Port 6’s technology enables Tetris to be played in the air, and much more. Image: Port 6

Daily Brief

DAILY BRIEF: Touchless computing, healthtech, autonomous driving, sustainable dairy and smart mobility

All the daily Finnish business news that works: Finnish research, Megin, Sensible 4, Valio, Port 6 and smart mobility make headlines.

Rasmus Hetemäki

16.12.2020

Finnish nanomedicine research is funded, Megin provides a brain mapping system in the US, Sensible 4 takes part in a Norwegian self-driving pilot, Valio partners on sustainable dairy production, Port 6 raises seed coin, and Finnish smart mobility hits the road. Click on the headlines for more in-depth information about each piece of news.

Finnish professor receives significant EU research grant

Timo Laaksonen standing next to a green and white wall covering — Professor Timo Laaksonen has received an approximately two million-euro grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his nanomedicine research. Laaksonen, who divides his time between the University of Helsinki and Tampere University, is researching how blue or ultraviolet (UV) light can be used to release a pharmaceutical drug in a controlled way in the body. While employing light in drug release is not new in itself, blue or UV light provides a more extensive set of tools than red light, which has been shown to work to some extent, if it could be used in a safe capacity.

Megin sells brain mapping system to Spectrum Health

A person sitting in a brain scanning device — Finnish healthtech startup Megin has sold its brain imaging device, TRIUX neo, to US-based healthcare organisation Spectrum Health. TRIUX neo uses magnetoencephalography (MEG), a non-invasive brain mapping solution, to detect and localise neural events in the brain at highly precise accuracy. Spectrum Health will implement the technology in the recently established Jack H. Miller Magnetoencephalography Center at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Michigan. The technology will support neurosurgeons in planning surgical procedures for epilepsy and brain tumours, for example.

Sensible 4 powers self-driving pilot in Norway

Self-driving van on the road — Finnish autonomous software startup Sensible 4 is taking part in a one-year pilot to integrate self-driving vehicles into the public transport service in the Oslo region in Norway. In the trials, Sensible 4’s software will be equipped in Toyota Proace vans that carry out a public transport service called line 529. The one-year time frame will allow the partners (Sensible 4, Ruter, Holo and Toyota Motor Europe) to thoroughly test that the autonomous software works in real-life situations in all weather conditions. According to the plan, Oslo residents will be able to start using the service in the first quarter of 2021.

Valio and DMS to develop sustainable dairy products

Cows on a field — Finland’s largest dairy company, Valio, has partnered with Dutch company Royal DSM to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of dairy production in Finland. Valio aims to make its dairy value chain carbon neutral by 2035, and the collaboration with DSM will support its ambition. DMS has developed a promising feed additive, named Bovaer, which consistently and efficiently reduces enteric methane emissions from cattle by around 30 per cent. The partners will now develop, build and test Bovaer across the production and marketing systems of Valio.

Port 6 raises EUR 1 million

Four young men in front of a dark building — Port 6, a Finnish startup developing touchless human-computer interaction, has raised one million euros in a seed funding round led by investment fund Superangel, with participation from Superhero Capital and angel investors Charlotta Björnberg-Paul, Urmas Purde, Timo Rein and Peep Vain. The startup is building AI-driven biometrics-based technologies to push the boundaries for creativity and interaction in augmented and virtual computing platforms. Port 6’s first prototype enables typing, gaming, playing musical instruments, creating artwork, controlling an operating system and many more use cases with only a wristband. The team’s current ambition is to build a leading interaction laboratory in Europe.

All roads lead to smart mobility

Man leaning on a bike and waiting for metro — Finnish companies are helping the world to overtake the traditional and accelerate into a new era of mobility with safe, efficient and sustainable transport design. In our article, we take a look at what these emerging Finnish innovations are doing on the roads. Click the headline to check it out.

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