Scientific Director Matti Pietikäinen, Doctoral Program Director Markku Juntti and Coordinator Tapio Repo, Infotech Oulu

mkp(at)ee.oulu.fi,markku.juntti(at)ee.oulu.fi, tre(at)ee.oulu.fi

The principal goal of Infotech Oulu is to create an environment for the development of world-class research groups by promoting long-term research, researcher training, and international cooperation. An independent international panel evaluates the research groups that apply for membership of Infotech Oulu, using criteria similar to those used by the Academy of Finland. With such regular external evaluation and with our internal quality control, we can help our research groups succeed and give them the valuable Infotech label.

Our research is held in high esteem by external funders. The total external annual research funding was about EUR 15.1 million. Our most significant funding source is Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation). We have been pleased to notice that the greatest increase during the last few years has been in funding from the Academy of Finland, that currently represent over 20% of our total external funding. Direct annual support from the University to Infotech Oulu was EUR 400 000.

The University of Oulu is still experiencing organizational changes. The University has decided to set up four new units corresponding to faculties. One of these operates in information technology. Other important changes affecting us are in doctoral studies. The University of Oulu now has a graduate school called the University of Oulu Graduate School (UniOGS) consisting of several doctoral programs, like the Infotech Oulu Doctoral Program. This represents a relatively significant change, because the role of faculties and departments is diminishing, and the tasks of doctoral programs is increasing. The Infotech Oulu Doctoral Program will naturally be involved in this process, and will also actively contribute to this development. The director of our doctoral program, Professor Markku Juntti was selected as Vice-Dean of UniOGS. He is also a member of its management group and is the Chair of UniOGS’s doctoral training committee for technology and natural sciences.

Infotech Oulu has had funding for doctoral student positions since 1999. The number of positions has varied from 20 to 30. Infotech Oulu research groups have obtained almost as many positions from other, national programs. Funding for the positions has come from the Ministry of Education, based on evaluation by the Academy of Finland. The funding for the current 25 positions of Infotech Oulu is secured to the end of 2013, as are most of the positions obtained from the national doctoral programs. The continuation for these positions is now applied for from the University of Oulu. This application is extreme important to Infotech Oulu.  The funding for doctoral students supports most efficiently the current and future long term research that we value most. The current doctoral positions represent almost one million Euros annually, and about one third of the external basic research funding of our research groups. The number of doctoral dissertations within Infotech has grown during the past few years. In 2012, the output was 15 dissertations from the research groups of Infotech Oulu.

One of the principal goals of Infotech Oulu is to promote international collaboration. Both bilateral cooperation between research groups, and participation in EU and other international research programs are important. Also the Wireless Innovation between Finland and U.S. (WiFiUS) platform for building long-term research and education collaboration in the field of wireless networking has been recognized to be valuable. We have promoted international activities by providing financial support for organizing workshops, and arranging courses and lectures given by visiting experts. We have also sponsored the mobility of doctoral students. The main funding for these activities has been obtained from the Academy of Finland, EUR 430 000 for the years 2010–2013. Starting from 2011, Infotech Oulu research groups were awarded funding from the University of Oulu for three positions for recruiting international experts from abroad, and currently there are three tenure track positions open in information technology. The personnel of our research groups has become more international year by year. At the end of 2012, 31.1% of our whole staff and as much as 33.7% of the doctoral students were from abroad. Based on these figures, our research is more international than ever.

The scientific quality of our research has been widely acknowledged. In 2012, for example, Professor Juha Kostamovaara started his second five year Academy Professorship funded by the Academy of Finland, and Professor Heli Jantunen was selected to continue as a member of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering in the Academy of Finland for the next three-year period. Professor Matti Pietikäinen received The Pentti Kaitera Prize 2012 for his outstanding achievements in research and in advancing welfare in Northern Finland.

One important milestone in achieving the highest level in research is the ongoing application for the Finnish Centres of Excellence research program by the Academy of Finland. Professor Matti Pietikäinen’s unit and Academy Professor Juha Kostamovaaara’s group, as a part of a joint unit, were selected to the second round in the application. We hope that ultimately at least one research group from Infotech Oulu will be deemed successful enough to win the CoE status. In 2013, the current four-year period of Infotech Oulu membership will end, and new groups will be selected for the period 2014–2017. An independent international panel will evaluate the applications. With this kind of continuous quality control procedure, we can be certain that the excellent progress of Infotech Oulu will continue.