Virtual world took people to space

The School of Electrical Engineering organised its traditional Research Winter Day on 13 March. This time, research was presented through demos. At the beginning of the event, Tuula Ruokonen, Director of Digital Service Solutions at Valmet and Matti Kauhanen, Business Unit Technology Manager, ABB, shared their stories on cooperation with Aalto University.

‘The objective of Valmet’s university cooperation is to discover new technologies and, at the same time, provide the researchers with information on the wishes of the industry’, says Ruokonen.

ABB's Director of Technology Matti Kauhanen praises the doctoral programme and the doctoral dissertations generated by it.

‘Doctoral dissertations give us new ideas, and we can employ people in new competence areas.’

He sees the university cooperation as an extremely useful and flexible template.

‘Many companies no longer have their own research units. When the university's research results are equally accessible by all, they can be used more extensively’, Kauhanen says.

Demos delighted the audience

More than twenty demos were presented at the Research Winter Day by the research groups themselves.

Visiting the event for the first time, Helsinki City Project Coordinator Helena Antikainen was delighted by the demos.

‘The event was interesting and well organised. From all the interesting demos I recall, above all, the virtual planetarium, various robots, and health chair’, she says.

The event was attended by nearly 100 visitors. Antikainen praises the skilled presenters.

‘The presenters played an important role in the demos, and they were able to explain everything in a clear and easily understandable manner. I thought it was very interesting to hear what is done with the demos, how they work, what they may possibly do in the future and how the research and development work will continue’.