Professor Sasu Tarkoma is promoter of corporate collaboration of 2016

This University of Helsinki prize was awarded for the first time ever.

Sasu Tarkoma, professor of computer science, has been exemplary in promoting collaboration between the University of Helsinki and the corporate world, the university states as the reasoning behind the prize.

He has brought the university new funding through corporate collaboration, and has opened up new avenues in teaching and open data. In addition, Professor Tarkoma participates in university-based startup work, says Vice-Rector Pertti Panula, who gave away the prize.

It’s a joy to collaborate with the industries. I believe that it’s a win-win for both parties, both the university and the corporations. The secret to success is the good teamwork, and I have had the fortune to work with good teams, said Tarkoma in his thank-you speech.

Left-right: Maarit Haataja, Sasu Tarkoma, Antti Neimala, Pertti Panula

 

Tarkoma’s innovation presented at SLUSH

In 2015, Sasu Tarkoma presented his innovation at SLUSH, leading to the establishment of a startup called MoPrim, with the aid of HIS. He is now a member of its board, and MoPrim was also prominently on display at this year’s SLUSH, seeking more backing.

The startup machinery has now started up at the university, Tarkoma says.

Tarkoma’s innovation is related to technology for sensing movement, and could be useful both in public transportation and for individuals.

Corporate collaboration expanding into open oline course

From the viewpoint of the university, the external funding  gained by Tarkoma is significant. He has headed many projects with corporate funding. The value of the projects is some 1.2 million euros. In addition, he has managed several TEKES projects and gained funding from the Academy of Finland.

It is also thanks to Professor Sasu Tarkoma that the university started a MOOC (massive open online course) in information security in cooperation with F-Secure. Over 30,000 users have visited the website, and 30% of them visited from the USA.

The university research services encourage corporate collaboration

The promoter of corporate collaboration of 2016 was announced on 13 December 2016. In addition to the main prize, smaller awards were given to all the trailblazers of corporate collaboration at the university.

Vice Managing Director Antti Neimala of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, who spoke at the prize ceremony, emphasized that an increasing number of jobs are created in the SME sector.

More and more, enterprises are looking for university skills within the business sector, Neimala said.

The university services can offer encouragement and support for corporate collaboration

It’s great that the university management encourages and supports researchers interested in collaborating with corporations. The team for corporate collaboration will increase to seven in 2017. We are here for researchers and enterprises alike. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need help with corporate collaboration, says Maarit Haataja, service manager for corporate collaboration.

 

Text: Maria Linkoaho-Nordling, Minna Meriläinen-Tenhu, Joel Takala, Heidi Kinnunen

Translation: Marina Kurtén

Photo: Linda Tammisto

Created date

21.12.2016 - 17:11

Brain poetry

In the latest research result of the month section, we interview PhD student Jukka Toivanen about his recent work on brain poetry in the Discovery group led by professor Hannu Toivonen. How can humans and machines be creative together?

Kjell Lemström to be new Head of Studies

Since Jaakko Kurhila left the department to head the Open University, we had to find a new university lecturer to act as head of studies in short order. We received a total of 28 applications. Out of these, and after a preliminary qualification round, evaluations, interviews, and a department council hearing, Kjell Lemström (KL) was elected for the post. He started working as the department's Head of Studies on 2 March 2015, so the Head of the department (JP) conducted the following induction interview that very week.

This is by no means the first time Kjell has been employed by the department. He defended his thesis on ‘String Matching Techniques for Music Retrieval’ in 2000, and has held numerous teaching and research positions both before and after that, until he transferred to the Laurea University of Applied Sciences in 2011 (luckily, that was only temporary).

Head of Studies Jaakko Kurhila to head Open University

The Head of Studies at the department, University Lecturer Jaakko Kurhila, has been elected to the post of director of the Open University at the University of Helsinki. It was a tough race: all in all, 39 applicants sought the post, some of them through the Mercuri Urval headhunting process. After a consultant evaluation, interviews, and aptitude assessments, the preparatory committee for the post, the steering committee for the Open University, and the rector of the university came to a unanimous decision to select Jaakko, and the contract is already being drawn up.

Being selected from this prestigious group of applicants, and after such a thorough process, is indisputable proof of the qualifications of Jaakko and the high esteem the academic community has for him. The department extends its warmest congratulations to Jaakko for this career development and is proud of the success of its protégé.

Bridging the Gap Between Research and Standardization

In the fourth research result of the month, we report a joint work between the UH NODES group and the Cambridge NetOS group, lead by Prof. Sasu Tarkoma and Prof. Jon Crowcroft, respectively. Their work recently received the best paper award "Best of CCR" from ACM SIGCOMM.