PayiQ is building on a Firm Foundation

Pay have now established our ticketing services all over Finland and can count over 500,000 users. This means that we have now reached technical maturity, found market fit, and have the financial foundation to start taking the next steps.

An important focus area is City Acc, and all its possible applications. City Acc is a revolutionary ecosystem we are developing to transform the way we access and track transport. But that’s not all. With City Acc, we are also providing a fun and engaging way to measure and reduce CO2 emissions for individuals, organizations, and regions alike.

During Q1, we secured financing for the City Acc initiative MVP, and our first app with game-changing capabilities will be available in the app stores when this article is posted. By teaming up with award-winning German mobility analytics technology we can add to our service an AI-driven CO2 footprint calculator that can track up to 20 different modes of transport. With this feature, both individuals and cities can gain valuable insights into real-life mobility choices and how they affect the carbon footprint.

The business model of City Acc ecosystem is manifold and needs to be explored. Right now, we are focusing on the one hand on the individual experience involving local services and stores, and on the other hand on the corporate, municipal, and regional levels.

For the individual, every time they make a sustainable travel choice and save 5kg CO2, they earn Climate Coins. Coins can then be exchanged for vouchers from our partners. Building and managing an ecosystem of partners will be a priority in the coming months. Once that ecosystem is up, we can bring a variety of new services and opportunities to our users. One fun feature is that this partner network can be international. CO2 calculation and usage spans European wide.

The other immediate field of opportunity is turning sustainability into a competition between organizations, cities, and regions. Driving down emissions caused by traffic is one of the hardest climate-related challenges we have, and here we have a fun way to engage more people to think and act for the good of the planet! Through the data provided by the app, it is easy to see who is making the most progress. We have already received a very positive, at times excited reaction from companies and municipalities. We hope to see some companies and maybe even municipalities in friendly competition against each other in lowering their CO2 footprint already this year.

Read the whole blog article on PayIQ’s home page by By Pirkka Lankinen, CEO of PayiQ
Image is also from the same blog on the PayIQ website.

 

 

 

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

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.

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

Payment unit enables parking and charging payment with credit card

Semel Oy has launched together with Modulsystem Sweden AB a payment unit for parking and EV charging at eCarExpo in Stockholm in February 2023. TouchPayGo payment unit enables parking and charging payment with regular a credit card, no apps needed.

TouchPayGo is designed and manufactured in Sweden. It includes an easy to use 10” touchscreen display connected to a payment terminal. The payment unit controls several charging stations simultaneously. Customer selects the desired charging station and the parking and charging time. Based on the estimated charge, a pre card authorization is made. By feeding information, e.g e-mail, the customer receives a receipt after the parking and charging session.

The parking/charging operator can update tariffs and other settings into the system via a defined web portal. From here can also the charging stations be monitored, and reports can be downloaded.

TouchPayGo payment unit can easily be connected to Modulsystems DAC (DoorAccessControl) unit for managing access control to the parking garage.

TouchPayGo payment unit is available both as a wall mounted and floor version.

Semel Oy is a company established in 1971 that develops and manufactures cash register systems, information systems and equipment for the passenger transport industry. Focus is delivery of dispatching-, payment-, and management systems for taxi in all our market areas. Semel is today the largest supplier of taxi information systems in the Nordics. Through our subsidiary, we also act as a system supplier for public transport and parking, as well as for systems for charging electric vehicles. Semel has been part of the Swedish KG Knutsson AB since the 1990s.

Read more on Semel Oy website
Image: Semel Oy

Observations from the Tampere – Särkänniniemi agile Drone Experiment

In the Tampere City Region, there was an agile experiment to examine the drone use cases. Unmanned aviation has developed rapidly in the recent years. Company Insta Group Oy provided the drones and situational awareness solution for the theme park Särkänniemi event, what was coordinated by Business Tampere.

Tampere-based Insta ILS is a specialist in avionics, remotely piloted aircraft systems and high tech. It is naturally interested in experiments where the company’s fields of expertise are needed and solutions can be tested. 

Lassila estimates that drone usage in event security is increasing significantly. For example, venues can be proactively inspected and their bottlenecks outlined with drones. While the event is happening, drones can be used to obtain real-time data on traffic, crowd flows and security issues.

When operating drones, one must know regulations

Miikka Nenonen, Field Operations Manager at Särkänniemi, tells that the theme park informs their visitors of the video surveillance in the area. The visitors usually take it positively, because surveillance makes them feel safe and comfortable. 

The regulation to harmonise drone operation throughout the EU entered into force on 31 December 2020. There are circa 450 pages of the regulations, therefore anyone operating an UAS should really know the rules in order to obey them. 

Miikka Nenonen, Field Operations Manager at Särkänniemi, tells that the theme park informs their visitors of the video surveillance in the area. The visitors usually take it positively, because surveillance makes them feel safe and comfortable. 

Observations: monitoring traffic and security

Monitoring the flow of traffic has proved to be a significant use case for drones, especially when events are causing only occasional traffic jams. In that case permanent surveillance cameras may not be needed, but drones could be used to monitor traffic congestion in several locations.   

Congestion data can be utilised to control the traffic. According to Nenonen, traffic jams could be alleviated by controlling traffic lights in cooperation with the City of Tampere, and informing the visitors to favour public transport when possible. Reducing traffic jams is also another way to improve customer experience.

Concerts held near lakes, like the ones organised in Särkänniemi, attract boat traffic. It is easy to monitor by drones, and in case of an emergency, rescue operations could be facilitated with the situational picture produced by a drone.

A thermal camera proved to be an excellent tool after dark. The experiment included a target person who stayed in the amusement park after the concert and had his location tracked by a drone.

– Our thermal camera contributed in an excellent way to existing surveillance camera system in the area, says Nissinen.

Other use cases for drones: maintenance, inspection

In the Särkänniemi agile experiment, other drone use cases were also considered: for example inspecting the amusement park rides, various maintenance tasks, like winter maintenance.

During the events drones can gather data in the venue: on what, when or where audience is doing. Drones can provide real-time situational awareness data and perform disturbance monitoring.

After the event drones provide data on the routes audience use to leave the venue, their timing and whether they’ve all left the venue. Traffic flows can be monitored in the nearby areas. Additionally, drones can monitor the venue for trespassers also outside event hours.

Read the original News on Business Tampere webpage

Image: Insta from the original news