The new ITU technology awards by Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK and Tekniska Föreningen i Finland TFiF are being presented for the first time this spring. The ITU awards consist of three categories: Forerunners for diverse and productive teamwork, Cornerstone for scientifically and economically meritorious research, and Breakthrough for ideas, acts, or innovations that have shaped the field of technology.
"It is extremely important that there are opportunities in Finland to advance innovations, preferably also beyond Finland's borders. We must remember that expertise walks on two legs and experts create the future. The teams being awarded today strengthen the belief that we can be known as a country of high expertise and top professionals in the future as well," describes TEK's CEO Jari Jokinen.
"We created the ITU award family to highlight excellent expertise in the fields of technology and natural sciences. It seems that we have succeeded excellently – it is our honour to present these teams as our winners," says TFiF's Executive Director Annika Nylander.
Each award has a jury that selected the winner from numerous applications. Below you can get to know the winners as presented by the chairpersons of the juries.
The actual awards will be presented today at 17:00 in an award ceremony, that's held in Finnish. As a member of TEK or TFiF, you can register to follow the event remotely here. After the ceremony, you can follow Risto Siilasmaa's speech on growth entrepreneurship (in Finnish).
Fertilizer raw materials from wastewater
The Breakthrough Award is given to an innovation that has brought something new to the field of technology. Breakthrough Award winner NPHarvest has developed a new membrane technology for capturing nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater and recycling them into raw materials, for example for fertilizers.
“The team has been working on this for a long time and has produced new, ground-breaking research. In particular, the fact that the solution can capture up to 90% of the nutrients in wastewater demonstrates its effectiveness. The high recovery rate and low energy consumption make this innovation a highly potential large-scale solution,” says Elina Hiltunen, Chair of the Breakthrough Award jury.
TEK Magazine: New innovation recovers phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater
One of the world’s best known nuclear codes
The Cornerstone Award is given to authors of scientifically and commercially meritorious research. VTT’s Serpent code is a new-generation calculation code for modelling neutron and photon transport and interactions. It is one of the most widely used and internationally best known tools for computational modelling of nuclear reactors. The award is given to the research team currently developing the code.
“Serpent’s user community consists of more than 200 universities and research organisations, including MIT and Cambridge. Its commercial version is used by dozens of companies, which shows its significance and reliability in the field,” said Outi Krause, Chair of the Cornerstone Award jury.
Academic teamwork at its best
The winner of the Forerunners Award is a team that has engaged in versatile and productive teamwork: the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) research unit at the University of Oulu.
The research unit has succeeded in creating a diverse work community that delivers high-quality results. Developing the well-being of the unit’s work and study community is particularly commendable, given that resources have been decreasing in the academic world for a long time, says the award jury.
“The long-term development of activities has produced tangible results, such as low stress levels and high job satisfaction among staff. In addition, the unit is making a clear and concrete effort to promote the inclusion and integration of students and international talent, among others,” says Katja Toropainen, Chair of the Forerunners Award jury.
Photo: Teija Soini
Will you be the next winner?
The next application round for ITU Awards opens in November 2025. Follow TEK’s communications, for example TEK Magazine and member newsletters, to be the first to know.
More information: www.tek.fi/itu-awards