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Vinkkejä uuden Business Finland -hankkeen muodostamiseksi

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Näin muodostat onnistuneesti uuden tutkimusorganisaation ja yritysten yhteisen Co-Innovation -hankkeen, jossa soveltava tutkimus hyödyttää yritysten liiketoiminnallisia kasvutarpeita.

Business Finland (entinen Tekes) avasi 1.1.2018 kaksi uutta rahoitusinstrumenttia tutkimusorganisaatioille: Co-Creation ja Co-Innovation -rahoitukset. Näistä Co-Creation on maksimissaan puoli vuotta kestävä hanke, jossa valmistellaan kaksi vuotta kestävää Co-Innovation -hanketta. Nämä kaksi muodostavat toisiinsa linkittyvän kokonaisuuden.

Tutkimusorganisaation ja yritysten intressien ”matchaaminen” yhteen ei ole helppo juttu. Se vaatii aikaa ja resursseja.

Co-Creation -valmistelurahoitus on osoittautunut erittäin tarpeelliseksi, sillä tutkimusorganisaation ja yritysten intressien ”matchaaminen” yhteen ei ole helppo juttu. Siihen menee paljon aikaa ja resursseja, mutta jos kaikki menee hyvin niin kokonaisuudesta muodostuu yhteinen miljoonahanke, jossa soveltava tutkimus hyödyttää suoraan yritysten liiketoiminnallisia ja kansainvälisiä kasvutarpeita.

Itselläni on kokemusta tämän uuden rahoitusmuodon puitteissa jo kolmen eri hankevalmistelun tukemisesta. Toimin Helsingin yliopiston tutkimuspalveluiden yritysyhteistyön tiimissä. Tehtävänämme on tukea ja auttaa tutkijoita yritysyhteistyön alkuun saattamisessa. Näistä kokemuksista on syntynyt muutamia tarpeellisia vinkkejä.

Business Finland on halunnut lisätä tutkimuksen vaikuttavuutta: tutkimusratkaisuja kehitetään yrityksistä nouseviin tarpeisiin.

Käydään läpi ensin taustatieto. Business Finland uudisti rahoitustaan sen vuoksi, koska tutkimusrahoituksen vaikuttavuutta haluttiin lisätä. OECD:n maaraportti 2017 totesi, että ”Suomessa on parannettava kykyä luoda ja hyödyntää uusia ideoita sekä luoda niistä kasvavaa bisnestä”. Uuden rahoitusinstrumentin koko homman idea on se, että tutkimusratkaisuja kehitetään yritysten tarpeista lähteneisiin kysymyksiin, ei toisinpäin. Yritykset ovat avainasemassa.

Yritykset osallistuvat omalla t&k-hankkeellaan

Aiempaan rahoitusmuotoon verrattuna, jossa yritykset osallistuivat hankkeeseen kymmenen prosentin osuudella, on nyt muuttunut. Tämän sijaan Co-Innovationiin pitääkin osallistua vähintään kolme yritystä, joista ainakin kaksi osallistuu omalla rinnakkaisella t&k-hankkeellaan. Yritykset hakevat hanketta yritysrahoituskanavaa pitkin, ja yliopisto hakee rahoitusta tutkimusorganisaatioille tarkoitetun kanavan kautta. Yhdessä nämä kaikki hankehakemukset muodostavat yhden kokonaisuuden, konsortion, jossa yritysten panostuksen pitää olla suurempi kuin tutkimusorganisaation.

Uutta on se, että yritykset tekevät oman rinnakkaisen hakemuksensa. Tämä johtaa win-win -tilanteeseen.

Suuremman vaikuttavuuden aikaansaamiseksi Business Finlandin pihvi rahoittajana on juuri tuo edellä mainittu yritysten oma hakemus. Kun yritys tekee oman rahoitushakemuksen ja miettii tarkasti kaikki siihen tarvittavat tutkimusnäkökulmat ja hankkeen oman resursoinnin, tutkimuksella on aiempaan verrattuna paljon paremmat mahdollisuudet oikeasti saada aikaan vaikuttavuutta, luoda edellytyksiä uudelle liiketoiminnalle ja kansainväliselle kasvulle. Myös yritykset hyötyvät tästä enemmän. Tilanne on win-win.

Onnistumiseen tarvitaan yhteinen visio ja sitoutumista

Mutta miten sitten lähteä muodostamaan yhteistä hankekokonaisuutta? Aivan ensiksi täytyy olla yhteinen visio siitä, mitä hankkeella halutaan saavuttaa. Syötteitä visioon voi tulla sekä tutkimusorganisaatiolta että yrityksiltä. Yleensä ne liittyvät johonkin ajankohtaiseen tematiikkaan. Kun visio on hahmottunut, tarvitaan sopivat yritykset ja sitoutumista toimenpiteiden suunnitteluun. Tähän Business Finland tarjoaa tutkimusorganisaatiolle Co-Creation -rahoituksen, joka on maksimissaan kuusi kuukautta ja 100 000 euroa. Tällä rahalla voidaan palkata koordinaattori juoksemaan hanketta kasaan. Yritykset puolestaan resursoivat itse hankevalmistelunsa, toki ne pääsevät hyödyntämään koordinaattorin yhteistä tukea.

Hankevalmistelun aikana yritykset kertovat tarpeistaan ja tutkijat miettivät ratkaisuja.

Hankevalmistelun aikana yritysten tehtävänä on kertoa niin avoimesti kuin mahdollista yrityksen liiketoiminnan kasvun tarpeista ja niistä teemoista, mihin yritykset hakevat vastauksia. Tutkijoiden tehtävänä on kuunnella tarkkaan mitä yritykset sanovat ja miettiä ratkaisuja. Hankevalmistelun tärkeimmät kulmakivet ovat yhdessä työskentely, kuunteleminen ja oppiminen. Vain näin muodostuu aitoa dialogia. Tätä keskustelua käydään niin kauan kunnes syntyy selkeitä yhteisiä työpaketteja.

Uutta tietoa ja innovaatioita pitkällä tähtäimellä

Yhdessä sovittuja työpaketteja työstetään kaksivuotisen Co-Innovation -hankkeen ajan, tehden pilotteja ja etsien parhaita ratkaisuja. Yritykset voivat laittaa ratkaisuja käyttöön sitä mukaan kun niitä syntyy. Hankkeen loputtua Business Finland on mahdollisesti halukas tukemaan ratkaisujen edistämistä uudella rahoitettavalla hankkeella. Näin ollen visiota kannattaa miettiä 5–6 vuoden tähtäimellä: 1/2 vuotta suunnitteluvaihe Co-Creation, 2 vuotta hankeaika Co-Innovation ja mahdollinen jatkohanke.

Business Finlandin rahoitusmuodot ovat loistava tapa tutkijoiden ja yritysten edustajien keskinäiseen verkottumiseen, ekosysteemien rakentamiseen ja uuden liiketoiminnan ja kasvun luomiseen. Co-Creationiin ja Co-Innovationiin on jatkuva haku menossa, joten yhteiskehittämisen yritysten ja yhteiskunnan hyödyksi voi aloittaa vaikka heti!

Lisätietoja Business Finlandista

Joel Takala
Yritysyhteistyön asiantuntija, Tutkimuspalvelut, Helsingin yliopisto

COLLABORATION ENABLES US TO WORK BETTER THAN WORKING ALONE

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Interview with Hankkija’s R&D Director Juhani Vuorenmaa and Development Manager Marjut Suokanto 

During the beginning of the snowy 2018 Christmas holidays, I visited Hankkija’s Head Office located in Hyvinkää. I was warmly welcomed by Development Manager Marjut Suokanto and R&D Director Juhani Vuorenmaa. Researchers of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine are already well known within Hankkija’s walls and keep well apprised of university-business collaborations.

Could you tell us something more about Hankkija? Particularly about your R&D strategy?

Hankkija Oy is an agribusiness company, including supplies sales to farmers. The biggest department is feed; the only department in which production is involved. This also means that R&D activities are only conducted in this area.

Hankkija’s R&D strategy is, in practice, divided into two slightly different sectors. The first one is the development of feed and feed ingredients’ production for farmers. The second sector includes development of natural feed additives and ingredients, especially for more sustainable agriculture.

When it comes to domestic feed production and related R&D, Hankkija strives to help their customers to succeed in farming, improve profitability of their businesses by better performance, improved animal health, and reduce adverse environmental effects. All these have many connections to the food industry and lead to close cooperation with the supply chain, i.e. slaughterhouses, dairy farms etc.

In feed development, one of Hankkija’s large research partners is Schothorst Feed Research (Schothorst Feed Research B.V.) from the Netherlands. They help Hankkija evaluate raw ingredients, optimize feed, and set balanced nutrient requirements for livestock. In addition, they conduct joint trials in order to reduce costs.

Regarding food additives, the general aim is to improve the sustainability of livestock rearing. The related R&D facilitates the export of food additives to different countries. Hankkija’s network has been expanding from Europe to the U.S., Mexico, Latin America, South-East Asia, i.a.

Furthermore, part of Hankkija’s R&D involves proving the benefits of their existing products in different applications to support sales, attract potential customers, and develop new additives, thereby extending their product portfolio.

“If you can find partners for the cost sharing, you can do much more than just by yourself.”

 

Why do you collaborate with research organizations?

Hankkija does research collaboration for multiple reasons. The first one is reliance on outsourced R&D results. In the past they had their own research farm, “…but running the farm was too expensive”, says Juhani Vuorenmaa. Once they decided to close the farm, they needed facilities for livestock performance trials elsewhere. Research conducted by Hankkija’s partners, that employ development managers responsible for specific fields, enables Hankkija to look into wide range of topics. During the past 20 years, they have developed a strong network of research collaborators, consisting of universities, research organizations, and companies; each of them having expertise in different fields.

Another, perhaps even more important aspect, is in feed development where one needs expertise in various disciplines, that would otherwise be very difficult (or at least far too costly) to attain by any single company. “It is much better to find partners who specialize in certain fields (immunology, microbiology etc.) and then build a long-term strategic partnerships”, Juhani Vuorenmaa explains. In addition to expertise, partners possess premises, equipment and years of experience. As a result, Hankkija can utilize external sources in their own development at reasonable costs. Their role is then to know what they are aiming to accomplish and coordinate the network accordingly.

The next important aspect is funding. Partnering allows Hankkija to share research costs that are increasing all the time. “If you can find partners for the cost sharing, you can do much more than just by yourself”, Vuorenmaa claims. One example, is a piglet study that they are starting with their Dutch partners in February 2019. All the parties obtain results and share the costs of the trials.

Do you think that the university-industry collaboration has an impact on society, environment or animal welfare?

In the first place, collaboration enables Hankkija to work better than working alone. They gain knowledge, create new jobs (e.g. in production, R&D or export sales), and export incomes by collaborating.

Results from Hankkija’s collaborations have reduced reliance on the use of antibiotics, yielding improved animal welfare. Moreover, the ‘1Health’ concept is taken into account, i.e. the reduction of antibiotics resistance having an impact on human health.

Regarding the environmental impact, the reduction of phosphorus and nitrogen output from animals by optimizing feeds is also a positive result.

Based on your own experience, which qualities should a good collaborative partner have?

Firstly, expertise and knowledge is a starting point, as well as facilities (not only animal trial facilities but also laboratories of various kinds).

Good communication skills are also key. Sometimes Hankkija has problems understanding what their partners are doing, especially if they are specialized in a narrowly specified field. At the same time, the researchers have difficulties understanding business. Everything Hankkija researches is connected to commercialization. Every now and then they do sponsor basic research, but in general research should be practical and have application.

In addition, it is useful, from Hankkija’s point of view, when research institutes communicate ideas for research collaboration in a timely manner. Very often, when there is a funding deadline approaching, Hankkija gets a variety of requests from different institutes with ideas for collaboration. Unfortunately, limited time resources may prevent the participation of Hankkija. The company cannot influence the research plan at such a late date.

Could you give an example of a success story?

With University of Helsinki Hankkija has been mainly collaborating with the Faculty of the Veterinary Medicine. There has been a good track record of cooperation with the veterinarians, because they challenge Hankkija to improve feed. Through this they’ve gained a lot of new understanding and knowledge.

For example, some years ago in collaboration with Hankkija, Claudio Oliviero investigated the effects of fibre in feed on sows during the farrowing period. “The results of the study have been applied to Hankkija’s feed manufacturing and have also enriched the field and influenced other researchers as well as feed manufacturers”, describes Marjut Suokanto.

Do researchers themselves inquire about possible cooperation on research projects with you?

“Yes”, says Juhani Vuorenmaa, “…and nowadays more and more.” Hankkija often hears from researchers at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine who want to discuss new project ideas and discover mutual interests. However, this is not the case for all research groups and universities.

The latest promising inquiry Hankkija has received is from the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Finnish abbr. “Luke”).

“I would suggest to be more active, discuss with companies more and early enough.”

 

What advice would you give researchers planning collaboration with companies?

According to Hankkija’s experience, the scientific part of a project is usually done perfectly. The research groups do their job well. However, there is room for improvement in other areas.

Juhani Vuorenmaa mentions, “I would suggest to be more active, discuss with companies more and early enough.” It’s a good idea and timely to join the discussion in the project planning or project development phase. It’s convenient to combine ideas and see if the project would or would not be beneficial in this early stage.

One thing that is always challenging is communication. Despite regular project meetings and agreements on project steps, it’s often difficult for Hankkija to understand what the research group is actually doing. Therefore there is need for good and unified, but not bureaucratic, reporting. Hankkija likes to see progress of the work, consider eventual adjustments, and have power to influence the direction of projects.

RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES NEED TO COMMUNICATE MORE EFFICIENTLY

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Interview with Juha Nousiainen, Director at Farm Services and Milk Procurement in Valio Oy

Juha Nousiainen started his career in Valio more than 30 years ago. In 1985, he commenced at the R&D department as a laboratory worker responsible for development of pro- and prebiotics. Since that time Juha’s roles and related responsibilities have changed leading to his current position of the Director at Farm Services and Milk Procurement. At present he supervises expert work related to milk production, milk quality and development of sustainability measures.

Why do you collaborate with universities?

There are several reasons why to collaborate with universities and research institutions in general. The first one is a demand for young skillful experts and universities are places where these experts grow up. Valio seeks to make contacts with them as they represent the future thinkers and developers.

Next reason is of a practical nature. Valio is not a self-contained research unit. We have our own in-house expertise but if we want to apply research results in the entire food production and development chain we need to collaborate with research organizations. Our research is narrowly focused and deals with very specific topics. We can’t cover the whole value chain ourselves.

Add to this the fact that research funding, particularly the EU funding, is granted upon cooperation with research institutions.

Last but not least is a range of novel viewpoints we can get by letting external experts to see our activities. Having one’s own viewpoint is limiting. We want to learn from others.

“Publications are learning points, they develop our thinking, shape our opinions and help to clarify our ideas.”

 

Can you think of another added value you might get out of the collaboration?

I believe that it is also valuable to admit importance of publications arising from the collaborations. “Publications are learning points, they develop our thinking, shape our opinions and help to clarify our ideas”, Nousiainen adds.

What kind of impact do you think the collaboration you have been involved in have had?

“I would have to reverse the question to be able to answer it. Valio is regularly asked to join different kinds of projects. Prior deciding to join a project, we carefully evaluate its possible impact on different stakeholders. The impact left is thus the primary selection criterion.”

If we talk about our R&D initiatives, animal welfare and environment are the soundest topics. It is the society, our customers and consumers who care about these issues. We aim to meet their demands. Our customers are increasingly conscious of environmental issues and price is not the leading purchase criterion anymore.

How do you find suitable partners?

Suitability of our partners varies project by project. However, it is important to find the best partner available for our problem. In addition to that, awareness of each other helps a lot – the company should know the researcher’s work (e.g. previous projects or publications) and the researcher ought to know what the interests of the company are.

“Research work requires continuity to obtain results as projects are not solved in two or three years.”

 

What has worked? And what has not?

From my point of view, if there is a problem, most often it is related to the overall concept of how research is done and funded. Nowadays, researchers have to put a lot of time and effort into applying for funding from several sources instead of putting this energy into research. This might discourage many academics.

The duration of co-operations is related to this. Research work requires continuity to obtain results as projects are not solved in two or three years. Co-operations should be long-lasting. Unfortunately the current (funding) system makes it very difficult to maintain long-lasting relationships. Consequently, it is also problematic for business organizations to establish collaboration ties.

Could you give an example of a success story?

At first, it is important that business organizations have enough communication with R&D organizations (universities) so that they can get a common view on problems and agree on the big picture what is to be done. This is the precondition for success stories to come.

To give a concrete example, in 2012 occurrence of Mycoplasma bovis bacteria was recorded in Finland. The Mycoplasma bovis causes illness in cattle including arthritis, pneumonia, mastitis, fertility problems and ear infections. To understand and tackle this animal welfare issue, a collaboration project between Valio, ETT (Animal Health ETT), Evira (Finnish Food Safety Authority), University of Helsinki, HKScan and Atria took place. ”It was the immediate reaction which helped to deal with the bacteria effectively and to avoid a massive outbreak in Finland”, Nousiainen believes.

What advice would you give new researchers interested in collaboration with companies?

My advice would be to be open to discuss and communicate actively with companies. And to put up with the fact that first research ideas does not have to lead directly to collaboration projects. There must be patience in the continuous communication to make the partnership work.

What would you wish that research organizations did differently?

The way research organizations and individual researchers communicate with businesses. To see the big picture and collaborate on projects with considerable impact we need to communicate efficiently. We are doing a lot of work in our own organizations but we do not share the expertise and learn from each other as much as we could. And again the communication should be continuous.

“We have set a big goal to make our milk production fully carbon neutral within next ten to fifteen years.”

 

Are there any new research directions Valio is considering at present? Where do you see new possibilities for collaboration?

We, at Valio, have set a big goal to make our milk production fully carbon neutral within next ten to fifteen years.

To achieve the big goal, there are many sub-goals to be accomplished. For example, improving land use and production of feed for cows in a sustainable way, or improving animal welfare in terms of general health and longevity of dairy cows. We are also searching for new ideas in milk production technology and its energy efficiency.

Another topic of our interest is biodiversity related to the dairy production and dairy farms. We would like to hear about projects seeking to contribute to the biodiversity in these areas.

Finally, we also try to enrich our knowledge and understanding of all kinds of issues by utilizing modelling tools. For instance, simulation of our production practices enables us to see weaknesses in the production chain. Similarly we can model environmental impact of the production, monitor healthiness of dairy cows and the like.

VETCARE: A BUSINESS-UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION SUCCESS STORY

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Interview with Vetcare CEO Kalevi Heinonen and R&D Director Vesa Myllys

I arrive at Vetcare on a beautiful and cool October day in the pleasant town of Mäntsälä. Looking from the outside, the buildings blend calmly into the scenery and there is nothing to suggest that this tranquil place is where the innovative Finnish animal drug development meets international and ever growing markets. Yet, this is the case, and Vetcare is one of the key collaboration partners of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and a great industrial success story of its own.

I meet CEO Kalevi Heinonen and R&D Director Vesa Myllys first for lunch. I learn that Vetcare was founded 26 years ago by three veterinarians, of which Kalevi Heinonen was one. Vetcare employs 45 staff and has doubled its budget every five years so far. They market animal drugs in Finland and develop new medication in their Mäntsälä laboratory for Finnish and international markets. Today, they export all over the globe except Africa and South America.

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