Business Finland aims to make Finland a globally recognized provider of sustainable, carbon-neutral solutions for cities

The Decarbonized Cities Program launched by Business Finland on April 18, 2023 aims to make Finland a globally recognized provider of sustainable, carbon-neutral solutions for cities. The program helps Finnish companies and organizations to find international cooperation and business partners. New exports are estimated to amount to several billion euros.

Smart solutions and sustainability principles drive global urban development

Urban development has a significant impact on climate change: cities consume 78% of the world’s energy and account for more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. In the near future, more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. The largest challenges in urban environments are related to the built environment, energy, and traffic. From the point of view of the cities of the future, the utilization of digitalization and data as well as new business models have great potential.

Most major cities in Europe and in many other OECD countries have set a challenging goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 or 2035. The EU has selected 100 cities to implement the EU’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities mission. Six of these are located in Finland: Espoo, Helsinki, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, and Turku. The goal of the mission is to achieve climate neutrality by 2030 through developing smart and sustainable solutions.

Decarbonized Cities Program In a Nutshell

  • The aim is to help Finnish companies and other stakeholders to create new business and networks by solving urban carbon-neutrality issues.
  • The program will increase and strengthen the multisectoral supply and expertise that cities need to manage their CO2 emissions and energy transition today and tomorrow.
  • Long-term relationships with foreign cities are established in terms of both innovation and business.
  • New Finnish exports will amount to EUR 3 billion.
  • The program will involve close collaboration with selected domestic and foreign cities, large and small companies, researchers, and other stakeholders.
  • The program will focus on comprehensive solutions instead of partial solutions.
  • EUR 150 million will be allocated to the development and modification of solutions.
  • The program will run until 2028.

Read more on The program’s website

The picture is from the program’s website on the subject

Virta closes €85M growth funding to increase EVs’ charging platforms impact on accelerate growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific

Finland-based Virta Ltd, a global leader in the fast-growing Electric Vehicle charging platforms industry(1), has secured new €85M growth funding. The funding round has been among the biggest in the sector in recent years.

The sum consists of €65M equity investment from Virta’s existing investors, led by the private equity firm Jolt Capital, and co-invested by Future Energy Ventures backed by E.ON., Helen Ventures, Vertex Growth Fund, Finnish Industry Investment, Lahti Energy, Vantaa Energy, and Kotka Energy. Twenty million euros will be received from Business Finland, which offers innovation funding for companies and research organizations.

Over 1 000 professional EV charging businesses in 35 countries run their EV charging services on the Virta platform. Together, these charging network operators constitute one of the biggest public networks in Europe. Including roaming, the network enables EV drivers with access to over 350 000 charging points.

Virta and EV charging industry are heading to the era of green hypergrowth

Virta’s growth has continuously surpassed the industry average, and in 2022, Virta Group’s annual revenue grew 112% to €39M (preliminary figures). As a result, Virta was ranked on the Financial Times 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies list for the fourth time in a row in 2023. With the fresh funding, Virta aims to grow its charging transactions by more than fivefold in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region by 2025.
(1) Estimated number of charging points in Europe in 2025 compared to 2021 +475% from 0,4 million to 2,3 million and 7,9 million in 2030. Sources: ACEA, ICCT, IEA, BNEF, DNV 2030 estimates.

Read full news story on Virta.global site

The picture is from the Virta website news on the subject

A Unique Living Lab Environment In Tampere For Urban Transport

Business Finland is funding Tampereen Raitiotie Oy’s Lyyli Living Lab development environment through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funding program, which is part of the Sustainable Growth Program for Finland. Lyyli Living Lab is an inclusive RDI environment for the development, validation, and the acquisition of market references of sustainable, rail-based, smart urban transport technologies and services.

Lyyli Living Lab is a real-life development and test environment for urban transport products and services. At its core, it is a tram car equipped with exceptional measurement devices, IT connections, and a data management and analytics system.

LYYLI LIVING LAB
  • Operations started in Tampere in early 2022.
  • Lyyli Living Lab is an open piloting, development, and validation environment that invites Finnish and international operators to join its partner company network and to use its services by submitting an application to Tampereen Raitiotie Oy and agreeing on a partnership fee corresponding to their chosen participation period.
  • The operations of the Lyyli Living Lab development environment are steered by the TURMS innovation cluster, which is financed through partnership fees and Business Finland’s funding that will continue to the end of 2025.
  • The steering group of the innovation cluster includes Tampereen Raitiotie Oy, Skoda Transtech, Business Finland, Business Tampere, City of Tampere, VTT, and the University of Tampere.
  • Business Finland has granted EUR 366,000 to the rail transport laboratory. In addition, Business Finland has granted funding to the SmartRail ecosystem.

RRF FUNDING IN A KEY ROLE

Lyyli Living Lab is designed to meet the needs of companies as well as public, research, and other organizations that develop transport and mobility technologies and services. These companies and organizations are partners in the TURMS innovation cluster and use the RDI environment.

TOWARDS INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Business Finland’s cooperation with Tampereen Raitiotie demonstrates that it is able to fund activities that differ from conventional research and development activities also through innovation clusters, for example. The potential for similar arrangements may also exist elsewhere.

The main goal of Business Finland is to make the group of organizations participating in the ecosystem more international.

RRF – 5G/6G, AI, Quantum – development environments and microelectronics

For 2023, Business Finland will open a new funding call for projects aimed at building or developing test, pilot, research, and innovation infrastructures that promote the development of 6G, AI, and quantum computing and advancing microelectronics.

For more information, please contact us or leave a message in the online customer service with the identifier RRF – 5G/6G, AI, Quantum – development environments and microelectronics.

The Sustainable Growth Program for Finland related to the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) aims to accelerate the development of competitiveness, investments, increased competence levels, and research, development, and innovation. It specifically focuses on promoting the green transition and the digital change.

Olavi Keränen
Business Finland
olavi.keranen (at) businessfinland.fi

 

Read the full article on Business Finland site

The picture is from the Business Finland website article on the subject

German city becomes frontrunner through sustainable software from Finland

Back in March of 2022 Vediafi and the German district of Warendorf began a joint pilot project. The aim was to further develop the Clean Vehicle Mobile application to fit the sustainable and operational needs of our clients. For this, two vehicles of the type VW Caddy were equipped with tracking hardware connected to the vehicles’ O.B.D. port. The connecting backbone of the tracking capabilities was the Gurtam Wialon system.

During the pilot, Vedia’s development team used the data from the daily use of the vehicles to improve the solution further. Thanks to the extensive user feedback the team enhanced not only the core system itself but also the user interface. This resulted in a comprehensive while at the same time easy-to-use software solution.

The pilot project officially concluded with the result being a great success for both parties. The combination of the CVW and CVM proves a highly increased efficiency for fleet management in the district. Following, on the 1st of August 2022, the combined Clean Vehicle Wizard and Clean Vehicle Mobile Solution solution officially entered full service.

“We are happy to start a collaboration with the Warendorf District, which is the first area in Germany where Vedia’s solution for cleaner and more efficiently utilized vehicles is used to build the smart city of the future. There is a pressing need for sustainable urban development that can be enabled by digital platforms such as the CVW. Together with our city and enterprise partners, we are actively developing smart and clean solutions that enable sustainable traffic.”

– Matti Lankinen, CEO of Vedia

The German Market

Vedia specifically selected the German market as the stepping stone for internationalization as sustainable solutions are relatively rare in the region. As sustainability and decarbonization have been key focus areas for Vedia, the market situation in Germany is an ideal environment for expansion.

Since then, Vedia has expanded its expansion scope to Austria and Switzerland. The goal is a presence throughout the European markets. Vedia hopes to become a key actor in the reduction of emissions throughout the Schengen zone. This will allow us to help pave the way to a greener future.

Future development plans

With the aforementioned success, the development of the CVW has not yet finished. After discussions with several partners from both the public and private sectors, plans for further development emerged. By Q4 of last year the development of the Clean Vehicle Planning solution had begun and in February of 2023 Vediafi was able to present the first version of their vehicle booking and planning system. The goal of this addon to the CVW is to help both managers and employees to make better decisions when selecting vehicles. The system makes decisions based on data from our database and user inputs. In the future, this will also include charging and range information on electric vehicles to enable more efficient usage of modern fleet vehicles.

There is still more to come on the horizon. You can stay up to date with our progress and
find out more about the Clean Vehicle Wizard solution here:

Website https://vedia.fi

Blog https://www.vedia.fi/blog/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/vediafi-oy/

Autonomous Driving Industry Seeks Viable Solutions Amidst Economic Challenges

The autonomous driving industry has had a challenging ride in recent months; many of us will have seen a number of negative headlines about the industry and its future. The reason we see these headlines now is, at least partly, due to the ramifications of a challenging economic climate. In today’s economic climate – the industry, investors, and perhaps most importantly – the end customers – need to see solutions that are technologically and commercially viable in 2023-2024.

The path to commercial viability, for us at Sensible 4, lies in the difference between open and closed road operations. From the perspective of autonomous driving, open roads pose two key challenges: the first is a lack of consistent AD regulation to be able to operate in the first place, and the second is a need for the technology to be able to manage the unpredictability that comes with other road users, whether their behaviour is law-abiding or not.

Closed road environments, such as industrial sites, are an altogether different prospect. Industrial sites (factories, shipping terminals, mills, plants, logistics yards, and quarries) have a common approach and standards to match. The automated truck fits well into this picture of safety first and adherence to protocol. It’s not just the site environment that lends itself well to automation; the very nature of the industrial site operation sees trucks drive at slow speeds, across short distances, continuously carrying out repetitive tasks. The demand for digital transformation in manufacturing and logistics sites, coupled with the need for sustainable and efficient business operations, is driving the deployment of autonomous driving technology in the industrial segment.

Revolutionizing Industrial Transportation: Sensible 4’s DAWN™ Platform Enables Autonomous Driving in Challenging Environments and Weather Conditions

In 2022, Sensible 4 released DAWN™, a unique autonomous driving platform, which enables our customers to build and retrofit heavy-duty vehicles that can self-drive in the most demanding industrial environments (dust, mud, gravel) and weather conditions (snow, rain, wind). It’s a product that is developed based on the original logic for establishing Sensible 4 – enabling continuous automated driving, irrespective of the environmental and weather conditions. Since launching DAWN™, we have partnered with industry leader UD Trucks to automate a heavy-duty Quon dump truck at a live industrial site in Japan. The successful completion of the project represents a significant, and exciting, milestone for the future of automated transportation within the industrial segment. The potential for this technology to revolutionize mobility in the industry is exciting, and with the readiness of the technology today, the benefits can be realized in a short time frame.

Read related blog on Sensible 4 site, Written by Harri Santamala,
CEO of Sensible 4

The picture is from the Sensible 4 website article on the subject

Proxion and Relesoft agree on export-oriented cooperation

The digitalization of railways is a significant change and a huge opportunity for innovative players in the industry. Proxion has decided to accelerate its internationalization together with Relesoft Oy. Our goal is to help industry and railway infrastructure managers in building a safer, more efficiently functioning and smarter interoperable railway system.

 

Proxion’s expertise is recognized in Europe and Relesoft Oy has a unique implementation of the latest European specifications into technological products. Together, we are able to meet our customers’ needs by adapting current and future technology into a modular entity. The EULYNX specifications have reached the level of maturity where industry will witness the widespread adoption of standardized interfaces. The winning solutions of digital control command communication, signalling and automation systems will be built on EULYNX open standards, which aim to significantly reduce the lifecycle cost for signalling systems. The control and automation system forms the core of digital rail transportation. The founders of the EULYNX project are 13 European infrastructure managers, led by German Deutsche Bahn. Relesoft’s technology, together with the services provided by Proxion, offers customers around Europe the opportunity to more effectively utilize EULYNX and ETCS specifications in control and command system (CCS) in design and during the implementation of projects.

Read more info on Proxion website to learn better how Proxion and Relesoft cooperation works.

Kempower fast charging technology powering the Nordics’ largest electric bus depot

The largest electric bus depot in the Nordic countries is now fully operational in the Danish city of Aalborg. Kempower, a leading supplier of fast charging technology for electric vehicles, has supplied GodEnergi A/S with its DC fast charging technology. The depot can now simultaneously charge more than 100 electric buses.

  • The biggest electric bus depot in the Nordics has become fully operational in the Danish city of Aalborg.
  • Leading EV fast charging technology provider Kempower has supplied over 100 of its Kempower Satellite chargers at the depot.
  • The facility also features Kempower ChargEye, a comprehensive cloud-based charging management system.

GodEnergi A/S has installed 124 Kempower Satellite chargers at the depot, which are connected to 18 Kempower Power Units. Additionally, six transformers have been fitted in the local area, and over 20km of cabling has been laid at the facility, capable of delivering the equivalent power to simultaneously turn on over 40,000 flat-screen TVs.

The facility also features Kempower ChargEye, a comprehensive cloud-based charging management system. Kempower ChargEye will enable GodEnergi A/S to easily monitor and manage the day-to-day operations of both the chargers and electric buses, continuously optimizing charging power and ensuring that the buses have enough charge to run according to schedule.

 

Read the original news published on Kempower website to know better how Kempower ChargEye will enable GodEnergi A/S to easily monitor and manage the day-to-day operations.

The picture is from the kempower website article on the subject

Stora Enso gets on board Polestar 0 project to create a climate-neutral car by 2030

Stora Enso and Swedish electric car company Polestar have started collaboration to create a truly climate-neutral car by 2030. Stora Enso gets on board Polestar 0 project as a partner to contribute to the car’s climate neutrality with their bio-based battery material Lignode® by Stora Enso, made from trees.

The Polestar 0 project, launched in 2021, aims to create a climate neutral car by 2030 by eliminating all sources of CO2 emissions – not only offsetting them – throughout the supply chain and production. Reaching full climate neutrality throughout the value chain, however, is a challenge for such a complex product as a car. Stora Enso takes on the challenge to contribute to the car battery’s climate neutrality with its bio-based battery anode material, Lignode® by Stora Enso, with the aim to become a commercial supplier for the outcome of the Polestar 0 project.

Graphitic carbon in car batteries today is either mined or made from fossil-based materials. Lignode® by Stora Enso is made of lignin which comes from sustainably managed Nordic trees that grow back once harvested. It is essential to revolutionise battery technology to sustainably cover the needs for energy storage in an electrified future. Stora Enso believes that the key to combating climate change involves the use of renewable materials.

Read the original news published on Stora Enso website to learn better how Lignode® by Stora Enso and The Polestar 0 project works.

Shifting to safer and more sustainable travel

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

That adage never felt more appropriate than at this year’s CES. It certainly felt like I walked a thousand miles to see everything worth seeing at the world’s largest consumer electronics show.

My colleague, Samuli, was delighted by the shift to sustainable technology at CES 2023. For me, the highlight was the focus on electric cars, smart mobility, and software-defined vehicles. No doubt about it, the car is now tech, and this trend is redefining the whole automotive industry.

The software-defined car is going mainstream

The shift toward software-based technology is revolutionizing the car experience for drivers and passengers alike. Just like your smartphone and computer, a software-defined car can be updated and upgraded over the air to add new features and capabilities without having to replace expensive hardware components. This development is becoming a major driver of innovation and competitive differentiation in the automotive industry.

With Vaisala Xweather, we have a clear goal. We want to help automotive innovators make every journey safer and more efficient. At CES, we showed three examples of how real-time weather data combined with reliable forecasts can improve safety, comfort, and convenience for drivers and passengers.

Supporting safer advanced driver assistance systems

Road surface condition is one of many parameters available from the Vaisala Xweather Road Weather API.
Road surface condition is one of many parameters available from the Vaisala Xweather Road Weather API.

 

The race towards autonomous driving was on full display at CES. But there are still many challenges.

The set of conditions under which an autonomous vehicle (AV) is designed to operate safely is called the Operational Design Domain (ODD). The ODD includes information about the types of roads the AV can drive on, the speeds at which it can safely operate, the weather and lighting conditions under which it can safely navigate, and many other factors.

Vaisala Xweather is helping the automotive industry safely expand the ODD of autonomous vehicles by supplying accurate real-time road weather data.

Road weather refers to various weather conditions that can affect the safety and operation of vehicles on the road, such as rain, sleet, and snow, as well as other factors like fog and high winds. These conditions can have a significant impact on visibility, traction, and the overall stability of vehicles. In fact, the Federal Highway Administration estimates that every fifth road accident in the United States is weather-related.1

Road weather data helps reduce the risk of accidents by providing accurate real-time information about surface conditions beyond the vehicle’s line of sight. Weather-aware vehicles can also use road weather forecasts to find safer, more efficient routes and reduce drive time by avoiding roads with poor driving conditions.

Vaisala is ready to take this journey with you

Vaisala Xweather road weather data is trusted by the biggest names in the automotive industry: Audi, BMW, Bosch, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Rand McNally, Skoda, TomTom, and Volkswagen. Our advanced forecast models are built upon 85 years of weather expertise and over 20 years of pioneering work with road weather. But this is just the start.

The automotive industry is on the cusp of a major shift toward the software-defined car. This shift will bring a host of new challenges and opportunities for automakers, suppliers, and consumers alike. It is an exciting time to be involved in the automotive industry, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Read more about Xweather automotive solutions, or contact us with your questions.


Mr. Petri Marjava 
Vaisala | Head of Automotive

Read the full blog on Vaisala’s website

Image: Vaisala from the original Blog

References

1. “EV Survey Shows Range Anxiety High While Charging Costs Remain Low,” Forbes, June 28, 2022

The use of drones opens up huge new markets for businesses and impacts consumers’ daily lives

Drones will deliver groceries to your home and assist in farming and construction. These are some of the applications where developments will be brisk once European ground rules and safe airspace practices (U-space) are established for unmanned aerial vehicles. Advancements in this field are driven for instance by the need to reduce emissions from transport and logistics and by the opportunities offered by digitalisation.

The Finnish Parliament is currently debating a legislative amendment implementing EU regulations, under which airspaces for unmanned aerial vehicles, i.e. drones, may be established in Finland as of 26 January 2023. Similar legislation is being introduced in other EU Member States.

“The purpose is to coordinate manned and unmanned aviation and to facilitate drone flying in circumstances where the pilot has no direct visual contact with the drone. A huge market is opening up, as the EU expects the drone business in Europe to grow to a volume of up to EUR 14 billion by 2030. Prognoses show that more than 100,000 jobs may be created, which means that there will be substantial opportunities on the Finnish market too,” says Director Pasi Nikama from Fintraffic.

Eurocontrol, the Finnish National Technical Research Centre VTT and Fintraffic, the Finnish air navigation services provider, organised a summit in Helsinki on 26 January. The event was attended by a large number of top-level representatives from several European countries. The event included expert presentations on the European Commission’s recently published air traffic control strategy and on airspace management experiments carried out by various governments.
Eurocontrol chaired three workshops at the event, focusing on the key challenges in the field: the need for synergies between stakeholders, cyber security and operational concept.

“Drones are becoming increasingly common, and Finland must focus sufficient attention on providing lower airspace services. This calls for public investments as soon as possible, to allow the Finnish market to evolve in step with the rest of Europe. Drones must be acknowledged as a major factor in building the transport and logistics system of the future,” says Pertti Korhonen, CEO of Fintraffic.

“Through close cooperation, Finnish operators have been at the forefront of developments in Europe, helping create safe airspace management for drones,” says Ari Aalto, Vice President, Mobility and Transport at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. VTT is investing in research collaboration in this field in several national and international projects and cooperation forums. “Finland must remain an active player in order to keep up with other countries,” Aalto continues.

“Establishing airspaces for unmanned aviation is one of the most significant steps we can take towards efficient urban air transport. These solutions will open up business opportunities many of which we probably cannot even anticipate yet,” says Research Team Leader Petri Mononen from VTT.

In recent years, there have been several projects in Finland exploring the use of drones for various applications. Late in 2022, Fintraffic and VTT jointly ran a test under the Drolo project in Oulu, involving the flying of drones beyond visual contact with the aid of new digital services that will be introduced commercially at a later date. Fintraffic is currently developing a new generation of digital services that will form a basis in Finland for the coordination of manned and unmanned aviation and for commercial projects.

‘U-space’ is a system of systems designed to ensure the safe operations of any number of future aircraft, such as drones. 

Further information:

Pasi Nikama, Director, Fintraffic
pasi.nikama@fintraffic.fi, tel. 040 848 2904

Petri Mononen, Research Team Leader, VTT
petri.mononen@vtt.fi, tel. 0405155808