The strategic focus of South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences is based on the needs of the regions. Xamk’s specific RDI profile was created as a result of systematic long-term development and profound expertise.
The volume of Xamk’s RDI activities in 2019 totalled EUR 63 million. The four focus areas are Digital economy; Sustainable wellbeing; Logistics, marine technology and transport; and Forest, the environment and energy.
In 2019, we had 259 ongoing projects. Of these, 25 per cent, or 54, were international projects. This clearly exceeded the target.
Research infrastructure promotes social impact
Over the years, Xamk’s research and development activities have developed an extensive research infrastructure that supports the region’s business community. Xamk has nearly 30 research laboratories or environments. Companies may use this infrastructure for their own research and product development projects or order a wide variety of measurement, testing and expert services from Xamk.
The RDI infrastructures also serve as learning environments, providing a genuine development environment for theses and students’ enterprise projects.
Stakeholders participate actively in Xamk’s RDI activities
Altogether 1,346 stakeholder partners, half of them companies, participated in Xamk’s RDI projects in 2019. The financial contribution of the participating companies was considerable. This indicates that they find the projects useful.
Partnerships with research institutions and higher education institutions have become deeper in different fields of study. We engage in both regional and national co-operation on various projects.
Regional development is also international
International activities are part of the effort to increase the regional impact of our RDI activities. International projects enhance the expertise of our UAS community and bring competitive EU funding into the region. The funding and the leverage it provides increase vitaly in the area by creating jobs, providing livelihood and developing expertise.
Most of Xamk’s international RDI partners in 2019 were from countries in close proximity, with Russia clearly in the lead. Danish, German, Estonian and Polish partners were also frequent participants in projects. This is explained by the ENI funding and the Baltic Sea Region and Central Baltic funding programmes, in which Xamk has been an active player. In addition, among others, the Horizon 2020 programme funding helped to expand our European co-operation network further.
Our international partners are mainly other training or research organisations, but companies have also discovered international co-operation.
We will continue to invest in stronger international co-operation, exchange of know-how and efforts to increase funding. In this way, we can contribute to the regional social impact of RDI activities at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences.