UMK NEWSLETTER 01/09
CURRENT
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
- Researcher's View: Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells for Portable Applications - Annukka Santasalo
- A novel nanostructure fabrication method developed by TKK researchers
- Carbon Nanotube memories - Päivi Törmä
ACTIVITIES
- UMK Day 21st of April
- Materials Technology Invention Award
- UMK Colloquium on New Materials - Spring 2009
- Survey on the employment of the doctors graduated from TKK
- Applications and Commercialisation Course
OTHER
Director's View: Breakthrough Inventions Must Be Rewarded
It is often stated that basic research generates innovations. This is certainly true when looking at unique, absolutely outstanding findings in basic research. Significant applications, often many years later, are concrete evidence. But most of basic research work does neither give rise to inventions, nor innovations. Pure numbers in fields of relevance to the UMK Center for New Materials at TKK clearly reveal that basic research must be justified on other merits than being a source for inventions. The academic measures do not encourage researchers to invent. Yet most young researchers will make a future career outside academia.
I want to be crisp on this subject. Inventions should not be encouraged as such. Like many scientific articles and conference proceedings, most patents are of minor value. But breakthrough inventions should be valued, possibly in some cases even higher than articles in Nature and Science. To put a perspective I want to mention the invention of Atomic Layer Deposition, ALD, as an example. This invention has been applied in several different fields and created numerous jobs both in Finland and abroad. No doubt that these types of breakthroughs are expected from the new Aalto University.
To address this challenge and to create an incentive for really good inventions, the UMK Center for New Material initiated the Materials Technology Invention Award. The 7000 € award was granted on January 15th as a result of a very fruitful collaboration with the Nanotechnology Center of Expertise in Culminatum Ltd Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise, where Teija Laitinen made an outstanding job. We deliberately chose to have an invention award and not an innovation award as the focus group was researchers at TKK. It is fair to ask for inventions, but not necessarily for innovations from a Technical University. To raise the bar it was important that the invention had received funding for central national patent applications worldwide. Other significant criteria were simplicity and ingenuity, and national impact. One important aspect was how the invention can be implemented and utilized taking into account the industrial value chain in Finland. The rules can be found here.
The Award committee consisted of persons with extensive experience from high tech investing and innovation activities, all working outside TKK. Ten proposals were submitted, among some were of very high quality. The competition among the best two was very tough, but the Award Committee made its decision unanimously. The winning invention, New biodegradable polymers and their bioactive composites for controlled drug delivery and tissue engineering, is presented in this UMK Newsletter.
The Materials Technology Invention Award was now granted for the first time as an experiment. It is my sincere hope that the Award will be an integral part of the activities of the Aalto University, possibly extending the participation also to the University of Helsinki.
Runar Törnqvist
I want to be crisp on this subject. Inventions should not be encouraged as such. Like many scientific articles and conference proceedings, most patents are of minor value. But breakthrough inventions should be valued, possibly in some cases even higher than articles in Nature and Science. To put a perspective I want to mention the invention of Atomic Layer Deposition, ALD, as an example. This invention has been applied in several different fields and created numerous jobs both in Finland and abroad. No doubt that these types of breakthroughs are expected from the new Aalto University.
To address this challenge and to create an incentive for really good inventions, the UMK Center for New Material initiated the Materials Technology Invention Award. The 7000 € award was granted on January 15th as a result of a very fruitful collaboration with the Nanotechnology Center of Expertise in Culminatum Ltd Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise, where Teija Laitinen made an outstanding job. We deliberately chose to have an invention award and not an innovation award as the focus group was researchers at TKK. It is fair to ask for inventions, but not necessarily for innovations from a Technical University. To raise the bar it was important that the invention had received funding for central national patent applications worldwide. Other significant criteria were simplicity and ingenuity, and national impact. One important aspect was how the invention can be implemented and utilized taking into account the industrial value chain in Finland. The rules can be found here.
The Award committee consisted of persons with extensive experience from high tech investing and innovation activities, all working outside TKK. Ten proposals were submitted, among some were of very high quality. The competition among the best two was very tough, but the Award Committee made its decision unanimously. The winning invention, New biodegradable polymers and their bioactive composites for controlled drug delivery and tissue engineering, is presented in this UMK Newsletter.
The Materials Technology Invention Award was now granted for the first time as an experiment. It is my sincere hope that the Award will be an integral part of the activities of the Aalto University, possibly extending the participation also to the University of Helsinki.
Runar Törnqvist
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UMK's New Coordinator: Eeva-Leena Rautama
M.Sc. Eeva-Leena Rautama from the Inorganic Chemistry Research group started as coordinator for UMK at the beginning of this year. She is doing her dissertation in the group that studies e.g. magnetoresistant oxide materials with total spin-polarisation effect for new generation spintronic applications. The dissertation is supervised by the group leader, professor Maarit Karppinen. In addition to doing research, Eeva-Leena also teaches future chemists.
"I got interested in chemistry already in high school and wanted to study chemistry specifically at TKK. I have been particularly satisfied with my choice", says Eeva-Leena. "In addition to the studies at TKK I have had a great opportunity to broaden my know-how at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan and at the CRISMAT research centre in France, as I studied in both for a year. This was made possible by the good international contacts of our professor" Eeva-Leena continues.
Eeva-Leena's main task is to synthesize materials that have not been prepared before. Before that, a careful designing has to be done. "Naturally, I don't just mix elements randomly" she smiles. "I know the properties I'm aiming at and the elements which are capable of providing the desired behaviour. The rest is chemistry and material science".
Figure. Eeva-Leena setting her samples into the furnace for synthesis.
As coordinator for UMK Eeva-Leena is especially interested in creating contacts with the industry and the business world, and of course a close cooperation with the research group that are members of UMK.
"I wish that post-graduate students at TKK could circulate in different research groups and so familiarise themselves with fields genuinely outside their own expertise. There would undoubtedly be more new innovations generated at the interfaces. In both Japan and France this was common practice", says Eeva-Leena.
The organization and practical arrangements of the UMK Colloquium on New Materials seminar series, held in the spring and the fall, are also an interesting part of the cooridination work. This spring the seminar series has ten interesting lectures:
http://www.umk.fi/en/events_colloquium.html.
In private Eeva-Leena doesn't really have any problems with her free time. The dissertation research stretches the days long into the evening and so does the guidance of new experts in the field with all the exersises and markings. She also makes time for friends and culture.
"I got interested in chemistry already in high school and wanted to study chemistry specifically at TKK. I have been particularly satisfied with my choice", says Eeva-Leena. "In addition to the studies at TKK I have had a great opportunity to broaden my know-how at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan and at the CRISMAT research centre in France, as I studied in both for a year. This was made possible by the good international contacts of our professor" Eeva-Leena continues.
Eeva-Leena's main task is to synthesize materials that have not been prepared before. Before that, a careful designing has to be done. "Naturally, I don't just mix elements randomly" she smiles. "I know the properties I'm aiming at and the elements which are capable of providing the desired behaviour. The rest is chemistry and material science".
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As coordinator for UMK Eeva-Leena is especially interested in creating contacts with the industry and the business world, and of course a close cooperation with the research group that are members of UMK.
"I wish that post-graduate students at TKK could circulate in different research groups and so familiarise themselves with fields genuinely outside their own expertise. There would undoubtedly be more new innovations generated at the interfaces. In both Japan and France this was common practice", says Eeva-Leena.
The organization and practical arrangements of the UMK Colloquium on New Materials seminar series, held in the spring and the fall, are also an interesting part of the cooridination work. This spring the seminar series has ten interesting lectures:
http://www.umk.fi/en/events_colloquium.html.
In private Eeva-Leena doesn't really have any problems with her free time. The dissertation research stretches the days long into the evening and so does the guidance of new experts in the field with all the exersises and markings. She also makes time for friends and culture.
M.Sc. Eeva-Leena Rautama, coordinator
UMK Center for New Materials
+358 (0)9 451 2594
eeva.rautama@tkk.fi
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Researcher's View: Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell for Portable Applications - Annukka Santasalo
Annukka Santasalo, M.Sc., is working as a research scientist in the group of Professor Kyösti Kontturi at the Department of Chemistry. She works in the low temperature Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFC) team led by Dr. Tanja Kallio. The strength of the team is a broad understanding of different fuel cell components such as the catalyst materials, the fuels and the membranes used as the electrolyte. Annukka Santasalo has started her doctoral studies in 2007 and since then she has visited the University of Alicante, Spain for 6 months, working in a group led by Professor Juan Feliu, famous for their knowledge of electrocatalysis.
At the moment her scope is to apply the characterization methods she learned in Spain to analyzing new catalyst materials synthesised in Finland. Furthermore, she is working to find suitable conditions for new catalyst materials, which includes optimizing electrolyte media, temperature and alloy composition for a bimetallic catalyst for an alkaline PEFC. "The goal of our research is to develop an alkaline PEFC producing high power densities, but having low material expenses compared to already commercially available acidic PEFCs", she explains. There are several ways of improving the fuel cell system by changing highly expensive materials to cheaper ones without losing the efficiency and so promoting fuel cells to become a reality in the near future.
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells -
Answering to the Challenge of the Energy Requirement of Portable Applications
A proton conductive membrane is used as an electrolyte in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). At both sides of the membrane (Figure 1) there are electrodes consisting of catalyst nanoparticles and conductive polymer. At the both end of the sandwich complex there are two metallic endplates working as electron conductors. The liquid fuel is fed to the anode compartment and oxidised to CO2. In addition, protons and electrons are produced. The protons are transported though the membrane to the cathode side and to maintain electrical neutrality, the electrons circulate from anode endplate to cathode through the outer load and this electron movement can be utilised as electronic power. At the cathode protons and electrons encounter in oxygen rich atmosphere and oxygen is reduced to water. Whatever liquid fuel can be utilised as long as it can be oxidised at the anode and thus produce protons. Liquid organic fuels have been focus of interest due to their high energy density and facile storability compared to standard gaseous hydrogen.
At the moment her scope is to apply the characterization methods she learned in Spain to analyzing new catalyst materials synthesised in Finland. Furthermore, she is working to find suitable conditions for new catalyst materials, which includes optimizing electrolyte media, temperature and alloy composition for a bimetallic catalyst for an alkaline PEFC. "The goal of our research is to develop an alkaline PEFC producing high power densities, but having low material expenses compared to already commercially available acidic PEFCs", she explains. There are several ways of improving the fuel cell system by changing highly expensive materials to cheaper ones without losing the efficiency and so promoting fuel cells to become a reality in the near future.
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells -
Answering to the Challenge of the Energy Requirement of Portable Applications
A proton conductive membrane is used as an electrolyte in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). At both sides of the membrane (Figure 1) there are electrodes consisting of catalyst nanoparticles and conductive polymer. At the both end of the sandwich complex there are two metallic endplates working as electron conductors. The liquid fuel is fed to the anode compartment and oxidised to CO2. In addition, protons and electrons are produced. The protons are transported though the membrane to the cathode side and to maintain electrical neutrality, the electrons circulate from anode endplate to cathode through the outer load and this electron movement can be utilised as electronic power. At the cathode protons and electrons encounter in oxygen rich atmosphere and oxygen is reduced to water. Whatever liquid fuel can be utilised as long as it can be oxidised at the anode and thus produce protons. Liquid organic fuels have been focus of interest due to their high energy density and facile storability compared to standard gaseous hydrogen.
>> Read more
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Researchers at TKK developed a novel nanostructure fabrication method
Researchers at TKK, Micronova have developed a novel process for nanostructure fabrication. The main invention was to use the focused ion beam (FIB) together with cryogenic deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). This speeds up the fabrication process significantly and enables the fabrication of complex 3D structures. The whole process takes a couple of hours, where its more conventional counterpart can take weeks. The advantage of the process is also a very high quality of the final structures and an excellent repeatability.The process is based on a doping property of the FIB, which is usually considered a weakness. The ions of the focused beam penetrate the sample surface and form a layer which is very durable against the chemistry of the cryogenic DRIE. Because the beam is very narrow, the smallest reproducible feature can be as small as 50 nm.
"Nanofabrication methods for silicon and other materials are being developed especially for electronics and optics applications, and the competition for developing faster and higher quality processes is tough. The process we developed here just hadn't been tried before for the fabrication of very small structures" says innovator Nikolai Chekurov. "Our method will especially benefit the fabrication of small components for research use and the making of prototypes", Chekurov continues.
Professor Ilkka Tittonen, supervisor of Nikolai Chekurov's dissertation research, is happy with the nanofabrication line at Micronova, the star of which is the new FIB-device. "Without the equipment in the Micronova clean room we would not have been able to develop this method. The structures are flawless, three dimensional and completely predefined without random fluctuations" Tittonen says.
At the end of 2007 a FIB-device (Focused Ion Beam) was aquired at Micronova, the only one of this class in Finland. During the initialisation and testing phase last summer Nikolai Chekurov made a nano sized Aalto vase, about 600 nanometers high with a volume of about 0.1 femtolitres.
The new manufacturing method for nanostructures has originated from the interdiciplinary collaboration between groups researching micro and quantum systems and microfabrication at TKK. The research results were publiciced on the Nanotechnology magazine webpages in January 2009 and in the paper version in February, on the cover of which was three dimensional nanostructures manifactures with the new fabrication method developed at Micronova.
http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/37573
http://ej.iop.org/pdf/nano/vol20/na096-webcover.pdf
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More info:
Nikolai Chekurov
TKK, Micro and Quantum Systems, Micronova
Puh. 09 451 3096
nikolai.chekurov@tkk.fi
http://nano.tkk.fi/en/research_groups/mqs/
Carbon Nanotube Memories -Päivi Törmä
Finnish Researchers built a 100.000 times faster Carbon nanotube memoryResearchers in Finland are the first to make nanotube field-effect transistor-based memories with an operating speed of just 100 ns. They have closed the speed gap by using hafnium oxide as an insulating material instead of silicon oxide. This speed can compete with commercially available silicon-based flash memories with single-cell write and erase times on the order of 100 microseconds.
Päivi Törmä at Helsinki University of Technology, TKK and colleagues from the Nanoscience Center at University of Jyväskylä made the single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNT FET) memory elements, featuring hafnium oxide layers deposited by atomic layer deposition, in collaboration with the Finnish company Beneq Oy. Hafnium oxide is very sensitive to changes in voltage and has a porous structure that helps it to capture charge.
Päivi Törmä at Helsinki University of Technology, TKK and colleagues from the Nanoscience Center at University of Jyväskylä made the single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNT FET) memory elements, featuring hafnium oxide layers deposited by atomic layer deposition, in collaboration with the Finnish company Beneq Oy. Hafnium oxide is very sensitive to changes in voltage and has a porous structure that helps it to capture charge.
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Silicon beater
Most previous carbon nanotube devices use silicon dioxide as the insulating layer. But loading that material with charge takes several milliseconds, an eternity in memory terms. Existing flash memory takes just microseconds to perform the same operation. In tests, the new device could store and erase data in just 100 nanoseconds - a dramatic improvement over previous prototypes and even faster than commercial flash memory.
"The speed is pretty amazing considering it has not gone through any optimization or refining process," says Törmä. "What actually sets the 100 nanosecond limit is not the nanotube memory, but our experimental setup, so it might be able to work at even higher speeds - we just don't know yet," she adds.
Another interesting finding in the work is that the nanotube memories are durable - they can operate for more than 10.000 cycles, a figure that is often the lifetime specified for flash memories. "The device managed to withstand 18,000 operations, which is a reasonable lifetime for a memory device," says Törmä.
"The observed operation speed is most likely due to the combined properties of the carbon nanotubes and the hafnium oxide dielectric. The electrical properties of carbon nanotubes are well suited for high-speed operation and the nanotubes are very sensitive to the surrounding electrical environment. We discuss a model where the hafnium oxide has defect states situated above, but close in energy to, the band gap of the SWCNT. The fast and efficient charging and discharging of these defects is a likely explanation for the observed operation speed being 100 000 times faster than for devices with conventional gate oxides", explains Törmä.
"The fast memory operation we have demonstrated could potentially also be realized using other carbon materials, such as carbon-nanotube bundles or graphene," Törmä continues.
The devices might find use in flash memory hard drives but are best suited to portable devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, PDAs and USB memory drives, because these applications require extremely low operation voltages and feature small leakage currents. And being nanoscale, the devices can also be densely packed in a given area.
But there are challenges to overcome too, Törmä admits. For example, the precise electrical properties of CNTs and their positioning on a chip need to better controlled to allow large-scale assembly. But there are good scientific groups around the world that work on these issues, giving hope that they can be resolved in a not too distant future.
Within Törmä's group the current interest is to stay on the fast track.
"Because the speed of the devices is probably limited by our measurement set up, we would like to investigate the intrinsic speed limitation of the nanotube memories," says Törmä. "For that, we need to optimize their design and our measurement - to reduce parasitic capacitances and to accommodate higher frequencies."
The work was reported in Nano Letters in January 2009
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/nl8030916
Contact information:
Professor Päivi Törmä
Laboratory of Physics
Helsinki University of Technology, TKK
Tel. + 358 9 451 8490
Paivi.torma@tkk.fi
"The speed is pretty amazing considering it has not gone through any optimization or refining process," says Törmä. "What actually sets the 100 nanosecond limit is not the nanotube memory, but our experimental setup, so it might be able to work at even higher speeds - we just don't know yet," she adds.
Another interesting finding in the work is that the nanotube memories are durable - they can operate for more than 10.000 cycles, a figure that is often the lifetime specified for flash memories. "The device managed to withstand 18,000 operations, which is a reasonable lifetime for a memory device," says Törmä.
"The observed operation speed is most likely due to the combined properties of the carbon nanotubes and the hafnium oxide dielectric. The electrical properties of carbon nanotubes are well suited for high-speed operation and the nanotubes are very sensitive to the surrounding electrical environment. We discuss a model where the hafnium oxide has defect states situated above, but close in energy to, the band gap of the SWCNT. The fast and efficient charging and discharging of these defects is a likely explanation for the observed operation speed being 100 000 times faster than for devices with conventional gate oxides", explains Törmä.
"The fast memory operation we have demonstrated could potentially also be realized using other carbon materials, such as carbon-nanotube bundles or graphene," Törmä continues.
The devices might find use in flash memory hard drives but are best suited to portable devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, PDAs and USB memory drives, because these applications require extremely low operation voltages and feature small leakage currents. And being nanoscale, the devices can also be densely packed in a given area.
But there are challenges to overcome too, Törmä admits. For example, the precise electrical properties of CNTs and their positioning on a chip need to better controlled to allow large-scale assembly. But there are good scientific groups around the world that work on these issues, giving hope that they can be resolved in a not too distant future.
Within Törmä's group the current interest is to stay on the fast track.
"Because the speed of the devices is probably limited by our measurement set up, we would like to investigate the intrinsic speed limitation of the nanotube memories," says Törmä. "For that, we need to optimize their design and our measurement - to reduce parasitic capacitances and to accommodate higher frequencies."
The work was reported in Nano Letters in January 2009
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/nl8030916
Contact information:
Professor Päivi Törmä
Laboratory of Physics
Helsinki University of Technology, TKK
Tel. + 358 9 451 8490
Paivi.torma@tkk.fi
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The UMK Day on April 21st
Welcome to the UMK Afternoon on Tuesday, April 21, 2009
starting at 14.00 in Micronova
The UMK Afternoon presents materials science research at TKK. UMK Center for
New Materials covers eleven departments forming a cross-disciplinary network
of 600 researchers from all four faculties of the University. The strong
competence in science provides world class research in different areas of
materials science, for example in nanotechnology.
The main goal of the event is to network research groups within TKK/UMK and
increase the joint use of research equipment. Key collaborators from the
industry and companies will also be present.
14.00 Welcome to the UMK Afternoon by Tapani Vuorinen, Chair of the UMK Board
14.05 Director Timo M. Koskinen, UPM Kymmene: Finnish Centre for Nanocellulosic Technologies
14.20 General research trends and new facilities at TKK
- Nano and bio
- Graphene
- Micronova - Centre for Micro and Nanotechnology
- Nanopoli - Nanomicroscopy Center
15.00 - 17.30
Research Poster Exhibition in the Micronova Lobby and free discussions and
networking with Italian antipastos
Moderator of the afternoon: Runar Törnqvist, director, UMK
Final programme and registration information will be sent to you at the end
of March. The address of Micronova is Tietotie 3, Otaniemi
Laboratories will also arrange open door events next autumn. Information on
these will be available at the UMK Afternoon.
Welcome!
Tapani Vuorinen Runar Törnqvist
Chair of the UMK Board Director, UMK
For more information, please contact:
Aila Blomberg
Communications officer, UMK
+358 50 541 8829
aila.blomberg@tkk.fi
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TKK's Materials Technology Invention Award
Background of the AwardThe initiative for the TKK materials technology award came from UMK about a year ago. To gather the prize sum the Director of UMK, Runar Törnqvist, was in contact with finincing parties in the industry. The negotiations lead to cooperation with the Nanotechnology Center of Expertise in Culminatum Ltd Oy Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise. The collectively organized prize of 7000 euro was awarded for the first time at Otaniemi Technology day 15.1.2009.
The Materials Technology Invention Award granted by UMK Center for New Materials and the Nanotechnology Center of Expertise in Culminatum Ltd Oy Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise is an acknowledgement for a significant invention related to research work in materials sciences or technologies at TKK. The awarded invention is expected to have considerable commercial value. Simplicity and ingenuity of the invention will be appreciated, as well as the potential national impact.
The ultimate goal of the Materials Technology Invention Award is to increase the commercial utilization of results from basic research at Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) with a particular emphasis on the benefit for Finland. The focus is in materials sciences and related technologies. The award encourages researchers and professors to look for applications arising from the university's own free research in which the full ownership of the results belongs to TKK or the inventor him/herself.
The award was granted to inventors of a new biomaterial
The 7000 euro Materials Technology Invention Award was given to researchers at the Laboratory of Polymer Technology at the Helsinki University of Technology, TKK. The inventors have developed a new kind of biomaterial for tissue engineering and drug delivery.
The basic idea behind the invention is that materials with controllable surface erosion can be obtained by combining the properties of two different kinds of polymers, polyesters and polyanhydrides, and by using hydrophobic alkenyl chains that affect the solubility. These materials find use in drug delivery and tissue engineering. A controlled dissolution of the polymer is crucial in both cases.
The invention was made by Professor Jukka Seppälä and researchers Risto Hakala and Harri Korhonen. Professor Seppälä heads the Laboratory of Polymer Technology at TKK. The results have mainly been achieved in the Bio and Nanopolymer Research Group Centre of Excellence of the Academy of Finland which ended in 2007.
"New bioactive materials are a key in advanced drug delivery and in tissue engineering aiming at the ability to repair damaged or missing tissue. Our invention is by nature a basic invention with several routes to applications. These are now being further developed in collaboration with our partners" Professor Seppälä explains.
"We appreciate very much the award given to us. Biomaterial research is long term. The award emphasises the importance of experimental research work and hopefully it improves the conditions for doing this type of work. Our invention is an evidence of the strength of cross disciplinary work in order to achieve breakthroughs. It is great that young researchers in our group get recognition through the award" a pleased Professor Seppälä continues.
The invention is brilliant and the opportunities for commercialization have been an important aspect when making the invention. There is high quality biomaterial knowledge in Finland and the inventors are broadly networked with Finnish players in the field.
The award committee
The award committee evaluated 10 proposals and especially appreciated that the material in the winning proposal is rather easy to fabricate and utilize in different applications.
"The awarded invention is a result of high level technology and scientific work and patent applications have been issued broadly world wide. There are also large international markets for the invention", the director of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions and member of the award committee, Juha Jutila, concludes as further benefits of the invention
The Materials Technology Invention Award granted by UMK Center for New Materials and the Nanotechnology Center of Expertise in Culminatum Ltd Oy Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise is an acknowledgement for a significant invention related to research work in materials sciences or technologies at TKK. The awarded invention is expected to have considerable commercial value. Simplicity and ingenuity of the invention will be appreciated, as well as the potential national impact.
The ultimate goal of the Materials Technology Invention Award is to increase the commercial utilization of results from basic research at Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) with a particular emphasis on the benefit for Finland. The focus is in materials sciences and related technologies. The award encourages researchers and professors to look for applications arising from the university's own free research in which the full ownership of the results belongs to TKK or the inventor him/herself.
The award was granted to inventors of a new biomaterial
The 7000 euro Materials Technology Invention Award was given to researchers at the Laboratory of Polymer Technology at the Helsinki University of Technology, TKK. The inventors have developed a new kind of biomaterial for tissue engineering and drug delivery.
The basic idea behind the invention is that materials with controllable surface erosion can be obtained by combining the properties of two different kinds of polymers, polyesters and polyanhydrides, and by using hydrophobic alkenyl chains that affect the solubility. These materials find use in drug delivery and tissue engineering. A controlled dissolution of the polymer is crucial in both cases.
The invention was made by Professor Jukka Seppälä and researchers Risto Hakala and Harri Korhonen. Professor Seppälä heads the Laboratory of Polymer Technology at TKK. The results have mainly been achieved in the Bio and Nanopolymer Research Group Centre of Excellence of the Academy of Finland which ended in 2007.
"New bioactive materials are a key in advanced drug delivery and in tissue engineering aiming at the ability to repair damaged or missing tissue. Our invention is by nature a basic invention with several routes to applications. These are now being further developed in collaboration with our partners" Professor Seppälä explains.
"We appreciate very much the award given to us. Biomaterial research is long term. The award emphasises the importance of experimental research work and hopefully it improves the conditions for doing this type of work. Our invention is an evidence of the strength of cross disciplinary work in order to achieve breakthroughs. It is great that young researchers in our group get recognition through the award" a pleased Professor Seppälä continues.
The invention is brilliant and the opportunities for commercialization have been an important aspect when making the invention. There is high quality biomaterial knowledge in Finland and the inventors are broadly networked with Finnish players in the field.
The award committee
The award committee evaluated 10 proposals and especially appreciated that the material in the winning proposal is rather easy to fabricate and utilize in different applications.
"The awarded invention is a result of high level technology and scientific work and patent applications have been issued broadly world wide. There are also large international markets for the invention", the director of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions and member of the award committee, Juha Jutila, concludes as further benefits of the invention
The members of the Award Committee
Per Stenius, Partner, Accenture Management Consulting, Strategy
Heikki Sundquist, Investment Director, Sitra Ventures, Finnish Innovation Fund
Juha Jutila, Executive Director, Foundation for Finnish Inventions
Juha Tikkanen, CEO, Navaro Ltd
Petri Laine, Manager, Veraventure Ltd
Panu Kuosmanen, Patent Engineer, Outotec Ltd (former Innovation Manager, Otaniemi International Innovation Centre OIIC TKK)
For more information:
Laboratory of Polymer Technology
http://www.culminatum.fi/nano/invention_award
http://www.umk.fi
http://www.nanobusiness.fi
http://www.culminatum.fi
Professor Jukka Seppälä
TKK, Laboratory of Polymer Technology
Puh. 09 4512614
jukka.seppala@tkk.fi
Toiminnanjohtaja Runar Törnqvist
Uusien materiaalien keskus, TKK
Puh. 09 451 6068 tai 050 380 0564
runar.tornqvist@tkk.fi
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UMK Colloquium on New Materials - Spring 2009
UMK Colloquium on New Materials seminar series is running again. The Spring 2009 season features ten high-level talks from various field of materials science and technology. The talks will be given on Tuesdays at 15.15-16.00 o'clock on lecture hall H in the main building of TKK. The last talk will be given on 28.4.
The next presentations will be as follows:
| 10.3. | Exam Week- No Lecture |
| 17.3. | Pasi Keinänen (Amroy Oy) - Nanocomposites |
| 24.3. | Jari Keskinen (VTT) - Supecapacitors |
| 31.3. | Dr. Outi Söderberg (TKK) - Low friction materials for high temperature use |
| 7.4. | prof. Mervi Paulasto-Kröckel (TKK) - Automotive Market Trend and its Challenges on Package Reliability |
| 14.4. | Easter Holiday - No Lecture |
| 21.4. | UMK Day - No Lecture |
| 28.4. | Antti Lääperi (Nokia Oyj) - Development of Organic Electroluminescent Materials |
More information at: http://www.umk.fi/en/events_colloquium
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Survey on the employment of the doctors graduated from TKK
Mika Koskenvuori and Runar Törnqvist conducted a survey on how the doctors who have graduated from TKK during the years 2003-2007 have been employed and about their opinions about the post-graduate studies. For TKK the results are extremely good. Almost 70 % of the participants agreed that they can utilize their post-graduate education well or very well in their currect employment and 45 greed that finding job after the dissertation was easy or very easy. The unemployment rate is very low at 2 %.The report of the survey is in Finnish and it can be downloaded from this link.>> Back to top
New Materials, Applications and Commercialization Training
Last May a five day course entitled "New Materials, Applications and Commercialization" was organized for postgraduate students in nanoscience and material science. The course was a result of fruitful collaboration between the UMK Center of New Materials and the Nanotechnology Center of Expertise in Culminatum Ltd Oy, Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise, where the latter under the excellent leadership of project manager Teija Laitinen took the responsibility of the practical details. 26 selected postgraduate students participated in the course and the feedback was very good (Click here to see the feedback).
This course was a follow-up of the successful "Applications and Commercialization of Nanotechnology" off-site module initiated by the UMK Center of New Materials in 2006, and which was arranged in collaboration with the Graduate School in Nanoscience and VTT.
There is a lot of talking about innovations and the need for more university start-ups in Finland. To improve the situation I am convinced there has to be a change in attitudes and focus of interest. In this course the target group was highly motivated and gifted postgraduate students with excellent knowledge in science, but with little knowledge of the world outside the academia. Without compromising the scientific education and training we want to briefly introduce a world where success is eventually rather measured in money than in scientific publications. I hope this type of training will become integral part of the education in the new Aalto University. Right now you can earn a doctorate degree at TKK hardly knowing what a patent is." says Runar Törnqvist from the UMK Center of New Materials.
The most important reason why Lauri Sainiemi participated in the course was the need for know-how related with commercialization as his research team is planning to establish a company.
The contents of the course had changed appropriately in comparison with the one held two years ago, and therefore, it was a good idea to participate in this one for the second time. TKK has a far too limited offering with regard to commercialization and patenting. There is also a process going on in our group, to commercialize the research results, and we are thinking about founding a company, Lauri Sainiemi tells us.An important thing that we can now put into practice is how to sell your own idea e.g. to a financier. You have to talk different languages to different target groups, continues Sainiemi.
Selections from the course program headings:
- Creative Problem Solving , Developing a Value Proposition and Implementing Solutions in Markets, Peter Kelly, Helsinki School of Creative Entrepreneurship and Arthur Lindemanis, Riga Business School & Riga Technical School
- The Public Sector as a Facilitator, Tarmo Leivola, Advansis Oy
- Public Funding for Nanotechnology, Markku Lämsä, Tekes
- Examples of Successful Commercialization - Markku Tilli, Okmetic Oyj
- Building up Commercial Success from Academic Research, Markus Pessa, TTY, ORC
- Commercialization Potential of Nanotechnology in Finland, Pekka Koponen, Spinverse Consulting Oy
- About Patenting and IPR - Seppo Laine Oy, Outotec Oyj, Vaisala Oyj
- From Innovation to Commercial Product, Sampo Ahonen, Beneq Oy
- A set of relevant group tasks.
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Dissertations in Materials Science and Technology
The list of dissertations in the field of materials science and technology between October 2008 - February 2009 can be found by following the link below. The list contains also the links to the abstracts of the dissertations. (List of dissertations).>> Back to top
Contact information
DirectorDr. Runar Törnqvist
Tel: + 358 9 451 6068 or +358 50 3800564
runar.tornqvist@tkk.fi
Chair of the UMK Board of Directors
Professor Tapani Vuorinen
Tel. +358 9 451 4236
tapani.vuorinen@tkk.fi
Coordinator
M.Sc. Eeva-Leena Rautama
Tel +358 9 451 2594
eeva.rautama@tkk.fi
Communications officer
Aila Blomberg
Tel. + 358 50 541 8830
aila.blomberg@tkk.fi
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