Funding from EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)

The research projects on the green and digital transition supported with RRF funding were selected in a funding call opened in 2022. Read more in the press release.

Below are examples of the funded projects. See also the complete list of supported research projects.

• Christopher Raymond (University of Helsinki) heads a consortium that combines mobility modelling, participatory mapping and transformative governance methods. The aim is to enable transport mode shifts from car use to more sustainable options. In keeping with Finland’s national Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), the project will generate new knowledge about how people live in urban settings and how this local knowledge can be combined with urban policy, law and planning practice to enable rapid transformations towards carbon neutrality and climate resilience.
• Ari Seppälä (Aalto University) heads a consortium that studies what environmental, economic and energy efficiency effects can be achieved by optimising energy systems through the use of novel materials. The research makes use of artificial intelligence. A major current challenge for utilising renewable energy resources is their intermittency in time, causing gaps between supply and demand. Efficient energy storages play a key role in resolving this problem.

The local research infrastructures supported with RRF-based funding were selected in a funding call opened in spring 2022. Among the projects funded are a research infrastructure project developing a regional snow and ice monitoring network and a research infrastructure project promoting interdisciplinary research on the intersections of law and politics. Funding was also granted for a project supporting research on the circular economy and the utilisation of various waste streams. In addition, the funding will support a research infrastructure project promoting research on micro-organisms and materials as well as projects in the fields of protein research, genetics and immunology.

The funding goes to universities, research institutes and universities of applied sciences that own the local research infrastructures. The research infrastructures are located in different parts of Finland, view map of research infrastructure locations (pdf).

Read more in the press release (13 Dec 2022). See also the complete list of supported local research infrastructures (pdf).

The research projects on the green and digital transition supported with RRF funding were selected in a funding call opened in 2021. Read more in the press release.

Below are examples of the funded projects. See also the complete list of supported research projects.

• Wildfires are one of the major global environmental threats posed by climate change. Eija Honkavaara (Finnish Geospatial Research Institute) heads a consortium that is developing AI-based technology for fast detection of wildfires using unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones. The multidisciplinary consortium comprises researchers from the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Oulu and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and an extensive collaboration network.

• Markku Kulmala (University of Helsinki) heads a project focusing on efficient forest management strategies to strengthen the ability of forests to mitigate climate change. The researchers will analyse the impacts of forest management and a changing climate on forest carbon sinks and radiative forcing by combining comprehensive long-term datasets on boreal forests and the atmosphere with diverse forest growth modelling. The cross-disciplinary consortium includes scientists from the University of Helsinki, Natural Resources Institute Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Institute as well as collaborators from the forest sector.

• Arttu Polojärvi (Aalto University) heads a research project that aims to promote the European Union’s objective to increase energy production by offshore wind farms. Many northern sea areas have been identified as suitable for offshore wind farms, but high sea-ice loads remain a challenge. It is therefore difficult to design cost-effective yet safe wind turbine units. Polojärvi’s project proposes to build a multi-physics modelling engine for forecasting future marine environmental and ice conditions, while simultaneously being detailed enough for the design and optimisation of cold-region offshore wind farms. The multidisciplinary consortium comprises researchers from Aalto University, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.

The national research infrastructures supported with RRF funding were selected in a funding call opened in 2021. Among the selection criteria were the impacts on sustainable development, the green transition and digitalisation. Read more in the press release.

Below are examples of the funded research infrastructures. See also the complete list of supported research infrastructures.

• INAR RI is an umbrella infrastructure that coordinates Finland’s participation in four European infrastructures within environmental research: ICOS, ACTRIS, eLTER and AnaEE. INAR RI consists of 30 measurement stations, several laboratories and mobile units and two data infrastructures. INAR RI integrates multidisciplinary and ongoing environmental observations. The funded project will respond to societal challenges concerning environmental sustainability and climate change by focusing on improving the existing infrastructure for the further determination of carbon sinks and related climate impacts. INAR RI involves the University of Helsinki, CSC – IT Centre for Science, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the University of Eastern Finland, Natural Resources Institute Finland, the University of Oulu, the Finnish Environment Institute, Tampere University, the University of Turku and a wide collaborative network of national and international actors.

• The FOODNUTRI research infrastructure will contribute to the implementation of the EU’s Food 2030 policy, taking into account the Finnish government’s vision: “In 2030, Finnish consumers eat tasty, healthy and safe Finnish food that has been produced sustainably and ethically.” FOODNUTRI will produce innovative solutions, diversely utilising Finnish raw materials as well as novel technical solutions for processing and packaging, and also producing information on the composition, structure and safety of food products and their ingredients, physiological responses to food, consumer attitudes, food consumption, nutrient intake and the sustainability of food choices. FOODNUTRI will serve researchers, businesses, authorities, healthcare professionals, farmers and other stakeholders. The background organisations include the University of Helsinki, the University of Eastern Finland, the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Natural Resources Institute Finland, the Finnish Food Authority, the Finnish Environment Institute, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of Turku and wide national and international network of collaborators.

• FiQCI: The Finnish Quantum Computing Infrastructure (FiQCI) offers an open quantum computing environment that serves Finland’s national field of research and development. Quantum computers enable the solving of computational problems permanently beyond the reach of classical computers and can therefore significantly increase the impact of research. Quantum computing is expected to revolutionise a number of scientific disciplines. Many of the greatest challenges of our time, from accurate modelling of complex meteorological systems to optimising resource use and developing new, more sustainable materials, could be met with the computing capacity promised by quantum computers. But in order to achieve this capacity, quantum computers need tailored quantum algorithms and software, the successful development of which requires that researchers have access to a sufficiently mature quantum computing infrastructure. The organisations involved in developing the FiQCI infrastructure are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Aalto University, CSC – IT Centre for Science and other Finnish and foreign collaborators.