Business Finland commercialisation funding for three university research projects

 There are currently 19 ongoing commercialisation projects at the University of Helsinki, including the three most recent successful applicants. Business Finland has granted a total of 10 million euros in funding for the preparation of commercialisation at the University.

Research to Business (R2B) projects are commercialisation initiatives aimed at preparing the market introduction of science-based inventions. In the autumn 2025 funding round, Business Finland granted R2B funding to three new research projects at the University of Helsinki.

Inventions from various technology fields set for commercialisation

The new commercialisation projects starting in the beginning of 2026 represent various scientific disciplines, ranging from green and clean tech to deep tech and therapeutics:

• The Kudos – Cellular Twins project at the Meilahti campus is developing an AI-based solution to advance the diagnostics and treatment options for childhood cancers. This commercialisation project is being led by University Researcher Vilja Pietiäinen.
• The deep tech project ReliaCode from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the City Centre campus is investigating the use of large language models in data processing and analytics, ensuring the reliability and verifiability of the data is maintained. The project is led by University Researcher Aleksi Knuutila.
• The DopaGuard project at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Viikki is developing a solution that provides a long-term effective and more cost-efficient treatment for Parkinson's disease. It is co-led by professors Mikko Airavaara, Päivi Tammela and researcher Jayendrakumar Patel.

Research to Business funding is vital for the commercialisation of research in Finland

Business Finland's Research to Business funding is aimed at Finnish research projects that seek to transform their inventions into commercial success. With this funding, public research organisations can prepare the development of products or services based on their research findings and conduct applied research that promotes commercialisation. The duration of projects typically ranges from one and a half to two years.

“In Finland, the funding instruments that enable the commercialisation of research are practically limited to Business Finland's R2B funding. Obtaining this funding requires commitment and determination from researchers, as well as an established technology transfer and commercialisation unit at the university. Success in the funding application process is only achievable when the applications are well-prepared and research teams have invested in clearly presenting their inventions and research topics,” says Kajsa Kajander, Director of Operations at Helsinki Innovation Services Ltd, adding:

“Before a research-based idea or invention can be taken to market, years of work is needed, especially when it comes to innovations in the field of life sciences. At Helsinki Innovation Services, we assist in the preparation of commercialisation projects and support them in various ways through the necessary milestones, from patenting to conducting market analyses, developing business models, and submitting patent applications.”

Vists : https://innovatorawards.org

How science-technology interactions affect technological innovation: the moderating role of topic divergence

Science and technology (S&T) constitute significant forces in shaping innovation, yet empirical investigations of their interaction and convergence fostering technological advancement remain limited.

This study aims to delineate the multidimensional dynamics of S&T interactions guided by synergetics principles, including strength, time-lag, depth, and synchronization, and explore their influence on technological innovation. It also examines the moderating impact of technological topic divergence.


Utilizing a knowledge network representation framework, we conducted an examination of papers and patents within the artificial intelligence domain, spanning the period from 2000 to 2022. Our findings indicate that the strength, time-lag, and synchronization of S&T interactions positively correlate with technological innovation.

Strong interaction between technology with deep-level scientific knowledge facilitates technological innovation and vice versa inhibits it. Moreover, the impact of S&T interactions on innovation tends to be greater in domains with higher technological topic popularity and centrality. By elucidating these associations, this study contributes to the methodological understanding of S&T intrinsic interactions and furnishes valuable insights for R&D organizations in formulating strategic S&T decisions.

This study addresses the above issues and organizes the program as follows. First, we conduct a comprehensive review of the literature on S&T interaction and innovation, consolidating and analyzing their conflicting conclusions. Then, we propose four dimensions of indicators- interaction strength, time-lag, depth, and synchronization - to gauge variations in S&T interactions. Utilizing a knowledge network coupling algorithm, we derive yearly interaction dynamics of these dimensions. Subsequently, we introduce a hypothetical model to elucidate potential mechanisms and processes influencing innovation impact. Empirical testing of our hypotheses leverages a dataset of 788,136 papers and 141,902 patents sourced from the Web of Science and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Finally, we conclude and discuss the implications of technological innovation.

Our work contributes to two main areas. First, we introduce a novel multidimensional interaction measure for S&T integrating natural language processing and complex network modeling applied to S&T texts. This approach addresses linear association concerns regarding citation linkages, the International Patent Classification - Institute for Scientific Information (IPC-ISI) classification system, and lexical- or topic-based similarity. By discerning various S&T interaction features, we bridge the gap between literature on science convergence and technology convergence, shedding light on technology innovation impacts via synergies and slaving principles.

Through empirical tests across four S&T interaction dimensions, we identify factors influencing innovation and enhancing the understanding of S&T interactions. Second, our study highlights Piaget’s theory of genetics and environmental applicability in technological innovation. We validate divergence significance in subdomain topics within S&T interactions, particularly the influence of subdomain popularity on innovation. These findings inform strategic R&D organizations and government policymaking.

Vists : https://innovatorawards.org/

 

Blockchain for Electronic Voting System—Review and Open Research Challenges

Online voting is a trend that is gaining momentum in modern society. It has great potential to decrease organizational costs and increase voter turnout. It eliminates the need to print ballot papers or open polling stations—voters can vote from wherever there is an Internet connection.

Despite these benefits, online voting solutions are viewed with a great deal of caution because they introduce new threats. A single vulnerability can lead to large-scale manipulations of votes. Electronic voting systems must be legitimate, accurate, safe, and convenient when used for elections.

Nonetheless, adoption may be limited by potential problems associated with electronic voting systems. Blockchain technology came into the ground to overcome these issues and offers decentralized nodes for electronic voting and is used to produce electronic voting systems mainly because of their end-to-end verification advantages. This technology is a beautiful replacement for traditional electronic voting solutions with distributed, non-repudiation, and security protection characteristics.

The following article gives an overview of electronic voting systems based on blockchain technology. The main goal of this analysis was to examine the current status of blockchain-based voting research and online voting systems and any related difficulties to predict future developments.

 This study provides a conceptual description of the intended blockchain-based electronic voting application and an introduction to the fundamental structure and characteristics of the blockchain in connection to electronic voting. As a consequence of this study, it was discovered that blockchain systems may help solve some of the issues that now plague election systems. On the other hand, the most often mentioned issues in blockchain applications are privacy protection and transaction speed.


For a sustainable blockchain-based electronic voting system, the security of remote participation must be viable, and for scalability, transaction speed must be addressed. Due to these concerns, it was determined that the existing frameworks need to be improved to be utilized in voting systems.

Electoral integrity is essential not just for democratic nations but also for state voter’s trust and liability. Political voting methods are crucial in this respect. From a government standpoint, electronic voting technologies can boost voter participation and confidence and rekindle interest in the voting system. As an effective means of making democratic decisions, elections have long been a social concern. As the number of votes cast in real life increases, citizens are becoming more aware of the significance of the electoral system .

The voting system is the method through which judges judge who will represent in political and corporate governance. Democracy is a system of voters to elect representatives by voting . The efficacy of such a procedure is determined mainly by the level of faith that people have in the election process. The creation of legislative institutions to represent the desire of the people is a well-known tendency. Such political bodies differ from student unions to constituencies. Over the years, the vote has become the primary resource to express the will of the citizens by selecting from the choices they made.

Vists : https://innovatorawards.org/