Transport Research Knowledge Centre- Country Overviews

Country Overviews

FINLAND

Introduction
National Government Departments and Agencies
Research Institutes

See Programmes

Introduction

In Finland, transport research is mainly financed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications and organisations under its control. The R&D supports the Ministry's policy making and other activities, for example achieving the aims and strategic goals of transport and communications policy and examining the future challenges and needs of society. The annual budget used by the Ministry of Transport and Communications for transport R&D is about €4 million. Approximately half of this sum is directed to medium and long term programmes, which are usually implemented in cooperation with other ministries, towns, private enterprises and Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation). The other half of the annual budget is used for short-term projects dealing with current matters. Every year about 250 research projects are financed by the Ministry directly or in research programmes.

The priority areas for research are logistics, transport telematics, scenarios and forecasts, interaction between land use and transport, e-commerce, and information society. Research needs derive from the Ministry's long-term strategy and are updated annually. The most important challenges and driving forces which have influenced the selection of the current main research programmes are:

Technological development, particularly information technology;
Rapid development in the telecommunications sector;
Urbanisation and substantial internal migration;
Need to monitor new challenges in the operating environment.

Besides transport research, the Ministry also finances research related to the communications market, networks and competition, media policy, e-commerce, data security and information society.
The Ministry is also active in the field of international research (for example, EU FP7, COST, OECD, ITF and NTF).

The main research oriented organisations in the Ministry's sphere of control are the Finnish Road Administration, the Finnish Rail Administration, the Finnish Maritime Administration and the Finnish Vehicle Administration. These organisations both finance transport research and implement research projects themselves by about €10 million every year. The main focuses of the research financed by the Finnish Road Administration are needs of customer groups, impacts of road maintenance and transport, asset management, and management of traffic and information. The Finnish Rail Administration mostly finances research done in the fields of improving the competitiveness of railway traffic, development and maintenance of the railway network, and improving safety. The research activities of the Finnish Vehicle Administration are directed to achieving road safety goals and reducing the negative environmental impacts of transport. The research of the Finnish Maritime Association is focused on promotion of waterborne traffic, safety and environmental issues, and exploitation of the possibilities generated by information technology.

There are about 30 transport research organisations in Finland. These are situated in the universities, business schools, public research institutes and private consultancy companies. The main units of transport research are in the Technical Universities of Helsinki and Tampere, Centre for Maritime Studies (University of Turku), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and about five consultancy companies each having over 20 researchers in the transport field. There are also other organisations which have potential research capabilities in this field.

National Government Departments and Agencies

Tekes - Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation / Tekes - teknologian ja innovaatioiden

www.tekes.fi

Ministry of Transport and Communications / Liikenne- ja viestintäministeriön liikennepolitiikkaa tukevat tutkimushankkeet

Transport related research in the Ministry of Transport and Communications has strategic subjects/themes of research, the main ones being Transport Economics and Pricing, Transport Infrastructure, Goods Transport, Passenger Transport, Traffic Safety, Environment, Vehicle Engineering, Dangerous Goods, Communications Market, and Research cooperation in Neighbouring Areas.

www.mintc.fi

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is also directly involved in the Matkakeskushanke / Travel Centre 2007 programme and the LINTU programme (listed below), as well as in several multilateral / international research programmes, including ERA-NET Transport (http://transport-era.net), EUROPOLAR ERA-NET (The European Polar Consortium) and TEDIM (Telematics in Foreign Trade Logistics and Delivery Management in the Baltic Sea Area - www.tedim.com)

ITS Finland (2003 - ongoing)

Intelligent Transport Systems Finland is an open forum for the cooperation of Finnish telematics companies which promotes the development and deployment of transport and logistics telematics services and products and improves awareness of Finnish ITS expertise.

www.its-finland.fi

AINO - R&D Programme on Real-time Transport Information (2004-2007) / Ajantasaisen liikenneinformaation t & k -ohjelma

Aimed to develop the collection, management and use of real-time transport information and thus to pave the way to Intelligent Transport Systems that will improve the safety, efficiency and sustainability of the transport system
as well as support and promote people's well-being and the competitiveness of Finnish business and industry.

www.aino.info

EGLO - Enhancing Global Logistics (2004-2007) / KansainvŠlisen logistiikan kehittŠmisohjelma

The principal aim of this programme was to strengthen the global logistic competitiveness of Finnish business and industry by developing networks of cooperation, their management and operation.

www.eglo.info

ELSA - Towards Accessible Transport (2003-2007) / Kohti esteetöntä liikkumista

ELSA had the goal of promoting and supporting efforts to create a more accessible transport system and to increase public awareness of accessibility issues.
www.elsa.fi

JOTU - Public Transport Research Programme (2004-2007) / Joukkoliikenteen tutkimusohjelma

General objectives of JOTU were to analyse the social, economic, and ecological impacts of public transport and to develop methods, approaches and tools to assess and estimate these impacts. It also aimed to research travel, modal choice and transport mode choice behaviour as well as to increase the expertise and competence of public transport planning professionals, researchers and decision makers, and the amount and quality of education in Finland related to public transport planning and decision-making.
www.jotu.fi

LINTU - Long-term Research and Development Programme for Road Safety (2002-2010) / Liikenneturvallisuuden pitkän aikavälin t & k-ohjelma

Programme based on a road safety vision adopted by the government according to which the transport system must be designed in such a way that nobody should die or be seriously injured on the roads.
www.lintu.info

MERIKE - Technology Programme for the Finnish Marine Industries (2003-2007) / Meriteollisuuden toimialakohtainen teknologiaohjelma

Aimed to prepare whole marine industries in Finland for a totally new operational principle, which will be needed to expand the marine industries profitability and business volume. MERIKE was initiated together by the Association of Finnish Marine Industries (AFMI) and Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.
www.tekes.fi/merike

RASTU - Heavy-duty Vehicles: Safety, Environmental Impacts and New Technology (2006-2008) / Raskas ajoneuvokalusto: turvallisuus, ympäristöominaisuudet ja uusi tekniikka

Led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
www.rastu.fi

VAMOS - Value Added Mobile Solutions (2005-2010) / Liiketoiminnan mobiilit ratkaisut

VAMOS focuses on implementing wireless technology solutions widely regardless of business area. Selected areas are industry, transportation, construction and services. Led by the Finnish National Technology Agency.
www.tekes.fi/vamos

Research and Development Activities in the Finnish Road Administration / Tiehallinnon tutkimus- ja kehittämistoiminta

Tiehallinto (the Finnish Road Administration) participates actively in the research programmes of different ministries and cooperates with educational institutions, municipalities, businesses, interest groups and foreign expert bodies, particularly those in the Nordic countries.
www.tiehallinto.fi

Sub-programmes within Finnra include:

TaTe - The Economic Efficiency of Transport System 2008-2010 / Liikennejärjestelmän taloudellisuus

EKOTULI - An Ecologically Efficient and Safe Transport System 2006-2010 / Ekotehokas ja turvallinen liikennejärjestelmä

www.tiehallinto.fi/ekotuli

ÄLLI - Intelligent Transport 2007-2010 / Älykäs Liikenne

http://alliohjelma.info

Research and Development Activities in the Finnish Rail Administration / Ratahallintokeskuksen tutkimus- ja kehittämistoiminta

R&D work by RHK (the Finnish Rail Administration) is the basis for the technical and operational development of the rail system. Recently, focuses in R&D work have included the environmental impacts of rail traffic, increasing rail capacity, and new traffic control and signal systems
www.rhk.fi

Research and Development Activities in the Finnish Maritime Administration / Merenkulkulaitoksen tutkimustoiminta

Priority maritime R&D themes for the coming years include vessel safety, electronic navigation safety, development of processes, means of production and electronic customer services, development of winter navigation safety and fluency, and development of route technology.
www.fma.fi

Research and Development Activities in the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority / Ilmailuhallinto

Includes development of airports, flight safety systems and studies on aircraft noise exposure.

Research Institutes

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT a public and independent research institute covering several fields in transport research. Various projects and also coordination of some ministry-led programmes.
www.vtt.fi