Arctic Development Environments Cluster

Finland: North and East Finland

Overview

The Arctic Development Environments cluster provides businesses in Finnish Lapland a one-stop-shop access point to the digital technology expertise and services of its member organisations: universities and research organisations in the region. The cluster supports businesses by helping to improve their processes, products and services by means of digitalisation. The cluster is coordinated by the Lapland University of Applied Sciences, based in Kemi-Tornio and Rovaniemi, and its operations are not-for-profit, with a pricing model based on actual costs. Most of the cluster partner organisations are publicly funded and the revenue is allocated back to the units that have operational costs from providing the service. In addition, the cluster offers businesses services related to R&D funding (access to finance).

The cluster offers companies support at different stages of the product development cycle. The cluster's services include: contract research; test-before-invest; product development; prototyping; business development; access to technological platforms and innovation spaces; funding mapping and matching; and training.

The cluster includes 50 modern infra, environments and laboratories (TEFs) and more than 750 experts and specialists, spanning almost the whole of Lapland. The cluster is also in the process of developing inter-regional collaboration to widen the spectrum of digitalisation services available through the cluster.

The digitalisation services of the cluster can be accessed on the Ardico.fi service portal. The service themes are listed at https://ardico.fi/portal#/themes. These themes include e.g. product testing and analysis, IoT, VR/AR, Cloud services and Big data. The services span the whole TRL scale, with a novel test-before-invest service portfolio.

The portal also provides businesses with tools to e.g. evaluate their level of enterprise digitalisation: https://ardico.fi/portal#/tools

The cluster's service model:

The company contacts the cluster.
The cluster produces a requirement specification based on the company's need.
The business receives a tender specifying the pricing and schedule of the service.
If the tender is accepted, a service contract is drawn between the company and the cluster. The pricing is based on the actual costs of the service.
A group of experts is selected and their work is coordinated by the cluster.
The cluster assists the company with identifying and applying for suitable R&D funding.
The cluster submits the results to the company.

The service model has been developed through piloting with SMEs. The cluster’s services are further being developed according to customer needs and feedback. The ultimate goal is to support businesses in developing new products and business models and to launch them with the help of high-quality research.

Further resources for the region’s development will be acquired through international cooperation. Networking with other Digital Innovation Hubs enables cooperation and planning of new project initiatives and consortia. Digital technologies.

Sectors
Agriculture, forestry and fishing - Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities - Silviculture and other forestry activities - Fishing and aquaculture - Construction - Construction of buildings - Civil engineering - Specialised construction activities - Education - Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply - Water supply; sewerage; waste managment and remediation activities - Water collection, treatment and supply - Sewerage - Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery - Remediation activities and other waste management services - Financial and insurance activities - Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding - Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security - Activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance activities - Human health and social work activities - Human health activities - Residential care activities - Social work activities without accommodation - Accommodation and food service activities - Accommodation - Food and beverage service activities - Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products - Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products - Manufacture of electrical equipment - Manufacture of food products - Manufacture of beverages - Manufacture of tobacco products - Manufacture of leather and related products - Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. - Other services activities - Activities of membership organisations - Repair of computers and personal and household goods - Other personal service activities - Real estate activities - Professional, scientific and technical activities - Legal and accounting activities - Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities - Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis - Scientific research and development - Advertising and market research - Other professional, scientific and technical activities - Veterinary activities - Administrative and support service activities - Rental and leasing activities - Employment activities - Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities - Security and investigation activities - Services to buildings and landscape activities - Office administrative, office support and other business support activities
Technology
Organic and large area electronics - Micro/nano electronics - Sensory systems - Cyber physical systems - Internet of things - Artificial intelligence - Interaction technologies - Virtual, augmented and extended reality - Simulation, modelling and digital twins - Gamification - Software as a service and service architectures - Additive manufacturing - Logistics - Internet services - New media technologies