Research Council of Finland selects four new Finnish Flagships with a total of 90 million euros of funding.
Four new Flagships have been selected to the Research Council of Finland’s Finnish Flagship Programme. The research areas of the new Flagships cover quantum technology, education, digital water competence and mathematics in imaging and modelling. This is the fourth time that the Research Council of Finland has selected Flagships to the Finnish Flagship Programme, which was launched in 2018.
The Research Council of Finland will fund the four new Finnish Flagships with a total of nearly 90 million euros over two four-year periods. The Flagships’ host organisations and partners will also contribute significantly to the funding.
Coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland, the Flagship of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling, FAME, is a multidisciplinary consortium that develops methods of applied mathematics and physics for the benefit of society, including medical imaging, industrial process monitoring, non-destructive structural testing and satellite data analysis.
The FAME Flagship is built on cutting-edge research in inverse problems, and it works in close collaboration with industrial and societal partners. The Flagship is led by Professor Tanja Tarvainen at the Department of Technical Physics. At the University of Eastern Finland, the Flagship includes researchers from the Department of Technical Physics and from the Kuopio Biomedical Imaging Unit at the A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences. All in all, the Flagship brings together partners, in addition to University of Eastern Finland, from Aalto University, Finnish Meteorological Institute, University of Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä, LUT University, University of Oulu and Tampere University.
Rector Jukka Mönkkönen welcomes the new Flagship coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland, which is the third of its kind.
“The new FAME Flagship is a testament to the long-term and high-level research into inverse problems at the University of Eastern Finland. Flagships are of paramount importance to the university and, in line with our strategy, we have been very successful in securing funding from these instruments, which highlight the quality, multidisciplinarity and impact of research,” Mönkkönen says.
Dean of the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology Kari Lehtinen, too, is delighted with the faculty’s success, and he also sees the significance of the FAME Flagship to university’s newly launched education in technology.
“The first students started in our technology programmes this autumn. Of these programmes, the degree programme in technical physics is hosted by the same department as FAME, and its themes are closely linked to the Flagship. Excellence in research and interdisciplinary impact create a solid foundation for high-quality education,” Lehtinen says.
Cooperation between academia and industry
Finnish Flagships are large centres of excellence, combining high-quality research and diverse scientific and societal impact with strong collaboration with the business sector and other actors in society.
17 applications were submitted in the flagship call, and they were evaluated by individual international experts and a dedicated review panel. Based on the results of the review, the five best candidates were invited for an interview at the Research Council of Finland. Applicants were expected to have strong international research competence and to be pioneers in their field, and to have a wide range of research impact in different areas of society.
The new Flagships:
- Digital Waters Flagship (University of Oulu, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Aalto University, Finnish Environment Institute, University of Turku), director: Bjørn Kløve
- Education for the Future (University of Jyväskylä, University of Helsinki, Aalto University, University of Turku), director: Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen
- Flagship of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling (University of Eastern Finland, University of Helsinki, LUT University, University of Jyväskylä, Aalto University, University of Oulu, Tampere University, Finnish Meteorological Institute), director: Tanja Tarvainen
- Finnish Quantum Flagship (Aalto University, University of Helsinki, CSC, University of Jyväskylä, Tampere University, University of Oulu, VTT), director: Peter Liljeroth
High-quality, high-impact research and innovation is increasingly performed in competence hubs and innovation ecosystems, where universities, research institutes and companies of all sizes work together in diverse configurations.
Riitta Maijala, Vice President for Research at the Research Council of Finland, said: “The Finnish Flagship Programme has responded well to this trend and has strengthened and deepened long-term cooperation between RDI actors.”
According to Maijala, the Research Council of Finland’s expertise in research funding enables it to boost the versatile utilisation of high-quality research and know-how, as well as cooperation between academia and industry.
Finnish Flagships build networks and bring experts
The Finnish Flagship Programme currently includes ten competence clusters selected in three previous calls. Their fields of research vary from the future welfare society to novel biological medicines, biomarkers and diagnostics. Climate change mitigation, forest management and human-centred artificial intelligence are also the focus of research in the current Flagships. The Flagships are hosted by universities and research institutes. Leading Finnish companies, organisations and foundations are also involved in the activities and funding.
The mid-term review of the first Flagships showed the success of the Flagship Programme. Flagships effectively attract talents and research-intensive companies, create new ways of working and solutions, and network with leading international players. According to the review, the scientific impact of the research carried out in Finnish Flagships is above the world average.
Further information
Tanja Tarvainen, Director of FAME Flagship, Professor, University of Eastern Finland, tanja.tarvainen@uef.fi, tel. +358 40 355 2310
Riitta Maijala, Vice President for Research, Research Council of Finland, tel. +358 295 335 002
Maiju Gyran, Senior Science Adviser, Research Council of Finland, tel. +358 295 335 015
Source: Research Council of Finland
