🇫🇮 Oulu researchers secure major funding for AI-driven projects tackling climate and growth challenges

The Strategic Research Council (SRC), operating within the Research Council of Finland, has granted 29 million euros in research funding to research consortia working on solutions for economic growth and the future of work. The University of Oulu will play a central role in two projects within a six-year research programme, both harnessing artificial intelligence to address pressing societal issues.

One of the projects, CO2CREATION, focuses on industrial carbon management. Led by the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the consortium aims to develop sustainable pathways for capturing, using, and storing carbon dioxide. The research will combine energy, climate, and regional development goals, using foresight methods, spatial wellbeing analysis, and simulations to test the impact of different policy choices.

Stakeholders include ministries, industry, labour organisations, regional actors, and civil society. The ambition is to support a just transition while offering practical tools to help Finland meet its climate targets, strengthen regional vitality, and create new carbon management business opportunities.

The University of Oulu’s contribution centres on artificial intelligence. “We are building AI-based digital twins of the carbon management ecosystem that can model, simulate, and predict its behaviour,” said Assistant Professor Lauri Lovén. “At the heart of the research is how to distribute AI learning and decision-making in situations where the underlying data cannot necessarily be freely shared between partners. We are developing new methods for this and testing them in real use cases with our collaborators.”

Lovén is Principal Investigator and Director of the Future Computing Group at the University of Oulu’s Centre for Ubiquitous Computing and coordinator of 6G Flagship’s Distributed Intelligence research area. His team explores the role of artificial intelligence across distributed computing environments, with applications ranging from smart cities and industrial systems to power grids and cybersecurity.

The second project, TRANSFORM-AI, addresses Finland’s innovation paradox: despite strong expertise and research investment, economic growth and productivity have not developed as expected. Led by the University of Turku, the multidisciplinary consortium brings together expertise from six research organisations and a consultancy, spanning behavioural sciences, economics, learning and engineering research. More than 30 stakeholder organisations are involved.

The goal is to explore how AI, intangible assets, and leadership can combine to renew working life, enhance business competitiveness, and inform public-sector decision-making. The project will deliver concrete tools and policy recommendations for the responsible use of AI and for developing skills and markets in sustainable ways.

At Oulu, the work is led by Adjunct Professor Marja Matinmikko-Blue. “This project looks ahead to the age of AI by integrating perspectives from technology, economics, regulation, sustainability, and ethics,” she said. “Our strength is in bringing ethical and regulatory expertise on AI into the picture.”

Matinmikko-Blue is Director of Sustainability and Regulation at 6G Flagship and Research Director at Infotech, one of the university’s centres for multidisciplinary research. In this work the University of Oulu focuses on bridging technology development with ethics, regulation, and long-term societal impact.

The two initiatives reflect a wider push in Finland to link advanced research directly with societal needs, from meeting climate goals to ensuring future economic resilience.

Visit the Research Council of Finland’s website for further details.

Originally published on 16 September by 6G Flagship.

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