17 new PoDoCo doctors receive funding
Empathy and Water Cycle Research Help Companies in Renewal
The Post Docs in Companies program funded 17 new partnerships between doctors and companies in the spring round. The PoDoCo foundations have funded 151 research projects that develop new business.
17 doctoral and business partnership projects are funded in the spring 2020 application round of the PoDoCo program. The program received 28 collaboration applications from companies and doctors who have recently completed or will soon complete their degree. A total of 151 PoDoCo grants have been awarded in the PoDoCo program since 2015.
The funded projects represent a wide range of disciplines and sectors.
-We received a good variety of applications in the spring round, which is great, because we can fund projects from all disciplines. The group of foundations funding PoDoCo has lately grown and we are able to support the renewal of companies from the for example the viewpoint of social sciences or educational research, says Dr. Seppo Tikkanen, leader of the PoDoCo program.
From empathy research to animation
Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland (SLS) joined PoDoCo in the beginning of this year and they fund a project concentrating on empathy.
Moilo is excited to collaborate with empathy researcher Jan Nåls within the project Growing Empathy: Facilitating Empathy through Children’s Storytelling. With his experience, Nåls will provide Moilo new knowledge and insights that will help Moilo create unique content for children. Executive producer and Moilo co-founder Petra Holm wants to create stories that give children the opportunity to think, feel and react to questions regarding empathy.
-We want to help children grow, says Holm, echoing the company motto.
-To be able to facilitate empathy in times like these is something we at Moilo are very proud of.
The aim of the project is to learn how children experience empathy, and how stories for children create emotional connections. The project has two main phases – a research phase and a creative phase, where the insights gained will inform an animation concept developed by Moilo. A further output consists of book chapters in a forthcoming factual book on empathy.
-The project is a unique opportunity to combine my main research interests with creative practice. This collaboration will give added depth to my work as a film scholar and practitioner of storytelling. In this project I will work with Finnish and European top professionals in children´s storytelling. In addition, I also get to work and interact with children, which will be fascinating – and lots of fun, Jan Nåls describes.
Utilization of Mine-Water
Outotec and researcher Shila Jafari cooperate on the ‘Mine-Water as a business case’ project, which aims to find new innovative ways to turn water from threat to an asset in mineral and metals processing environment. Mine-Water as a Business Case project is part of an extensive WERTE (Water, Energy, Resource and Tailings Efficiency) R&D project that links very closely to the Outotec’s overall strategy of Sustainable Use of Earth’s Natural Resources.
The Mine-Water as a Business Case project focuses on minimizing water consumption and wastewater generation by internally reusing process water at several stages of the process circuit.
– The shortening of the water cycles can lead to water quality challenges, which is addressed as a part of the Mine-water as a Business Case project by introduce a practical and efficient 3D printing material to the modern industry applications to replace old fashion materials used for water treatment, says Piia Suvio, Director of Water Treatment Solutions at Outotec.
Shila Jafari has a background in environmental chemistry working for research institutes and academia, but this PoDoCo project gives her a new opportunity of working for a mineral and metals processing technology company.
Next grant application round in spring 2020
The next PoDoCo grant application round will be held August 15 – October 31, 2020. PoDoCo program is funded by Finnish Cultural Foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry, Svenska Kulturfonden, The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS), Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion, Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation, Foundation for Economic Education, KAUTE Foundation, The Paulo Foundation and Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. The total funding is up to million euros every year, which enables around 35 PoDoCo grants each year.
DIMECC Ltd. is responsible for the practical implementation of the programme. DIMECC is a co-creation platform owned by 67 leading Finnish companies, universities, and research institutions.
PoDoCo Grants in Spring 2020
