- Tampere seizes creative economy

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Bronto Skylift Oy’s virtual environment has been used to simulate the safe erection of an aerial platform and to provide training in the use of control systems. Photo: Bronto Skylift/Mikko Aarnio An agile VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT moves from one place to another Avirtual environment has been developed at Tampere University of Technology with superior characteristics to existing virtual solutions. “The novelty value of our virtual environment is its mobility and low cost, factors which enable simulation to be utilized to an increasing extent. The system can be dissembled and assembled in half an hour and it fi ts into the boot of a car,” describes Professor Karri Palovuori from TUT’s Institute of Electronics. Palovuori and his team have been studying implementations of virtual reality for more than a decade. “There has been a lot of fuss about virtual environments and simulation in their time. The wildest visions have calmed down and technologies have been developed on the quiet. At TUT we’ve focused particularly on the implementation of low-cost virtual environments based on stereo protectors,” Palovuori says. “The agile virtual environment consists of an ordinary PC, a combination display of one or more stereo projectors and a screen, and a positioning system. The basic package can also be expanded with an audio system for instance.” Reacting to viewers’ movements In TUT’s innovation, the virtual environment is not a three dimensional panel view but a window that reacts to the viewer’s movements. When the viewer moves, the view moves too. The effect is that regardless of the direction from which an object is viewed, the view always corresponds with reality. Today virtual reality is most commonly used in architectural visualization and industrial design. The number of potential applications is almost unlimited, but for ordinary companies virtual environments are too expensive to utilize in their product development and training. TUT’s mobile virtual environment is well suited to use by companies. It has so far been brought into play at Bronto Skylift Oy among others, a Tampere-based company specializing in truckmounted aerial platforms. The virtual environment has been used to simulate the safe erection of a platform and to provide training in the use of control systems. Innovations by Palovuori’s team are also being utilized in the planning of Tampere’s newest suburb, Vuores. In Vuores, a variety of methods are being piloted to improve opportunities for citizens to have a voice and to stimulate interest in urban planning. Virtual visualization is the best way to illustrate extensive environmental and building plans to laypersons. Laser Competence Centre Finland (LCC Finland) has begun operations in Tampere. The centre’s activities are based on laser technology developed at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) and institutes of Tampere University of Technology. LCC Finland consists of a training and service centre for the industry, laser pilot factory and training initiative. The ORC-administered service centre opened in 2004. The experimental laser factory, in connection with the Tampere University of Technology Institute of Production Engineering, begins operations this year and will focus on micro-machining applications. The training initiative, coordinated by Technology Centre Hermia, will also launch in 2005. “There is a tight link between research and production in Tampere. This has given rise to a new, rapidly expanding branch of export industry in Finland which is not very easily transferable to countries offering cheap labour. LCC Finland is the display window for Finnish laser competence as a whole, drawing knowledge in the fi eld as well as experts from researchers to end-users into increasingly close cooperation,” says ORC’s director, Professor Markus Pessa. At LCC Finland’s opening ceremony, Coherent Finland Oy donated a new semiconductor reactor to ORC to boost laser research and product development. The reactor enables the manufacture of optoelectronics components for research purposes increasingly faster and in larger batches than has been possible with ORC’s fi ve smaller reactors. There are no comparable semi-productive semiconductor manufacturing systems connected with any other University in Europe. Coherent Finland is a Tampere-based affi liated company of the American company Coherent Inc., which is one of the world’s largest laser manufacturers. Tampere strengthens its position in RE 14 Tampere Business • Science • Life
There are approximately twenty international research projects in progress this year at ORC. One of the centre’s employees, MSc (Tech.) Lasse Orsila, fits a fibre-optic measuring system. Photo: TUT A sought after PHOTONICS partner The Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) in Tampere is among Europe’s largest laser diode and fibre laser research institutions and a much sought partner for international research projects by companies and consortiums. Currently there are approximately twenty international projects in progress at ORC. Among others, the centre coordinates three research projects in the field of photonics within the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme. Launched in summer 2005, the Natal project concerns VECSELs – Vertical Cavity Emitting Lasers, or lasers that emit light vertically – which are expected to partially replace the traditional, more structurally complicated and expensive laser sources currently on the market. New semiconductor lasers for local fibre-optic data networks are under development in the Fast Access project. Research in the Uranus project focuses on very high-powered fibre lasers that produce ultra-short light pulses, intended mainly for materials micro-machining. “On the global scale, the first commercial applications of ultra-short fibre lasers are coming onto the market. ORC has been one of the pioneers in the advancement of research and it’s for this reason that the industry in the Tampere Region has good prospects in the new market,” says Development Manager at ORC Lasse Paananen, who is responsible for the preparation of ORC’s research projects. ORC’s cooperation partners in EU projects are European companies and research institutions. “By acting as a coordinator, or otherwise as a sufficiently strong partner, ORC ensures that we have practical prerequisites for the utilization of technologies that emerge as research results. In this way we secure the advancement of research in Finland and in Tampere and the commercialization of the results.” Best practices for commercialization LASER SEARCH ORC’s research results are directly intended for the use of companies. The aim is to transfer new technologies into industrial applications as quickly as possible. To this end, the research centre has developed processes to support and stimulate the commercialization of technologies. ORC has contributed to the emergence of a number of optoelectronics companies in Tampere – Coherent Finland Oy, Modulight Oy, Corelase Oy, EpiCrystals Oy and RefleKron Oy. The companies directly employ more than 150 people and a significantly larger number are employed indirectly through subcontracting and service networks. ORC’s success in transferring research results into the use of industry has been acknowledged internationally. The research centre is participating as a technology expert in a joint initiative between five European regions to assess best practices for commercializing research results in the field of photonics. In addition to the Tampere Region, the participants are Scotland in Great Britain, Lombardy in Italy, the Hanover region in Germany, and Lithuania. Tampere Business • Science • Life 15
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- Tampere seizes creative economy

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