addition to an existing block. ([Checked 2.2.2012] http://www.uuttahelsinkia.fi/osiot/ taydennysrakentaminen/2593/1300)

follows: coating, soft-lining and close-fit lining, reinstallation on old or new routes, and combinations of the same. Comprehensive services have been developed from these separate technical solutions in recent years.

The essential elements of a comprehensive pipe renovation service are planning and repair services, including not only implementation but also communications, services securing habitation, temporary apartments, property protection services, cleaning services, security services or renovation planning and implementation services offered to the joint owners.

(Paiho et al. 2009) The service selection can also include project planning and condition inspection services.

Correspondingly, some comprehensive energy renovation services already exist and more are under development, with one party taking the responsibility for surveying the building’s situation and offering, for example in phases, products and solutions for improving the building’s energy and ecological efficiency. This eliminates the need for an individual resident of a detached house or a housing cooperative to try to find out from different sources what should be done to the building.

Industrial renovation construction As the number of buildings needing renovation is constantly increasing, the speed of renovations must be accelerated significantly. This also reduces the disturbances caused

Comprehensive renovation services

A significant part of the entire

Numerous individual energy and other renovation solutions are available. For example, piping repair methods can be roughly divided as

Finnish building stock is now

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entering the renovation stage.

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Comprehensive services have been developed from separate technical solutions.

File: Satu Paiho Satu Paiho, M. Sc. (Tech.), works at VTT as a Senior Research Scientist in the building technologies and services area. She has over 20 years of experience in research and development projects related to the energy-efficiency of buildings, building technology systems (HVAC, building automation, building energy management), ensuring the functionality of building technology systems, repairing the energy and building technology systems of buildings, and comprehensive energy renovation services.

to the residents. With regard to pipe renovations, for example, one should look at Germany, where the implementation techniques and processes have been refined to such an extent that a pipe renovation takes only one or two weeks per riser.

The industrialisation of renovation is a fundamental means of speeding up and improving the process, and improving the competitiveness of the companies performing the renovations.

Industrialisation requires careful advance survey, detailed plans, prefabricated products and solutions, controlled goods logistics, and smooth worksite techniques and processes.

Tools based on data models for planning and supervising the project are required in support of the industrialisation.

Additionally, the renovation project’s management methods, common rules and flow of information must be developed, and the roles and responsibilities between the planners, for example, must be made clearer. (Lindstedt & Junnonen 2009) Some industrial energy and other renovation construction solutions already exist. These include bathroom elements, toilet ventilation panels, ventilation panels, façade panels and lift and stairwell towers. However, practical experience remains slight.

Steering methods for energy renovations Energy efficiency improvements are usually more expensive to implement during renovations than during new construction. Although renovations are market-driven in principle, in practice the development requires stronger means of steering than currently exist – either through norms or financial steering.

Financial steering methods might include strong gradation of real estate tax according to energy consumption, or support for renovation itself – for example, through the expansion of tax deduction for domestic costs. Societal support can only act as a catalyst, as the monetary amounts required overall are large.

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On the whole, there exists a need for entirely new financing solutions in renovation, or the more extensive application of existing models, for example the energy service (socalled ESCO operations). (Vanhanen et al. 2010) In addition to improving energy efficiency, the political steering methods with regard to renovation could be connected to improving the physical conditions and functionality of buildings, taking the needs of the ageing population more into consideration, or improving social solidarity and regional enlivenment.

(Baek & Park 2012) The financial support methods and amounts for renovation vary considerably in different countries, based as they are on national premises and goals.

Considering values, energy renovations also compete with other needs and wishes of the residents. An individual resident of a detached house could consider whether to invest in energy renovation, kitchen refurbishment or, perhaps, a holiday trip.

In blocks of flats, the joint owners may find it difficult to accept the higher cost of investment compared to renovation, if their own values do not support the wider, societal view.

Different types of societal support for renovation are thus important factors as means of motivation for energy renovations.

References Baek, C.-H. and Park, S.-H. 2012. Changes in renovation policies in the era of sustainability. Energy and Buildings 47, pp. 485–496.

Kalliokuusi, V. and Kauppinen L. 1991. Korjausrakentamissanasto. TSK, Terminfo 1991:4, pp. 8–9.

Lindstedt, T. and Junnonen, J.-M. 2009. Energiatehokkaat ja teolliset korjausrakentamisratkaisut Suomessa ja kansainvälisesti. Helsinki: Sitran selvityksiä 11. ISBN 978-951-563-693-5 Paiho, S., Heimonen, I., Kouhia, I., Nykänen, E., Nykänen, V., Riihimäki, M. and Vainio, T. 2009. Putkiremonttien uudet hankinta- ja palvelumallit. VTT, Espoo. (VTT Tiedotteita 2483) http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/tiedotteet/2009/T2483.pdf Statistics Finland. June 30th, 2011. Asumisen (kotitalouksien) energiankulutus -loppuraportti.

Statistics Finland. Asuminen 2010. Asunnot ja asuinolot 2009, yleiskatsaus. ISSN 1798-6745 http://www.stat.fi/ til/asas/2009/01/asas_2009_01_2010-11-12_fi.pdf read September 16th, 2011 Vanhanen, J., Vehviläinen, I., Halonen, M. and Kumpulainen, A. 2010. Energiaskenaarioiden järjestelmävaikutukset ja niiden taloudelliset, ympäristölliset ja yhteiskunnalliset seuraukset. (Sitran selvityksiä 30). ISBN 978-951-563720-8 http://era17.fi/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ sitran_selvityksia_30.pdf

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T E C H N O LO GY

Pages

40–62 VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

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KEY TERMS bioengineering, synthetic molecules, Berkeley KEY PERSON Sydney Brenner, Erkki KM Leppävuori, Orna Resnekov, Anne-Christine Ritschkoff, Hans Söderlund KEY MESSAGE V T T opens joint research centre for bioengineering to commercialise and scale up production of engineered cells and molecules.

VTT CONTACT anne-christine.ritschkoff@vtt.fi MORE INFORMATION http://molsci.org/research/BioEngineering.html

Magic from molecules A Finnish-American research centre focuses on manipulating synthetic cells and molecules into chemicals and fuels.

V

Text Mark Addison Photos iStockphoto, Timo Kauppila

40

TT has opened a bioengineering research centre in Berkeley, California as a joint effort with the Molecular Sciences Institute (MSI), founded by Nobelprize-winning scientist Dr. Sydney Brenner. The VTT/ MSI Centre for Bioengineering specialises in bio­technology research on the molecular level.

Molecular bioengineering research involves the design and creation of biomolecular systems using both naturally occurring and modi­fied biological components in novel combinations. In commercial practice, cellular micro-organisms can be constructed to behave as ‘factories’ for producing chemicals, fuels, bio­logical markers and other compounds. Understanding, monitoring and manipulating the behaviour of these micro-organisms is critical to improving production yield and the purity of the proteins and chemicals being produced.

The new research centre will focus on methods for improving bio-based chemicals and proteins in industrial microbes and in quantitative tools for the detection of toxins, chemicals and biomarkers of disease.

Erkki KM Leppävuori, President and CEO of VTT, offers a vision for how the new research centre will benefit food production, environment and health care.

“The VTT/MSI Centre for Bioengineering will solve vexing challenges in engineering bio­logical systems at the molecular level,” explains Leppävuori, “to increase yields in agriculture and food production, to help the environment become less toxic, and to detect diseases and improve human health.”

“Our VTT scientists will be able to collaborate with peers who are recognised experts in academia and industry, combining their talents to pursue new innovations.”

VTT’s Anne-Christine Ritschkoff, Executive Vice President, Strategic Research, says the core science that VTT/MSI is developing is fascinating.

“Our research has discovered that geneti­ cally identical cells can behave differently, so we are building synthetic ‘designer’ molecules that behave consistently and can be constructed for specific purposes. By inventing these custom molecules, we are giving science a variety of new tools and techniques to advance their efforts.”

Solutions for agricultural problems

An interdisciplinary approach

VTT is contributing its know-how on industrial biotechnology and the technology needed to take basic molecular-level research to the scale required for commercialisation.

Dr. Orna Resnekov, Director of the Molecular Sciences Institute (MSI) and now a Director of the new VTT/MSI Centre for Bioengineering, sought the collaboration with VTT as a way of VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

The best science begins in an overcrowded hut.

globalising and commercialising the basic research her lab was conducting.

“Interdisciplinary research has always been a hallmark of our lab,” says Resnekov, “as has been our global perspective. When Hans Söderlund from VTT began collaborating with MSI years ago, we recognised how our two organisations have complementary skill sets in basic and applied research.”

“MSI’s flagship research on the quantitative genome function matches perfectly with VTT’s competencies in sustainable chemistry and sustainable processing for industrial biotechnology applications.”

“Now, with the joint VTT/MSI Centre,” says Resnekov, “our collaboration has created a world-class research lab that can attract the brightest scientific minds, a place where junior researchers are exposed to technological breakthroughs and can accelerate their careers.”

The joint VTT/MSI Centre for Bioengineering has resulted in Finnish science contributing to molecular knowledge on a global scale, Finnish industry gaining technologies for improved production, and Finnish citizens enjoying advances in disease detection and human welfare. n

“Grand Challenges” for Science – an interview with Dr. Sydney Brenner DR. SYDNEY BRENNER is a preeminent biologist who, in a career spanning 60 years, has made significant contributions towards mapping the human genetic code, to understanding the origins of protein synthesis, and towards modelling and analysing neural development. In 2002, Dr. Brenner earned the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.

Dr. Brenner is also founder of the Molecular Sciences Institute (MSI) in Berkeley, California, and a Board member of the new VTT/MSI Centre for Bioengineering. We sat down with Dr. Brenner at the opening celebration party to ask him about his views on the biggest challenges that science faces today.

How do you think science contributes to society and to the world?

“Science solves the problems that face humanity. There is no such thing, in my mind, as ‘pure’ science or ‘applied’ science – they are just ways of solving problems. Science is the technique of observation and experimentation, and thinking about how things work, so that we can address human needs.”

Part of the mission of the VTT/MSI Centre is to foster international collaboration among scientists, and you have stated that collaboration is critical for good science. Why is that?

“I’ve always dreamt that the best science begins in a hut – an overcrowded hut where people are forced to talk to each other. In all my labs – in Singapore, San Diego, Cambridge, Hawaii and Berkeley – I try to put the incubators and refrigerators in a public place so as to encourage chance encounters. You can’t force people to collaborate, of course, but if you are not actively encouraging collaboration it’s very easy to stop it accidentally, by segregating research teams.

Those chance encounters are how the discussions happen that spark the ideas that lead to new collaborations and innovations.”

Dr. Sydney Brenner

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KEY TERMS greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, energy efficiency KEY PERSON Tiina Koljonen, Jussi Manninen, Kai Sipilä KEY MESSAGE Meeting the ambitious targets set by the EU for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will require a thorough renewal in which research plays a key role.

VTT CONTACT kai.sipila@vtt.fi MORE INFORMATION http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy2020/index_ en.htmap/index_en.htm

STOP

climate change The far-off year of 2050 suddenly appears rather close when considering the EU’s target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by that time. The technology for such a structural change will need to be developed within the space of the next decade.

T

Text Harriet Öster Photos Annika Varjonen, Visual Impact Helsinki Oy

he European Union has set ambitious targets for combating climate change: Europe must move swiftly towards becoming a low-carbon society. In 2011, the European Commission published its “Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050”. The Energy Roadmap 2050 published at the end of the same year presents alternative development paths that would enable us to achieve an 80–90% reduction in greenhouse gases over 1990 levels.

A reduction on this scale is necessary if ­Europe is to achieve its objective, namely limiting the rise in average global temperature to below 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels. Emission reductions will affect all workings of society and equate to a fundamental system change.

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Similar reports and scenario calculations are now being produced around Europe. In Finland, a research project coordinated by VTT has been initiated that targets a low-carbon Finland by 2050.

“From the research point of view the interim target is actually as early as 2020,” says Kai Sipilä, VTT’s Vice President, Strategic Research. “By then we must achieve the objectives set for Member States and create the development paths for the technical solutions that will be in use in 2050.

“In ten years the first of the solutions based on new technology should already be in operation. Garnering practical experience will add another ten years. Only then will we know the final precise impacts and indicators that will enable us to fine-tune the concepts.”

Kai Sipilä acknowledges that changing the way industry works will take time.

VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

The target is to limit the rise in average global temperature to below 2 degrees centigrade.

VTT’s research strategy outlines paths to a low-carbon society and green growth.

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43

VTT is a member of EERA, and VTT’s President and CEO, Erkki KM Leppävuori, sits on the EERA Executive Committee. Kai Sipilä coordinates Finnish participation in collaborative work in the bioenergy sector, which also involves the Finnish Forest Research Institute.

Low-carbon Finland scenarios

“Every project pushing new technology requires licensing, planning, funding, building, running and experience of operation,” says Sipilä. “It may easily be twenty years before a new technology can be disseminated more widely; 2020 is already close, and if we are to see significant changes in society by 2050, we need to start now.”

Research collaboration accelerates new energy technology

Significant financial investment and effective networking will be necessary to ensure that research and development work for the new technology gets up to speed. When drawing up its ambitious emission targets the EU also decided on a plan in support of energy technology research.

This EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (EU SET Plan) specifies eight EU-level industrial energy initiatives that call for collaboration between enterprises and public research.

The aim is to introduce solutions based on new technology to the market by 2020. The funding required from national sources, actors and the EU is in the order of 65 billion euros.

Industry has put forward its own initiatives for collaboration under the SET Plan, also taking account of commercial productisation.

“Apart from the industry initiatives, 15 leading research institutes form a group for energy research collaboration known as the ­European Energy Research Alliance (EERA),” says Sipilä. “EERA supports the SET Plan objectives by accelerating the development of energy technology through research collaboration that maximises research synergies and combines national and international funding.”

The EU Energy Roadmap 2050 contained calculations on future EU energy alternatives. In future all Member States must present national plans for moving to a low-carbon society.

Modelling of a low-carbon future began at VTT two years ago with an internal project that is just reaching fruition. The economic impacts of these low-carbon paths are assessed by the Finnish Government Institute for Economic Research.

The work is being continued by a more broadly based consortium in a two-year project known as the Low Carbon Finland 2050 platform, part of the Green Growth research programme recently launched by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes.

“VTT’s internal scenario work mostly concerned technology, but the Tekes project will be expanded to deal with Finland’s long-term development viewed from various perspectives,” says Tiina Koljonen, Principal Scientist at VTT. “These will include economy, employment, sustainable development, the adequacy and cost of natural resources, structural changes in society, and the impact of control measures in different strategies.”

Participation in the Low Carbon Finland 2050 platform project will also include the Finnish Government Institute for Economic Research, the Finnish Forest Research Institute, and Geological Survey of Finland. The project also includes international partners, and participates in a number of modelling consortiums producing energy and emissions scenarios.

“We are aiming to develop global and regional scenarios, computational models and methods of analysis that represent system-level changes,” says Koljonen. “These will allow for innovations taking technical development for-

The optimal path is not necessarily the best.

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ward in leaps and bounds, for example, and the emergence of sustainable use of natural resources as a limiting factor.”

Suitable path to the future

Tiina Koljonen points out that research collaboration is a vast undertaking in which all parts are mutually interactive.

“When building and modelling scenarios,” says Koljonen, “we must be able to vet the entire chain, systematically and logically, from the very beginning right through to the choices made by individual consumers.”

“Scenario-building usually begins by establishing a storyline: what kind of society do we want Finland to be in 2050, and what will the rest of the world be like? We then look at how we can achieve the desired state.

There are a number of paths we can take to get there. We have to examine the various alternatives and the risks inherent in them.”

One way in which the desired state can be reached is by investing heavily in research and development to bring about a change in the energy system. Alternatively, we can keep the system more or less as it is, but with a dramatic reduction in emissions.

“We will look at how much energy the mooted society will need for industry, transport and housing,” says Koljonen. “We will need a large amount of specialist input on, for example, how a particular technical solution might be developed, and how soon.”

The purpose of the modelling is to demonstrate solid paths towards a low-carbon and competitive society. The optimal path is not necessarily the best – this might be a path otherwise considered ‘suitable’, but one that can be fixed in a crisis and restored to use in a range of operating environments.

“We will aim to increase understanding of a rather complex issue by presenting information that is fully comprehensive, yet treated systematically,” says Koljonen. “The politicians and other decision-makers will be the ones to make the choices,” she acknowledges, “and in the end, the consumer will be the one who decides.”

“With the modelling results we must be able to show that the scenarios are not to be considered as forecasts, but as computational results obtained from specified sources and based on the best knowledge available today.

In two years’ time there will be new information, and similar calculations may well produce a different kind of result.”

Koljonen reveals that various scenario computations concerning the EU’s energy system development have been completed and continue to be performed in various connections. In computing models with the same base cases in a large group we can clearly see how many variables and uncertainties are inherent in this kind of modelling. n

New metrics for determining energy efficiency ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN industry is usually examined through the energy consumption of various items of equipment. The five-year research programme Efficient Energy Use (EFEU) that has recently begun raises the study of energy efficiency to the system level. The project is being implemented within the framework of the ‘Energy and the environment: CLEEN Ltd’ Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation (SHOK).

Improving energy efficiency is an important part of creating a low-carbon economy. The EFEU objective is to support companies in creating new business based on the efficient use of energy.

“We are developing new metrics for understanding energy efficiency and for practical quantification,” says VTT Principal Scientist Jussi Manninen, who is the EFEU’s Programme Manager. “These will measure

VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

energy efficiency in relation to product added value.”

Manninen explains the added value brought by the metrics using the following example.

“The most common energy efficiency metric in papermaking is energy consumption per tonne of paper.

To the consumer, however, the weight of the paper means little: the value lies in the size of the surface area on which information can be recorded. A better metric for energy efficiency would therefore be energy consumption relative to the surface area produced. This would encourage the use of lighter paper, which in turn would mean lower consumption of raw material and energy.”

“We hope to find this kind of new perspective in other areas, too,” says Manninen. “That’s what we shall be looking for with the EFEU.”

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KEY TERMS urbanisation, ecoconstruction, China, Russia KEY PERSON Kari Hiltunen, Timo Koponen, Satu Paiho, Markku Virtanen KEY MESSAGE EcoCity projects develop urban construction that will preser ve the environment.

V TT CONTACT markku.virtanen@vtt.fi MORE INFORMATION www.vtt.fi

EcoCity will solve urban problems Urbanisation brings challenges for global management of growth.

Then again, a decaying urban structure causes difficulties of its own.

The problem is being solved by the EcoCity projects.

Text Antti J. Lagus Photos iStockphoto

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E

coCity combines several kinds of competence. The issue is one of urban planning blended with material technology and clean energy.

VTT gathers its broad competence from various

fields.

VTT brought the Finnish way of thinking to the Chinese market in 2007. EcoCity covers the entire construction value chain from development and construction through to final disposal in accordance with life-cycle thinking. The project aims at developing environmentally sustainable, ethically acceptable and economically profitable collaboration.

“The Chinese, for example, value the Finnish innovation system, Finnish education and Finnish research ahead of individual Finnish products,” says Markku Virtanen, Technology Manager at VTT. “Building the innovation system has involved collaboration with a number of Chinese partners.”

Virtanen says Finns are also valued for their branding and service packaging, and for proj­ ect management. In place of individual products, the goals are comprehensive solutions that will help achieve successful logistics for even the largest of projects.

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47

70 People walking in Hong Kong’s busy Mong Kok district in Kowloon. The street is full of vendors selling fruit and bargain-priced clothing.

A long way from the wood The EcoCity project is approached from many angles. In addition to technical and energy-technical considerations, attention must also be paid to regional services and employment. The requirements for profitable business operation are secured through dense construction, creating an area with a large number of potential customers. To this end, eco-efficient projects have been promoted by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes and by enterprises.

Top level research collaboration

Virtanen also places emphasis on the signifi­ cance of research collaboration. Partners include the highly rated Tongji University in Shanghai, Dalian University of Technology, and Shenyang Architectural University.

WHEN VTT BEGAN operations in 1942 work principally involved materials research and testing. Non-combustible roof felt and army-specification wood material numbered among the products developed by the Fire Technical Laboratory during the war years.

The 1950s witnessed the spread of construction using precast elements. VTT investigated the fundamental questions concerning construction methods and developed new technology.

Energy issues rose to the surface on entering the new millennium.

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings and the built environment is an important means of mitigating climate change.

Each year, 20–30 million Chinese migrate to the cities from rural areas.

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Russia – land of construction opportunities LAST YEAR VTT and St. Petersburg’s Committee for City Planning and Architecture drafted a joint EcoCity report that continues this year in the form of a pilot project. This project, which goes by the name EcoGrad (‘grad’ means ‘city’ in English), seeks to establish future operating practices that could also be adopted in other Russian cities.

“In St. Petersburg alone the housing blocks under discussion run to around a hundred, while the other major Russian cities will add a great deal more,” says Timo Koponen, who heads the Russian project. “The project also aims to set up four technology platforms: energy efficiency, internal area logistics, waste management, and digital services.”

Koponen, who has several decades of experience in Russian trade, was most recently Director of FinNode Russia. The task of FinNode is to link Finland to inter­ national knowledge clusters.

With regard to St. Petersburg, it has already been decided to establish a technology park; beyond its research and exhibition functions the park will also include production facilities. According to the Russian partners, funding will probably come from the Russian Federation’s Skolkovo Innovation Centre.

The project kick-off held in St. Petersburg in February involved the participation of large Finnish corporations whose subcontractors, Koponen believes, will have considerable interest in the technology park. A pilot project for renovation of certain city centre blocks will also stimulate their interest.

Reconstruction of residential blocks First Secretary Khrushchev, in ordering the construction of residential areas of so-called ‘Khrushchev’ houses in the post-war period and during the 1950s, intended such buildings to last no more than thirty years. The pressure for reconstruction is therefore considerable, these residential blocks having already outlasted their moral and physical lifespan.

The EcoCity report, drawn up by VTT and St. Petersburg’s Committee for City Planning and Architecture, awakened a great deal of interest when it was presented in May of last year. Continuation work was presented by St. Petersburg’s Committee for Construction. Its impetus derived from the present day difficulty in implementing high-quality and eco-efficient residential construction in Russia, due to the continued use of several standards dating from the Soviet period that have the effect of obstructing the application of new technical solutions.

“In Russia there is a desire to move towards EU standards for housing production,” says Koponen. “The idea is that some of these standards would be applied from 2015 alongside the standards used locally.”

Russians see Finns being able to offer considerable assistance in clarifying the issue of ­compliance with standards. Finns for their part are aware of the market opportunity made available through the capacity to offer EU-based solutions.

Construction of a new residential area in St. Petersburg.

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End of the road for the Khrushchev slums

The authorities are also actively involved; close cooperation here is vital for spreading the ‘eco’ way of thinking.

Senior Scientist Satu Paiho points out that the Chinese are not interested in dealing directly with individual Finnish enterprises; here VTT has often found itself in the role of intermediary.

Cooperation with the authorities – in addition to research collaboration – has also proved to be important in Russia. Eco-efficient construction was set in motion in St. Petersburg under the EcoGrad project. Work has now also begun in Moscow, where a vast market awaits.

The idea in St. Petersburg is to re-build entire blocks. Moscow, on the other hand, says Paiho, will involve a range of modernisation alternatives.

Market potential in Africa

The EcoCity model has also been taken to Africa.

Construction difficulties on the African continent centre on the management of heat and humidity. The same logic as used in China and Russia – research collaboration and coopera-

tion with the authorities – has been followed in Tunisia, Zambia, Ruanda, Egypt and elsewhere.

Apart from energy, water and waste, urban planning challenges in Africa also run to slum prevention and the effective use of local labour.

Zambia, for example, places restrictions on the granting of work permits to foreign investors. Local SMEs hold a competitive advantage when it comes to small-scale construction proj­ ects. Educating them in environmental issues is an area in which VTT is becoming more active.

Among the biggest challenges in slum reno­ vation is that posed by the people themselves.

The authorities are not even aware of how many people live in a given slum area.

The slum inhabitants have no desire to move elsewhere. For them it is important to be near the centre, to places of work and to services.

“People need to be shown the benefits of moving,” says Markku Virtanen, “such as a functional water and sewage network, and electricity supplied to their homes. VTT is participating in the development of practical and sustainable solutions for these kinds of challenges, too.” n This shanty town is near Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town.

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Skyscraper living up to its name in Mong Kok, a district in Hong Kong with the highest population density in the world.

China needs practical solutions CHINA IS IN NEED of concrete solutions to its housing problems. An estimated 20–30 million Chinese migrate from rural to urban areas every year. To put this in perspective, China would need to build a city the size of Paris every month. Actual new construction, however, is of the order of five million units annually.

Supply and demand also fail to tie in.

New housing has proved too expensive for the average home-seeker and often ends up in the hands of investors. Figures suggest that, despite a current housing shortage of around 70 million units, around 75 million residences in China lie empty. The government has reacted by initiating a social housing construction programme targeting 35 million new residences over the next five years.

“Urbanisation is one of the leading drivers of the Chinese economy,” says Kari Hiltunen, Director of Tekes’ Beijing office. “Construction and steering of construction is a big issue here. When talking of China there are three things you need to remember – all closely linked, and all beginning with ‘e’: economy, energy and environment.”

“This is, in fact, the actual order of priority, with economy coming first,” Hiltunen continues, “followed by ensuring the availability of energy, through which we then pass to the environment. By saving energy during construction, we are not only reducing environmental load but the consumption of energy, too.”

Hiltunen had been monitoring the trends in eco-efficient construction long before his Beijing posting in 2010.

According to China’s Ministry of Housing and UrbanRural Development, EcoCity projects have been launched at various levels in over 170 cities since the 1980s. The

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National Development and Reform Commission, on the other hand, has granted EcoCity status to over 50 cities.

Whatever the precise figures involved, we are in any case talking about a considerable number.

Starting with a clean sheet A special characteristic of China is that EcoCity can be realised as a so-called ‘greenfield’ project, with planning and implementation unimpeded by existing structures and solutions. The new city for construction at Tianjin, for example, will house 350,000 inhabitants. New technol­ ogies can also be taken up from the very beginning, something that is not always feasible in existing environments.

Kari Hiltunen says Finns have a good reputation in China, where they are thought of as being “technology freaks”. An international conference held in Tianjin last year nonetheless produced criticism of EcoCity projects run by foreign organisations.

“For example: the ecological foundation of the area has not always been properly considered; planned traffic control has proved unsatisfactory; standard construction has been employed in spite of EcoCity status. Not only that, there has often been a lack of understanding of local culture and needs, while the solutions proposed have been too expensive.”

Beyond technical competence, Finns could also be in a strong position when constructing in areas with a cold climate.

According to the planning standards, China is divided into five climate zones, of which the two coldest approximate Finnish conditions. Finnish construction experience in the conditions found in northern China is therefore considerable, making this an ideal target area.

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KEY TERMS printed intelligence, printed electronics, PrintoCent KEY PERSON Mitsuru Iida, Ilkka Kaisto, Harri Kopola, Akira Makita, Jaakko Raukola, Christian Sundell KEY MESSAGE World’s first pilot factory for printed intelligence inaugurated at Oulu, Finland.

VTT CONTACT harri.kopola@vtt.fi MORE INFORMATION www.printocent.net

Let’s print intelligence!

Finland joins leading edge of emerging market for printed electronics.

Text Jarmo Lahti Photos Jarmo Lahti, Juha Sarkkinen

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PrintoCent is a new springboard for the entire Finnish export industry.

The surface of the plastic film can be modified using hot embossing technology. The steel arm adds the ’icing to the cake’, by printing a grid less than a micrometre in depth.

Intelligence hot off the press

F

inland is aiming at a oneper-cent slice of the emerging printed intelligence market, estimated at 200–300 billion euros. Success could mean 10,000 new export-based jobs, as well as a host of other potential benefits.

Based on VTT’s expertise and located in its premises, the unique PrintoCent industrialisation unit has a global head-start of 2–3 years on the rest of the field.

The Pilot Factory emerged as a winner in the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe 2012 Awards. VTT came top in the Manufacturing category, for having developed the world’s first pilot-scale capability for printed intelligence manufacturing.

Established by VTT, the University of Oulu, Oulu University of Applied Sciences and Business Oulu, the PrintoCent community and its 2013– 2015 programmes are now offering enterprises of all sizes a unique development environment, in addition to technical expertise of the first order.

In the first phase, during 2009–2012, BASF, Orion Diagnostica and Robert Bosch were the VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

first companies to provide the project with major support.

Industrialisation of printed intelligence picked up speed during 2009–2012. This was due to a 15-million-euro investment, around one third of which is dedicated to a new Rollto-Roll Pilot Factory environment.

Oulu’s printed intelligence cluster has attracted more than twenty companies so far, which have collectively invested around two million euros in the region. Around a dozen start-up companies were founded in 2010–2012.

While some customers are large international industrial players, a sizeable employment impact will be registered in Finland. The new jobs will appear in development and manufacturing work in both product and service companies.

The most recent custom-built production line offers companies a low-risk environment for developing their prototypes and scaling up to higher volumes, in order to test the manufacturability and yield of the new products. During the business launch phase, participating firms will not have to invest in their own production environment.

The concept of producing functional electronics required by a given product lies at the heart of printed intelligence. This is done in such quantities, at such speed and at such low cost, that it can form part of mass production.

At present, the major obstacle lies in the fact that companies have not yet included printed intelligence among their technology solutions. Like PCs, cell phones and tablets in the early days of traditional semiconductor technology, the most stunning hit products have yet to be invented.

Printed intelligence technology will enable new products in a number of fields. In many respects, this will give the electronics sector a new lease of life. Examples of target applications include home diagnostics, distributed energy production, electronic products, smart packaging and cleantech.

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Printed intelligence technology enables new products in several fields.

The new factory’s capacity will be equivalent to around 100,000 cell-phone-displaysized elements a day.

“Cutting edge for sharp minds”

PrintoCent’s background lies in research activities initiated at VTT, by Professor Harri Kopola at the end of the 1990s.

In Kopola’s opinion, the pilot line’s launch is a milestone, making the whole project tangible.

“Our sharp minds now have a cutting edge, quite literally,” he jokes.

Harri Kopola has a genuine vantage point over European printed intelligence research and clusters.

VTT and Kopola were participants in the core team drafting the European research plan for organic and large area electronics, OLAE (SRA, Strategic Research Agenda) in 2009. VTT and PrintoCent also coordinate the European COLAE project, involving 17 industrial clusters co-operating in commercialisation and industrialisation.

“Demand for pilot manufacturing will increase rapidly”

PrintoCent’s Director, VTT’s Ilkka Kaisto, is confident that there will be enough demand for the pilot manufacturing environment.

“This will be a new springboard for the entire Finnish export industry. It will also be an opportunity to develop a new type of product, while making existing products more competitive on the global market.”

The very freshness of the print factory environment soon awakened discussion on issues such as how to access the services.

“Since standardisation is in the early days for this new manufacturing technology, we need to create the design rules, process related understanding and basic component available for the designers. In other words, to get the industry involved, the first steps have to be taken in industrialisation.”

The Prinse’12 seminar held at Oulu in March gathered around 250 participants, over 100 of whom were international, from 24 countries.

Around 70 companies were represented.

Iscent develops package printing for authentication FINLAND’S ISCENT IS one of VTT’s bilateral industry partners in printed intelligence.

The Tampere-based firm was established in 2011 as a VTT spin-off. It commercialises hot-moulding technology developed at VTT – in particular the production of high-quality optical effects capable of authenticating product origin, intended for the package printing of brand products.

According to Jaakko Raukola, CEO of Iscent, cooperation with VTT began last autumn, after the establishment of Iscent’s funding base.

“We have been licensed to use the roll-to-roll method in VTT’s hot embossing technology,” explains Raukola. “A project is under way to solve technical issues to a production line, for a hot embossing line with a roll-to-roll width of 1.2 metres supporting package industry and printing houses.”

According to Raukola, the new pilot equipment at Oulu can also be used to investigate the hot embossed effects achieved on a range of materials.

“Certain Iscent orders will also be implementable using the Oulu pilot equipment, particularly for applications that are not dependent on a wide production line.”

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Building value chains

PrintoCent 2013–2015 will first target the creation of an ecosystem for printed intelligence.

For this, an international cluster is being built.

Secondly, it will take the form of three programmes: pilot manufacturing, industrialisation and so-called killer applications and products, with the specific aim of building value chains.

According to Business Oulu’s Christian Sundell, there was a positive buzz at the presentation event.

“There has also been a fair bit of contact from companies since the seminar. We are already taking the programme framework forward and making moves towards selling and marketing. The aim is to kick-off with the first projects from the beginning of 2013.”

Industry takes the floor

An international industry cluster is being built around PrintoCent, in order to identify the products best suited for industrialisation.

Companies at the Prinse’12 seminar spoke of their own achievements in printed intelligence, and of their future expectations and needs. More than 30 companies took the floor, among them BASF, Orion Diagnostica, Xerox, Merck, Corning Glass, Dai Nippon Printing and STMicroelectronics, as well as a group of start-up firms.

The event also gave a clear picture of the overall PrintoCent Pilot Factory concept, academic perspectives, and of the dozens of research scientists and enterprises involved in the printed intelligence field. n The automatic registration system on the new line increases this technology’s potential for industrial exploitation.

VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

Akira Makita (left) and Mitsuru Iida from Dai Nippon Printing

Japanese printing giant satisfied with VTT collaboration MITSURU IIDA, Vice President of the research and development centre of Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), perhaps the world’s leading printing house, delivered the keynote speech on printed intelligence during the Prinse’12 seminar at Oulu in March.

Iida described how DNP – established in 1876, with a current turnover of around 15 billion euros and a staff of 36,000 – is rapidly transferring highly complex functionality to an ever wider variety of printing surfaces, in all three of its principal sectors.

DNP’s first steps in hybrid electronic and printing technology were taken as long ago as the 1950s. Lately this work has been continued in cooperation with the research scientists at VTT. Iida paid tribute to the cooperation on research into flexible OLED lighting and OPV (organic photovoltaic) roll-to-roll manufacturing technology. He mentioned the role of Oulu’s printed intelligence research scientists.

“The one-year cooperation agreement in this area came into effect last April. We see no reason why this shouldn’t be extended.” Iida and Akira Makita, the head of DNP’s Paris unit, aired this view between Prinse’12 company presentations and viewing demos.

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KEY TERMS Australia, technology commercialisation, forest industry KEY PERSON John Kettle, Göran Roos, Nafty Vanderhoek KEY MESSAGE Australia has a need for competence in technology commercialisation.

V TT CONTACT john.kettle@vtt.fi

Land of opportunity Australia is crying out for innovative commercialisers.

Text Mirkka Isotalo Photos iStockphoto

V

TT has been developing its operations in Australia over the course of a few years. The short-term aim is to become the leading supplier of forest industry technology – over the long term the objective is a permanent place on the continent as an industry partner. The door to neighbouring countries and Asia is also open.

The Australian business environment is ideal for VTT in many ways. Despite its considerable size, the country is heavily urbanised: the majority of businesses and around 60 per cent of the population are concentrated in the four major cities, namely Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. This not only helps entry into the markets but also managing them.

The Australian economy is as big as that of all the Nordic countries combined. Companies are nonetheless mostly small or medium-sized, or subsidiaries of multinational conglomerates.

“The structure of the business sector weakens innovation among local companies and increases demand for just the kind of services that VTT can offer,” says John Kettle, Inter56

national Development Manager at VTT, who is closely involved in developing the functions in Australia.

Australia is a significant nation in terms of science, and thus an important source of information for VTT. “Australia has little experience of the commercialisation of information, however, which is where VTT’s expertise comes in,” says John Kettle.

An example from the Nordic countries

The challenges of heavy industry in Australia are in many ways a reminder of the situation in the Nordic countries. The costs of manufacturing and employment are rising and companies are wrestling with productivity pressures. Employment is under threat from the transfer of manufacturing to cheap labour countries.

The boom in raw materials nonetheless continues. Australia is rich in natural resources, and these form the bulk of the country’s exports. The aim of economic policy is to raise the level of industrial production and to improve the country’s competitiveness.

The need for technology-based innovation has increased dramatically.

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The Australian economy is as big as the economies of all the Nordic countries combined.

“The country has several producers of technological information, such as the national science agency CSIRO and the universities, but actors on the scale of VTT are few and far between,” John Kettle remarks.

Outside the forest industry, other promising sectors include the full cellulose value chain, built environment, food, manufacturing industry, and biotechnology.

To the top in the forest sector

For VTT, Australia also serves as a gateway to neighbouring countries such as New Zealand, a country with encouraging potential in, among others, forest and marine industry, media, health technology and dairy products. Of Asian countries Kettle highlights Singapore.

For the Australia functions VTT operates a team of three. Customer relationships in Australia are the responsibility of Senior Advisor Nafty Vanderhoek, who joined VTT from CSIRO. Göran Roos, Chairman of VTT International and well known and respected in Australia, visits the country each month and maintains contacts with government ministers and the civil service and with companies. John Kettle’s work mainly involves Finland, although he visits Australia regularly.

Finland and Australia are thousands of miles apart. Even so, John Kettle believes that VTT’s very Finnishness will bring nothing but advantage in Australia.

“The Nordic countries have a positive image in both private and public sectors. This should not be underestimated. VTT is Finland’s technology figurehead, and Finland’s position among the world’s leaders in technology is fully recognised.” n

One of the sectors for which it has been difficult to find adequate domestic support for the development challenges being faced is the forest industry. VTT’s immediate aim is to become the leading technology supplier for the Australian forest industry.

With VTT’s high reputation in the paper and pulp industry, and an effective lack of competition, John Kettle sees excellent opportunities to offer.

Australia’s ailing forest industry can be revived through products based on new raw materials and which have high added value, and by boosting current production.

“VTT has already introduced itself to most of the companies in the forest sector,” says John Kettle. “We will be spreading the same message later on to other sections of heavy industry.”

In the long term VTT aims to establish its own unit in the country and produce services both for local businesses and for Finnish companies seeking to enter the Australian market.

VTT IMPULSE – TECH’NOLOGY TECHNOLOGY

Eyes turn towards Asia

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KEY TERMS intelligent traffic, traffic safety, road conditions, friction, ITS KEY PERSONS Pekka Eloranta, Risto Kulmala, Matti Kutila, Timo Sukuvaara KEY MESSAGE A solution under development in Finland will provide drivers with information on weather and road conditions.

VTT CONTACT matti.kutila@vtt.fi MORE INFORMATION www.vtt.fi

Cars communicating Cars of the future will alert each other to safety risks on the road.

Text Paula Bergqvist Photos Ari Ijäs

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I

n Finland, a comprehensive solution under development will provide drivers with information not only on traffic situations but on weather and road conditions. The new system, developed within the Eureka Celtic WiSafe­ Car project, was showcased by VTT and its partners in Tampere last January in Arctic conditions.

“From a Finnish perspective, an important objective of the project was the develop­ment of a solution that would bring about a significant reduction in the number of serious traffic injuries and deaths,” says Pekka Elo­ranta, project coordinator at Mobisoft Oy. “For this reason, we wanted to include a function in the system that would provide drivers with real-time information on weather and road conditions.”

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The system alerts the driver to impending danger, such as roadworks or traffic accidents ahead. Vehicles will communicate their observations on traffic, road conditions and weather to a background system, which will analyse the observations and relay them to other vehicles in traffic. A vehicle involved in an accident will immediately warn vehicles in the vicinity of the accident scene.

Target set at commercial applications

Commercial exploitation of the system is now under way. Developers are targeting a schedule that will allow the first applications to be commercially available in two years’ time.

According to Pekka Eloranta, efforts have been made to keep the development work in line with the targets set by the automotive industry.

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Finnish companies participating in development Several Finnish companies are involved in the Eureka Celtic WiSafeCar project.

Mobisoft has developed applications for vehicles and data communication solutions. These solutions run on in-vehicle computers developed

by Sunit.

Within the scope of the project, Taipale Telematics has developed methods for evaluating measurement techniques, integrating them into vehicles, and providing data on road conditions.

Infotripla combines data from different sources, providing real-time situational awareness information that is relayed to vehicle systems.

The driver can see road condition alerts and traffic warnings on the WiSafeCar in-car terminal.

“The solution can be installed in new cars. On older vehicles, it can be installed as an upgrade component.”

Eloranta hopes car manufacturers will provide their views on how the development should be continued. “The automotive industry has already shown interest in the WiSafeCar system,” he says.

Development will be boosted by a new traffic test track which is under construction in Tampere. Scheduled for completion in two years, the track will provide a site where future traffic systems and services can be developed and tested. Designed for testing of cooperative systems, the test track is part of DRIVE-C2X-EU-FP7-IP, a project supported by major car manufacturers such as Fiat, Mercedes, Volvo, Delphi and Hitachi. The test area is scheduled to enter operational use by 2014.

Matti Kutila

A vehicle involved in an accident immediately warns other vehicles near the scene.

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The camera-based control system measures the level of grip on the road surface and sends the information to vehicles over a wireless connection.

Weather stations on wheels

The Finnish Meteorological Institute has developed the road weather services included in the system, and participated in the development of the network’s data communications architecture that enables vehicles to interact with each other.

In addition to intelligent road weather services, the Meteorological Institute has participated in the development of the communications system. Meteorological Institute experts have specialised in wireless communications, with particular focus on communication between vehicles.

“From our perspective,” says Timo Sukuvaara, Group Manager at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, “a communications system that connects vehicles is not only an excellent way to promote traffic safety; it is also an outstanding means of bringing safety-enhancing weather services to all drivers.”

“Using vehicles as ‘weather stations on wheels’ is a new step towards gathering accurate, reliable and prompt information on road conditions.”

Sukuvaara thinks that meteorological information has potential for wider applications than is currently the case.

“We want to continue our participation in development, transferring our systems to commercial applications, thus providing a rapid VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

VTT’s Pasi Pyykönen presents software solutions for measuring traffic, road conditions and traffic emissions.

Towards automated road traffic THE EUROPEAN UNION has set a target of improving road safety, providing cleaner energy and building an intelligent traffic system.

The achievement of this target is boosted by the directive on intelligent transport systems, adopted by the EU in 2010, stipulating that all services should be available in a uniform manner across Europe. Development work is being carried out within the framework of the EasyWay project and other forums.

“Future road traffic and standards are currently under discussion within the automotive industry,” says Risto Kulmala, leading ITS expert at the Finnish Transport Agency. “Until now, development has been furthered by active volunteers. Practically all automotive manufacturers have declared their support for the standardisation of systems.”

Intelligent systems will first be introduced in luxury models because the current price of in-vehicle computers is fairly high.

Experts predict that with increased volumes in the future, the prices will be significantly reduced.

“However, this may take another 15 years,” says Kulmala.

“Measures available to public administration, such as legislation or tax relief, may bring about an earlier fall in prices.”

“In the long run, the trend is towards automation of road traffic, a development that the WiSafeCar project is contributing to by enhancing the ability of vehicles to observe their environment and interact with each other.”

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These mobile “weather stations” enable rapid and accurate gathering of data on weather and road conditions.

The operating environment of the WiSafeCar system is built on ICT technology, says Matti Kutila from VTT.

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From road paving to future traffic systems

RESEARCH ON ROADS and road traffic, conducted by VTT, has been applied to vehicle development, as well as to legislation.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the focus was placed on improving the condition of the road network and enhancing road safety. Thanks to the hot in-place paving technique, the amount of material required for replacement road paving could be reduced by half. Based on research conducted by VTT, general speed limits were introduced in order to bring down the number of road deaths.

By the 2010s, future traffic systems have reached the stage where they are being tested and undergoing a commercialisation process. In order to enhance the enforcement of safety belt use and speed limits, the police has placed under test use a new VTT-developed system based on automated camera surveillance and wireless connections. The system measures the safety distance between cars, vehicle emissions, and the level of road-grip. The system is being tested in Finland, Germany, France and Austria.

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service for all road users.” The Finnish Meteorological Institute also wants to have a role in the specification process that provides standards for cooperative traffic.

The Meteorological Institute has participated in similar projects for intelligent traffic.

“Only a few years ago, it was thought strange that we would participate in vehicular networking related projects conducted outside the Institute,” says Sukuvaara.

“Now, it is generally recognised that the provision of weather-related information, coupled with improved traffic safety, is one of the key targets of intelligent traffic.”

Soon a reality

Matti Kutila, a Senior Specialist at VTT, has participated in the development work in the role of VTT’s coordinator for the project.

“Within the scope of the project, we contributed to the development

of a cooperative vehicle network with situational awareness capabilities,” says Kutila, “as well as to the development of sensor technology for monitoring road conditions.”

The automotive industry and traffic infrastructure have reserved a 5.9 GHz bandwidth for the sole use of traffic.

“This,” says Kutila, “will eliminate congestion in data communications and minimise delays.

For instance, warning of an impending collision with a pedestrian must be relayed to the driver within milliseconds. Both shortrange WLAN and long-range mobile technologies are used in communications between vehicles. In many cases, relatively slow cellphone technology is well suited to relaying information on road conditions to vehicles, except when they are approaching a critical section of the road, such as an icy crossroads.” n VTT IMPULSE – TECHNOLOGY

BUSINESS OSAAMINEN JA UUSI TEKNOLOGIA

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Metallurgical expertise tipped the scale The launch of cooperation between Luvata and VTT was no coincidence.

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Text Irene Hernberg Photos Luvata

t is 2007. Two years prior, a Swedish investment company acquired Outokumpu Copper Products Oy, now known as Luvata. Luvata has realigned its development efforts to focus more on downstream prod­ ucts and services, which has lead to some outsourcing of specified R&D work.

Luvata, a company of more than 30 production facilities and over 6,400 employees today, was looking for an external partner to carry out some of its outsourced alloy research.

Soon after this, Juho Mäkinen, Senior Adviser at VTT, meets John Peter Leesi, who is Luvata’s CEO, at a management event for the Finnish metal industry.

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Mäkinen, scenting a business opportunity, is in the right place at the right time, and not by coincidence.

“I suggested to Leesi that Luvata should outsource this R&D, or at least part of it, to VTT, because we had a great deal of know-how on material techniques, metallurgy, energy technology, automation and modelling, as well as the required personnel and equipment,” Mäkinen says.

Networking showed its strength

Leesi thought that Mäkinen’s suggestion was interesting. He asked Mäkinen to contact Ed Rottmann, who was Vice President of product development for Luvata at the time.

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ing strength of the tube; from a practical perspective, corrosion resistance.

The launch of a proprietary tube

Ed Rottmann

While Mäkinen had a career of some 30 years at Outokumpu under his belt, his threshold for contacting ex-colleagues was low.

“I first talked to Jussi Asteljoki, former technology manager at Outokumpu Copper Products Oy and then Luvata Oy,” Mäkinen says.

Mäkinen asked Asteljoki to act as VTT’s subcontractor, helping to develop a cooperative project and draft a contract. Since Asteljoki and Rottmann already knew each other, the project seemed to be a natural fit for all parties.

However, it was know-how that ultimately tipped the scales in VTT’s favour.

“We chose VTT because of their metallurgical expertise but also because VTT wanted to carry out such a thorough assessment of the challenges we presented to them,” Ed Rottmann comments.

Economising on expensive copper

Manufacturing of air-conditioning, refrigeration and heat transfer units constitutes Luvata’s core business. With respect to the manufacturing of components crucial to this core business, is a tube made of copper.

Copper being an expensive raw material, Luvata wanted to develop a copper-based material that would allow manufacturing of thinwall tubes. This would reduce the amount of copper required for any given length of tube.

A tube made of the new copper alloy should also be able to withstand higher pressures than conventional copper tubes. This is a property that is becoming increasingly important, as tubes increasingly convey environmentallyfriendly fluids that generate high pressures.

From a manufacturing perspective, important properties included weldability and bendVTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

The tests that VTT carried out on a wide range of copper alloys revealed that the set target had been achieved. The new copper alloy met the requirements set for it. Today, with a recently issued patent, a commercialisation effort of the tube is well under way.

“Although thermal conductivity of the tubes is slightly lower than that of tubes made of conventional materials, they are the right product for the market. The tubes are 13 per cent stronger than conventional tubes, which translates to less copper required in production and significant cost savings,” Rottmann says.

According to Rottmann, VTT has brought added value to Luvata, particularly through increased sales volumes. Luvata has also strengthened its position as a manufacturer of cost-effective and high-quality air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. The company now plans to expand the use of the alloy in all target markets on a global scale.

The cooperation between Luvata and VTT, which already has delivered on its initial promise, will continue.

Jussi Asteljoki, who contributed much to the nascent cooperation between Luvata and VTT, still finds his work all too interesting to abandon, even after he has retired, and continues to act as a contact person between the two organisations, working as a self-employed consultant.

“I know both organisations and a number of people from both, so I understand the proc­ esses and needs of both the customer and the service provider.” n

New copper tubes are 13 per cent stronger than conventional tube products.

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Waste can be worth paying for The first power plant in the world using only solid recovered fuel has been started up in Lahti, with efficiency in a class of its own.

Text Katri Isotalo Photos Lahti Energy

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ubbish has always been burned, although up to now such enthusiasm has mainly been directed at getting rid of waste. This has applied as much to small, smoking fires in the backyards of detached houses as to waste inciner­

ation plants.

In Switzerland, for example, almost all municipal waste is incinerated, and the percentages are also high in Denmark, Sweden and Belgium.

The efficiency of waste incineration in electricity production has nevertheless usually remained below 20 per cent.

Lahti Energy’s new power plant just starting up can reach numbers of an entirely different kind. This gasification power plant, evidently the first in the world running solely on solid recov-

ered fuel, has an overall efficiency close to 88 per cent. The plant’s overall fuel power is 160 megawatts, with an output of 50 megawatts as electricity and 90 megawatts as district heating. This means that even electricity production reaches more than 30-per-cent efficiency.

“The Dutch can also boast an efficiency of around 30 per cent,” says Key Account Manager Matti Nieminen, an expert in gasification technology at VTT. “However, the cost level of the Amsterdam plant is significantly higher. On the other hand, their mixed waste is of poorer quality.”

One sign of the high efficiency is that at any other plant the waste supplier must pay to have the load accepted. In Lahti, the power plant pays for solid recovered fuel.

Lahti’s progress has also been noticed outside the city: this spring the plant earned the Climate Action of the Year 2011 award.

70 From protection of waterways to curbing greenhouse gas emissions SUSTAINABILITY arrived at VTT in the 1970s, when a research professorship of environmental protection technology was founded in-house. Initially, the research focused on the prevention of the contamination of waterways.

VTT studied the environmental effects of wood treatment plants, for example, developed methods for speeding up the analysis of wastewater, and examined the waste produced by communities.

Greenhouse gas emissions must be kept in check if climate change is to be curbed. According to VTT, reaching the set emission goals requires, for example, the renewal of Finland’s entire energy system by 2050, and the development and implementation of new technology in energy production and other fields. In addition to direct reductions of emissions and waste, the overall energy and resource efficiency of production, products and their use must be developed.

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Small waste glossary Municipal waste Waste originating from domestic use (household waste) and comparable waste from the commercial, industrial and service industries Mixed waste Unsorted municipal, company, industrial and construction waste; according to some definitions, waste remaining after sorting that is unfit for recycling Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), in Finland formerly also Recovered Fuel (REF) Paper, plastic and woodbased, highly combustible material, sorted out of mixed waste usually at the point of origin of the waste

First gas flare at Kymijärvi II power plant.

Broad-minded attitude

In Lahti, solid recovered fuel was gasified into energy for the first time back in 1998, alongside a coal-fired power plant. Up to now, well over one million tonnes of wood-based fuels and other energy waste has been gasified, replacing 700,000 tonnes of coal.

Gasification refers to burning in low-air conditions. The resulting gas is combusted in a boiler.

In the early 2000s, good experiences and a broad-minded attitude encouraged those at Lahti to start designing a new and even more efficient power plant using solid recovered fuel.

The background consisted of changes to the EU directives, which meant that the old power 68

plant could no longer be operated at full power, and the goal of increasing the extent of the use of renewable energy sources and the recycling of materials.

The low electricity production capacity in a conventional mixed waste incineration plant relates to the steam turbine technology used in the production of electricity.

The power plant generates steam that is run through a steam turbine, which in turn generates electricity. The problem arises from the generation of impurities harmful to the metal structures of the boiler during waste inciner­ ation, necessitating the use of low steam para­ meters. Aluminium, for example, is extremely harmful to a boiler.

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In Lahti, the power plant pays for solid recovered fuel.

VTT researching waste utilisation VTT HAS BEEN BUILDING the foundation for the technology to be implemented in Lahti since the 1990s. The gasification of solid recovered fuels and gas purification were researched and developed over a long period for application in co-firing at coal-fired power plants.

VTT has developed and tested the gasification of demolition wood and the cleaning of the gas for the Netherlands, for example, and the gasification of wheat straw for the Danish Elkraft. In Finland, VTT developed a method for the gasification of waste fraction at Corenso’s core board factory in Varkaus.

In addition to gasification technology, VTT was involved during the development of Lahti’s Kymijärvi power plant in, among others, the research of the handling and utilisation of the gasified gas and the filter ash created during gas cleaning.

“Waste utilisation is increased when we have suitably efficient technology,” says Matti Nieminen, Key Account Manager at VTT. “There is currently very high interest in waste utilisation, for example in Great Britain.”

Together with Lahti Energy, VTT has also coordinated the LahtiStreams project, part of the EU’s sixth framework programme.

Lower temperature is enough for district heating, so that in Sweden, for example, solid recovered fuels are mostly burned in small district heating plants.

Boosting efficiency

An entirely new concept for energy recovery was developed for the Kymijärvi II power plant in Lahti.

The core of the power plant is a combination of the circulated fluidised bed gasification process (CFB) and gas cleaning. The cleaning phase involves harmful impurities such as metals being removed from the gas by cooling and filtering before the gas is combusted in the gas boiler.

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Around 700 people worked on the Kymijärvi power plant site in addition to Lahti Energy’s own personnel. Safety training was given during the project to 1,900 persons of 15 different nationalities.

In this way, the syngas produced from solid recovered fuel can be cleaned to the level of conventional fuel gases, allowing the use of high steam parameters in the gas boiler’s steam production, 540 ºC and 120 bar. After combustion in the boiler, the flue gases are cleaned with a bag filter before being directed to the chimney.

The filtering method also minimises en­ vironmental impacts. The filter itself, being the means by which harmful impurities are removed from the gas, is the key component in the entire process. In Lahti, there are a total of twelve filters units in two lines. Identical filters have been used earlier in the gasification of wood-based fuel. Cleaning the gas with a dry process also means that no wastewater problems arise.

satisfied Jukka Manskinen, Production Manager at Lahti Energy Ltd. The start of the project was not quite as painless. Obtaining the environmental permits took longer than anticipated, and the original plant contractor pulled out. Jukka Manskinen commends the tenacity and broadmindedness of his predecessor Matti Kivelä in driving the project forward.

A new contractor was finally found in Metso Corporation, who have experience in gasification plants but not in supplying power plants based on the gasification of solid recovered fuels.

The plant’s turbine and generator are manufactured by Siemens. The construction of the power plant cost EUR 160 million.

No surprises during test operation

Waste becomes fuel when it is first sorted at its point of origin and impurities are removed.

The waste is also crushed into a form suitable for use at the power plant. The solid recovered fuel suppliers in Lahti are Kuusakoski Oy, Stena Recycling, Suomen Kipa, and the municipal operators, Päijät-Hämeen Jätehuolto and LoimiHämeen Jätehuolto.

Each year, Lahti Energy uses 250,000 tonnes of this solid recovered fuel, produced by shops,

Gasification tests at the new power plant were started using waste wood.

“Waste wood is naturally consistent in quality and, with regard to gasification, the most convenient solid recovered fuel. The gasification of wood went according to plan and so, on February 10th, we gasified our first batch of energy waste with the final composition. The technology has worked flawlessly,” says a very 70

From waste to fuel

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One bag of household waste will light a 12-watt CFL for over a month.

companies and households. Internationally, the acronym SRF is used for solid recovered fuel sorted at the point of origin.

“One bag of household waste will light a 12-watt CFL for 35 days, or run a laptop for 100 hours,” says Manskinen, by way of illustration.

Side dump trucks are used in the transport of solid recovered fuel, allowing the load to be dumped in a mere few minutes. Daily samples are taken of each load to determine moisture, caloric value and elements such as sodium, potassium and metals.

Reduced footprint

If the electricity and heat produced by Kymijärvi II were to be produced using coal, carbon dioxide emissions would be of the order of 410,000 tonnes. When solid recovered fuel is used, the fossil carbon dioxide emissions amount to only 110,000 tonnes. Furthermore, the drop in use of the old coal-fired power plant brought about by the commissioning of the new plant will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by 230,000 tonnes annually. n

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LahtiStreams:

International impact through EU funding THE PROBLEM WITH CONVENTIONAL combustion of waste is the technology which, due to its low efficiency, is mainly suited to destroying the waste. Energy production based on solid recovered fuel, however, is something completely different from mere destruction of waste.

LahtiStreams is an EU-funded demonstration project, launched in 2006, that develops a new method of recovering the energy contained in waste. The main goal of this extensive project has been to double the efficiency of energy production compared to other similar plants. Comparison data of other technologies in use has also been collected during the project.

“I am very satisfied with seeing the Lahti power plant becoming a reality,” says José Riesgo Villanueva, who has overseen the project in the European Commission’s unit responsible for new energy technologies, innovation and clean coal. “Work has progressed efficiently and the technology seems very promising.”

“In principle, the efficiency in electricity production that can be attained with the method now developed is 35 per cent. We are eager to find out what kind of numbers the Lahti plant can reach in production use. Another, very challenging target, was the utilisation of unprocessed mixed waste, which, unfortunately, this project was also unable to solve.”

José Riesgo emphasises the significance of waste management in the utilisation of solid recovered fuel.

“Lahti is currently the flagship in its field in Europe. I believe that the technology of Kymijärvi II can also be utilised in other European countries, as long as waste management is well organised and there is enough solid recovered fuel available.”

Participants in the LahtiStreams project included Lahti Energy, VTT and Lassila & Tikanoja from Finland, Dong Energy Power from Denmark, and Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie from Germany. The project has received support totalling 8.7 million euros from the European Commission, who also provided 6.8 million euros in construction funding for the Lahti plant.

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On the first wave of progress Continuous innovation is Wärtsilä’s key to success in a business environment that is changing constantly.

W

Text Anne Hänninen Photos Wärtsilä Corporation

ärtsilä believes technological innovation and the pursuit of total efficiency are essential in today’s and tomorrow’s world. As competition is getting stiffer and the number of competitors is on the rise, the company needs to keep developing constantly.

“It is like we and our competitors are playing catch-up, and we need to stay one step ahead of them all the time,” says Elias Boletis, Director Propulsion Programs and Technologies, R&D. Intelligent solutions will prevail

Wärtsilä’s business environment is undergoing a major change. Environmental issues and energy efficiency have been important before, but now they are becoming even more critical. Legislation and regulation will be much stricter in the future.

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“For example, marine legislation will not cover just engine emissions, but it will look at efficiency as a whole: emissions per tonne carried load per nautical mile. The load can be either cargo or people,” details Boletis.

Stricter limits pose both challenges and possibilities for technology providers like Wärtsilä.

“Focus is now more on larger entities and their life cycle costs. Our goal is to be involved in development projects as early on as possible, so that the whole solution can be planned and designed with these in mind,” says Ilari Kallio, General Manager, New Technologies & Innovation.

Ships, in particular, need to be designed as a whole, which is composed of interconnected parts and subsystems. Only the interaction of the hull, engines, propulsion systems, automation, environmental and water ballast systems defines how well the entire ship performs eventually.

“From a life cycle point of view, the most intelligent solutions will prevail,” points out Kallio.

For the development of emission reduction and energy efficiency technologies, Wärtsilä has set up a special unit, which focuses on a variety of environmental solutions.

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From a life cycle point of view, the most intelligent solutions will prevail.

After modifications by Wärtsilä, the engines of Arctia’s multi-purpose vessel ‘Fennica’ comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s emission regulations for vessels travelling in northern parts of the Arctic Ocean.

Matching chemistry WÄRTSILÄ AND VTT collaborate on many different fronts almost daily. This requires good interpersonal relations between teams and their members. According to Elias Boletis, the right kind of chemistry is essential.

“VTT has a competent team with propulsion experience, but it is also important that our teams get along extremely well. Our working atmosphere is good, and you might go as far as to call us friends,” he comments.

In true long-term collaboration, both parties gain something. Here Wärtsilä gets more reliable and efficient products on the market faster; VTT gets real life cases that provide input for further development.

“At best, we exchange ideas. We bring our market viewpoint to the table; VTT has a technological perspective”, say Ilari Kallio.

Combining these leads to innovations that meet real-life needs.

From Wärtsilä’s point of view, VTT differs from many other institutes in its ability to respond to customer needs quickly.

“VTT is responsive, and they obviously like to do the work we give them. They also understand that we are not the end customer, but we have a customer of our own, so deadlines have to be respected,” sums up Boletis.

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In 2011, Wärtsilä patented around 100 new inventions.

Innovation within and without

In practice, staying ahead of competition means constant innovation as well as scenario and visioning work. Wärtsilä wants to be ahead of legislators and customers, developing solutions to new demands before they actualise.

To achieve this, Wärtsilä fosters an atmosphere of innovation.

All of Wärtsilä’s 19,000 employees in 70 countries worldwide can participate in innovation and assessment of new ideas. The ideas can be big or small, and they are not limited to technology, even though that is a natural focus for the company.

All in all, 150 ideas are submitted every month. In 2011, Wärtsilä patented around hundred new inventions.

Even outsiders can offer their ideas to Wärtsilä. A large number of such innovations are assessed each year, and the best ones are taken under development in cooperation with partner network or together with public fin­anciers.

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The same innovation culture extends to partnerships. Wärtsilä has selected long-term technology partners in different strategic areas of development.

“Our goal is to cultivate long-term relationships and strategic cooperation. By committing to partnerships and agreeing on the framework of cooperation we can focus all our efforts on the work at hand,” says Kallio.

Over 15 years with VTT

VTT is one of Wärtsilä’s strategic technology partners. In 2011, the companies identified four themes as strategic development areas of collaboration: virtual validation, energy efficiency and propulsion systems on ships, fuels and fuel processing, and sensors and remote asset management.

“With virtual validation, for example, we can produce high reliability and develop robust products more quickly, which means our time to market is shorter. When a new prod-

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Wärtsilä four-stroke engines are used in ships and power plants. These power sources with an output of up to 22,000 kW can utilise liquid fuels or natural gas.

Cogentrix stand-by power plant at Plains End, USA, changes from idle mode to full 111 MW production in less than 10 minutes.

uct project normally takes two and a half years to four and a half years, virtual validation can shave off several months from this”, emphasises Boletis.

Virtual validation also helps in improving reliability, and this will automatically decrease the life cycle costs of a solution. Here systems integration expertise is also important.

In the past VTT has been heavily involved in the development of Wärtsilä gas engines, whose demand has been growing continuously.

“The use of gas engines is growing in power plants in particular, but also in ships. A specific area of interest is dual-fuel engines; we were the first to launch a product on the market,” says Kallio.

The new development themes continue close cooperation of over 15 years. During these years VTT has been involved in vibration and materials modelling, emissions measurement, fuel research, noise attenuation and fuel cell development, to name a few.

New marine solutions

In 2010, Wärtsilä started collaboration with VTT in the development of propulsion systems.

For instance, when Wärtsilä needed to develop a new thruster for ice conditions fast, it turned to VTT for assistance. Different ice loads and their effect on the thruster’s behaviour were calculated and modelled virtually. The Icepod thruster was also validated virtually.

In addition to the arctic market, Wärtsilä is looking into new possibilities in off-shore drilling applications. Oil platforms that are not fixed to the ocean floor need dynamic positioning system and precise propulsion systems to keep the platform in place. n VTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

Wärtsilä in a nutshell WÄRTSILÄ IS a global leader in life cycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets. The company’s main markets are ship power and power plants; Wärtsilä provides these with products and integrated systems as well as services throughout the lifecycle of their installations.

Key figures in 2011 • Net sales EUR 4,209 million • Personnel 19,000 • Operations in nearly 170 locations in 70 countries

Wärtsilä Marine Engine ECC recovers energy even from exhaust gas or the high-temperature cooling water of reciprocating engines, which helps reduce both fuel consumption and emissions.

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Sparks for welding!

Welding is turning into a service business.

Comprehensive welding solutions are also the order of the day at Kemppi.

Text Marjo Kosonen Photos Matti Viljanen, Kemppi Oy

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Mikko Veikkolainen (left) and Anssi Rantasalo describe how Kemppi examines the welding phase more closely than before as part of a larger process.

K

emppi’s Managing Director Anssi Rantasalo says that the traditional method of carrying out product development is in transition.

“We are no longer developing a purely individual, physical product or technology,” says Rantasalo, “but rather a solution to the customer challenge or problem. On top of the physical product our offering deals with the software and services that relate to it.”

Nor is R&D at Kemppi any longer based solely in its core competence of welding technology, but in complementing this with services such as consulting and training.

“We could really be talking about solution business rather than service business.”

Quality and gross margin

The biggest challenges facing Kemppi customers – i.e. industrial companies – are quality and profitability. The welder must achieve results 78

70 From war reparations to nanotechnology FINNISH YARDS DELIVERED more than 500 vessels of various types to the Soviet Union as war reparations. The majority were construction using a new welding method that also provided work for VTT. New possibilities in modern materials research are opened up by, among others, nanotechnology. Sol gel coatings developed by VTT enhance the functional properties of various surfaces to create materials that repel dirt, display strong wear characteristics and are not prone to scratching. The treated surfaces are also easy to clean and resistant to corrosion and oxidation.

VTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

of the greatest possible precision in the shortest possible time.

The aim, therefore, is to obtain tighter control over the welding process. The Kemppi approach to this challenge is through the provision of services.

The Arc System family of products developed by Kemppi measures and analyses welding data, helping customer companies to improve the quality and efficiency of welding.

“The basic technology of welding has been digitalised,” says Anssi Rantasalo, “but so far little benefit has been derived from the collected data.”

“With our solution the data is stored in a way that allows it to be exploited in the development of operations. We can check, for

example, how the goal parameters set as the welding objective have been realised. Are there any quality defects? All this takes place in real time.”

Tuned version under development

According to Rantasalo, the question is not merely one of quality assurance but of a comprehensive manufacturing execution system, as found in industry generally.

Kemppi Arc System 2.0, which enters the market later this year, reports on welding defects, forecasts machine maintenance, and collects quality documentation. The product differs from its competitors in handling the data via the Internet, and includes wireless data transfer and a bar code reader.

Fast track to concrete results

Kemppi’s products have earned widespread recognition for their design. Mikko Veikkolainen presents Kempact RA welding equipment that has gained the international iF Product Design Award.

KEMPPI, A FINNISH company making the journey from tradi­tional equipment manufacture to industrial service provision, launched an expansive development programme in spring 2011 in support of its objective.

“We are developing entirely new business and solution models for the needs of the welding industry,” says Mikko Veikkolainen, Vice President, Research, Development and Innovation, “of which the HumanWeld rental serv­ice is an excellent example.”

The technology is being taken forward in several subprojects designed to establish how applications developed in other sectors – sensors and display technology, for example – might be adopted for welding.

At the same time, Kemppi’s own operations and competence are also being developed. Considerable thought is being given to how a better appreciation of customers and their needs could be incorporated in the company’s processes. Sales training and other similar activities are also arranged for the company’s personnel.

The three-year programme, in which the consulting firms Gemic, Talent Partners and Vectia are participating, is being coordinated by VTT. Kemppi and VTT have been cooperating since around 2005.

“Using our combined strength we have pushed industrial services forward,” says Veikkolainen. “VTT offers a broad spectrum of services that we don’t have.”

Kemppi considers it vital that the company gets up to speed quickly.

“Our objective in all development work is rapid prog­ress towards a concrete prototype. In this respect, VTT’s presence has saved us several months.”

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The threshold for adopting the system appears lower in developing markets.

Rantasalo emphasises that we are talking of a solution rather than a machine or device.

“The customer in effect is purchasing a twoyear development project, during which the new technology is introduced and any corrective measures carried out. This might be compared, say, to a change of information system.”

Attitudes towards new technology vary from country to country.

“We have been surprised – and disappointed – to find the threshold for adopting the system apparently lower in developing markets than in mature markets. Operating practices in European countries, for example, appear to be so strongly rooted that they become highly resistant to change.”

Even more important, perhaps, is finding the right kind of reliable partners in new markets.

Man and welding machine

The data collection device of the welding management system is part of the Kemppi Arc System 2.0 solution.

HumanWeld is a service that brings flexibility to a company’s production capacity.

Kemppi and its partner Barona, an HR services company, hires out professional welders and welding technology to corporate customers.

“A package solution is less trouble and more economical for the customer than hiring workforce and equipment separately,” says Rantasalo.

Seeing through the customer’s eyes

In recent years Kemppi has boosted commercialisation by shaping itself into an even more customer-centric organisation.

“We need to be close to the customer and to understand the customer’s business and the real challenges involved,” says Rantasalo.

“We investigate the customer’s needs by conducting customer surveys, for example, but active feedback by itself isn’t enough. Customers may have hidden needs, and there should be room for individual insights.”

Any needs that customers may not actually communicate themselves are tackled by observing and videoing the welder at work, for example. The various work phases are gone through 80

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“Medium to large” companies – a new economic engine?

point by point so that targets for improvement can be identified.

Competence is also a deciding factor.

“We must ensure the right level of competence by recruiting from outside and by training our current personnel. We have invested heavily in consultative selling, for example.”

Services must also be easy to purchase. Kemppi has refined its solution concepts to make their acquisition by the customer as problem-free as possible.

The perspective has, generally speaking, broadened.

“Our thinking is not limited to the welding phase but extends to the entire process: what happens before and after,” says Rantasalo. “This is how we can produce real benefit for the customer.” n VTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

KEMPPI IS A RARE bird among Finnish companies – neither small nor especially large.

Companies with a turnover in the 80–200,000 million euro bracket occupy the gap between the numerous small and medium-sized enterprises and the large corporations.

These “medium to large” enterprises are an untapped resource.

“Companies in this category have a lot to offer,” says Kemppi’s Managing Director, Anssi Rantasalo. “We should share our own experiences.”

Finland would need companies of this size.

“The attention-grabbers in public debate are normally large global corporations or SMEs. The share of GDP and exports of the companies lying in between these two extremes is nonetheless significant, not to mention the considerable number of people they employ.

This would make them powerful drivers for the economy.”

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Pico projector manufacturers are awaiting an efficient and precise green light laser.

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Green-lighting a cell-phone projector Text Kati Havela Photos Matti Immonen, EpiCrystals Oy

Found in every pocket, the ubiquitous cell phone is a camera, video camera, microphone and an MP3 player rolled into one – and soon, apparently, a miniature projector.

M

odern cell-phone displays allow for the playback of highdefinition images, but the small size of the phone sets a limit for the display size and inarguably impairs the viewing experience.

In cooperation with VTT and the Aalto University, EpiCrystals, a Finnish start-up company, develops new types of laser light sources for projectors that are extremely small in size.

These projectors – known as pico projectors – can be integrated into a variety of electrical devices, including digital and video cameras, palm computers and cell phones.

Such a projector installed on a cell phone can be used to project photos or videos on any surface, efficiently and with precision. In practice, laser projectors could be used to generate high-definition images the size of an A3 sheet.

The product has significant global market potential.

“Practically all major electronic companies are extremely interested in this technology, with regard to the integration of a laser projector in the cell phone in particular,” says Tomi Jouhti, Business Development Manager at Epi­ Crystals. “Cell phones with an integrated projector are already available in Japan, but these are based on an LED light source, which is inferior in terms of quality.”

“Soon, around two billion cell phones will be sold annually in the global market. If only

VTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

two per cent of these have a projector integrated, we would be talking of a volume of tens of millions, and a hundred million within easy reach.”

EpiCrystals has set a target of becoming the market leader for laser light sources by 2015.

Straight flush

The pico projector is based on the efficient and precise generation of blue, red and green light.

Users want to view bright and crisp images, without the projector placing undue stress on the battery of their cell phones.

A number of challenges related to efficiency and precision need to be solved before this technology can make its way on to shop shelves.

“Red lasers are commonly used in devices such as CD and DVD players, and blue lasers in Blue-ray players, but an inexpensive and efficient green laser has been unavailable in the market until now,” says Jouhti. “This is one reason why pico projectors are not yet available on cell phones.”

Using the technology that EpiCrystals has developed, all three hues of laser light can now be generated with greater efficiency than before. Image noise that typically hampers laser light has been minimised through the optimisation of colour-specific wavelengths and other techniques. EpiCrystals has patented the technology in the key market areas, including Europe, the United States and many Asian countries.

“This first-generation technology will bring about sales reaching one million or perhaps ten

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Until recently, an inexpensive and efficient green-light laser has been unavailable in the market. million projectors sold,” says Jouhti. “However, we need new product concepts in order to remain competitive. Recognition of this need was the basis for a development project, launched in cooperation with VTT and the Aalto University, to develop ideas for new laser module concepts.”

Better for less

With respect to consumer electronics, the crucial questions, apart from quality, are the price and size of the product. A component that costs more than a few dollars or that is more than a few centimetres in size simply cannot be integrated into a cell phone.

“The price of a pico projector will have a direct effect on its demand,” says Jouhti. “Not only that, the laser light source is the projector’s costliest component.”

During autumn 2011 VTT, in cooperation with EpiCrystals, brainstormed new laser module concepts, those with most potential now being subjected to testing.

“We have combined multi-technological know-how, both our own and that of our project partners, ranging from the precise positioning of laser chips to manufacturing materials to the design of production lines,” says Timo Aalto, a Principal Scientist at VTT. “The knowhow located at VTT’s facilities in Espoo, Oulu, Tampere and Lappeenranta is contributing to the project.”

‘Quality at low cost’ is an equation hard to crack under the best of circumstances.

“It wasn’t an easy job,” says Aalto. “However, it seems we have reached the target. By the summer, we will attempt to show that new laser light sources can be manufactured quickly, cheaply and in volume.”

In Tomi Jouhti’s opinion, cooperation with VTT has had a good start.

“VTT has an expert for practically every field,” says Jouhti. “Where necessary we have made use of subcontractors. The flow of information has been smooth, despite the fact that the project has involved researchers from various arms of the organisation, representing different geographical locations. Our mutual understanding of each other’s needs and expertise has been strengthened in the course of the project.” n 84

Tomi Jouhti has his eyes fixed on 2015. By that time this Finnish start-up company should be the market leader in RGB sources for laser light.

The Holy Grail?

EPICRYSTALS HAS OUTSOURCED the mass production of laser light sources to Asian subcontractors, keeping R&D in Finland, where it will remain. Asia is also home for the company’s major customers: companies manufacturing pico projectors.

Competing with EpiCrystals for the same market are the big names within the industry, the German Osram and the Japanese Nichia. Holding one’s own in competition with international giants is tough, if the sums invested in R&D are a yardstick.

Tomi Jouhti, who is responsible for business development within EpiCrystals, knows from experience that for a Finnish start-up company money does not grow on trees.

“We have been lucky to have attracted two venture capital investors. The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes has also played a crucially important role for us from the very beginning, including the ongoing development project with VTT and the Aalto University.”

The competitive edge of a small Finnish company in the global market is clear: “It seems that for some time to come we will be the only company in the world capable of delivering all three hues of laser. In particular, the ability to generate green laser light cost-effectively and with precision is the Holy Grail that the entire industry is eagerly awaiting.”

VTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

CURRENT

Pharmaceutical packages are talking APPLICATIONS BASED ON the NFC identification technology make life easier for the weak-sighted and visually impaired.

The HearMeFeelMe project, a collaborative effort by VTT, ToP Tunniste (Finland) Tecnalia (Spain) and Demokritos (Greece), introduced five different applications for acquiring medical information, all based on near-field communication (NFC) technology.

The technology is based on touching the info code on the packaging with a mobile phone. Product information saved in the info code sticker – e.g. medicine name or dosage instructions – can be heard by the user via the speaker of a computer or mobile phone.

The Touch n’ tag mobile phone application, developed by ToP Tunniste, proved most popular in tests by users. It enables visually impaired users to attach their own voice messages to items and foodstuffs in their everyday environment.

According to VTT, transforming written information into speech is easy in technical terms. However, the solutions are yet to work in mobile phones, because of a current lack of suitable mobile phone platforms on the market.

Further infomation: Minna Isomursu, minna.isomursu@vtt.fi

Alzheimer’s disease predicted by biochemical fingerprint A RESEARCH TEAM led by Matej Orešicˇ from VTT, and Hilkka Soininen of the University of Eastern Finland, has found molecular markers to help early identification of the patients with MCI whose illness progresses later to Alzheimer’s. The results were published in the journal Translational Psychiatry in 2011.

It is possible to determine molecular markers in a blood sample using a simple analysis, months or even years before symptoms of the disease appear. The analysis may supplement a clinical assessment conducted by a physician, and may help identify persons with a significant risk of contracting the disease, and the need for additional follow-up.

The research scientists also found that a pentose phosphate pathway was associated with progression of the disease, further implicating the role of hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the central nervous system) and oxidative stress (imbalance in the cellular redox state) in the onset of the disease.

Further information: Matej Orešicˇ, matej.oresic@vtt.fi

VTT IMPULSE – BUSINESS

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From radio to smartphones, from war indem o ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from h from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through artphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from om oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future t future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from co es to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular di m road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radi o nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable develop hnology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from te gical innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from produ ewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefi t systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indem o ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from h from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through artphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from om oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future t future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from co es to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular di m road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radi o nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable develop hnology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from te gical innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from produ ewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefi t systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indem o ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from h from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through artphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from om oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future t future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from co es to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular di m road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radi o nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable develop hnology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from te gical innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from produ ewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefi t systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indem o ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from h from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through artphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from om oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future t future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from co es to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular di m road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radi o nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable develop hnology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from te gical innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from produ ewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefi t systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indem o ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from h from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through artphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from om oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future t future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from co es to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular di m road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radi o nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable develop hnology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from te gical innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from produ ewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefi t systems, business from technology, future well-being through technological innovations. From radio to smartphones, from war indem o ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from wastewater to sustainable development, from oil to bioenergy, from h from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future transport systems, business from technology, future well-being through artphones, from war indemnity ships to nanomaterials, from computers to ubisociety, from product substitutes to functional foods, from om oil to bioenergy, from hospital technology to molecular diagnostics, from sawmills to biorefineries, from road surfacing to future t future well-being through technological innovations.

VTT - 70 years of technology for business and society

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