Industry’s great international event starts: MPD receives participants from 27 nations, idea competition MPIDEA culminates as a final of four at the Tampere Hall

PRESS RELEASE 30.5.2017

On Tuesday the Tampere Hall will be filled with industry’s top influencers from Finland, other parts of Europe, and the world.

‘Our speakers and participants are of exceptionally high-level and representing top leadership. 800 industrial influencers are on the same mission: The successful renewal of the industry towards the digital world requires massive input to innovation’, sums up Harri Kulmala, CEO of DIMECC Ltd.

MPIDEA competition peaks at the finals

In the afternoon, the industry’s great MPDEA competition elevates the excitement up to the roof of the Tampere Hall. Four finalists of the competition represent innovativeness and broad-minded thinking towards creating 100,000 new jobs to Finland, which is the ambitious employment goal of the Finnish industry.

‘Only by investing more in innovation can we create a strong basis for the future wellbeing of Finland. The finalists of the MPIDEA, and the competition as a whole, are proof that in fact innovation creates a bridge from ideas to growth and new jobs’, Kulmala says.

The MPIDEA award ceremony commences at 14.30, when the four finalists pitch their proposals. They are: Joona Heikkinen (M-Files) from Tampere, Kaarlo Paakinaho (Adaptos) from Tampere, Minna Lappalainen (Fixteri Group Oy) from Kannonkoski, and Juha Roininen (SFTec Oy) from Oulu.

As the Chair of the Jury, Minister of Labor Jari Lindström hands out the Main Prize to the Winner. The Main Prize is access to 6 months of sparring in the growth accelerator ReNew Growth of the world’s leading consultancy, McKinsey & Company.

In addition to DIMECC Ltd and McKinsey, strongly involved with the idea competition have also been the first initiator Siemens, the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, Tieto and Fastems.

The Jury includes: Chair, Minister of Labor Jari Lindström, Director General of Enterprise and Innovation Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment Ilona Lundström; Professor of Aalto University Yrjö Neuvo; Chairman of the Trade Union Pro Jorma Malinen; CEO of Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association Rasmus Roiha; Research Director of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) Mika Maliranta; and Partner of McKinsey Jussi Hiltunen.

A presentation of the MPIDEA competition finalists’ proposals:

M-Files platform - Joona Heikkinen, M-Files Corporation, Tampere

The M-Files platform improves and simplifies how businesses manage documents and other information productively and efficiently. M-Files eliminates information silos and provides quick and easy access to the right content from any core business system and device. An intuitive approach based on managing information by “what” it is versus “where” it’s stored promotes the use of the platform. M-Files enables users closest to the business need to access and control content based on their requirements. For instance, by leveraging the M-Files platform, Booth & Associates, a U.S. based electrical engineering firm gained nearly a 400% ROI on their M-Files implementation with a payback period of only four months.

Adaptos, bone graft substitute - Kaarlo Paakinaho, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere

Adaptos has developed innovative technologies for strong and compatible manufacturing of synthetic bone grafts. Previous materials have not been suitable to be used in the same way as human bone tissue. Adaptos has encountered the problem with synthetic bone graft substitutes and developed a composite material that has similar or better activity compared to the existing synthetic bone graft materials, but has the same modifiability and ductility than human bone. It is the only bone graft substitute the surgeon can cut, shape or squeeze into place. It may be used alone or with patient’s own bone or cells. The versatility of Adaptos increases the performance of the surgeon and saves time and money. At the moment Adaptos is advancing to clinical trials with human patients. There is an immense need for bone transplants in the world; Adaptos can be stored and shipped anywhere in the world, without high costs.

Fixteri harvesting technology - Minna Lappalainen, Fixteri Group Oy, Kannonkoski

Finland has around 1.000.000 hectars of unmanaged, young forests, where trees hinder each other’s growth. They are in danger of becoming unused, as because of their small-size, they are not an interesting raw material source for the pulp industry. With the Fixteri harvesting technology supply chain costs of small diameter wood can be cut up to 30 % and a 1.000.000 hectar raw material base for new wood based industries can be created. The forests can be fixed into well growing forests by thinning them with Fixteri harvesters, which support the long-term goals of traditional forest industry. Fixteri creates a basis for more profitable forestry and for new wood based industries and for a CO2 neutral society. Thanks to this game-changing Fixteri Productivity Leap, the forest owners who have had to pay for the first thinning can now turn this expense into profits.

ModHeat, industrial dryer - Juha Roininen, SFTec Oy, Oulu

ModHeat (Modular Heating) is a modular and mobile industrial dryer, which enables economical and efficient utilization of unused industrial waste heat to dry bioenergy materials. Several pilots have shown that the dryer is capable of handling many different types of materials that have been difficult to dry using traditional technologies. With the innovation, new kind of business models can be utilized in the bioenergy sector, because an easy-to-use dryer system can make a real difference in the production chain. The innovation lowers major costs of material handling and transportation, and at the same time the environmental aspects will be positive. Drying improves the efficiency of bioenergy. Saved energy and increased capacity could be used to dry material all over Finland. Bioenergy could be further developed locally to change oil burners to use pellets.

For more information:

www.mpdays.com/mpidea #MPIDEA #MPDAYS

Harri Kulmala, CEO, DIMECC Oy, +358 40 840 6380, harri.kulmala@dimecc.com         

 

Competitors:

Joona Heikkinen, M-Files Corporation, Tampere, +358 50 342 3691, joona.heikkinen@m-files.com

Kaarlo Paakinaho, Adaptos, Tampere, +358 40 849 0975, kaarlo.paakinaho@tut.fi

Minna Lappalainen, Fixteri Group Oy, Kannonkoski, +358 40 705 4395, minna.lappalainen@fixteri.fi

Juha Roininen, SFTec Oy, Oulu, +358 40 444 1539, juha.roininen@sftec.fi