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Oulun yliopisto

UOULU

The University of Oulu is an international science university which creates new knowledge, well-being and innovations for the future through research and education.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Mika Aaltola (Member of the European Parliament) and Kaupan liitto ry - Finnish Commerce Federation and Alliance4Europe gGmbH

3 Dec 2025 · EU affairs

Meeting with Alban Kellerbauer (Head of Unit European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA))

3 Dec 2025 · Discussion on ERC in FP10, grant schemes including ERC Plus, use of AI in evaluation and host institutions’ support to applicants.

Meeting with Sebastian Tynkkynen (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Dec 2025 · Oulun yliopiston uuden rehtoraatin tapaaminen

Response to EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for competitiveness

11 Nov 2025

University of Oulu welcomes the European Commissions proposal for the next MFF, especially as it is suggested that Horizon Europe is kept as a standalone programme with a budget of EUR 175 billion. It is also appreciated that the programme structure does not drastically differ from the previous framework programme. We would like to emphasise that FP10 must focus primarily on research excellence to produce high-quality science and innovation. It is essential that the research excellence criterion is not be weakened in any way within the entire Framework Programme, including in calls under the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). To enhance competitiveness, FP10 in connection with the ECF should provide a balanced range of excellence-based funding opportunities for the entire R&D value chain. In addition to the pillar of excellent science, it should be ensured that collaborative projects also allow for low technology readiness level (TRL) collaboration and bottom-up approaches in addition to the calls defined. The diversity of projects should be increased, leaving room for both smaller, pilot-type collaborative projects and larger, higher technology readiness level projects with a wide range of partners. The funding of basic research needs to be ensured through several instruments, and not only through the highly competitive ERC. As mentioned, FP10 should be kept independent. In the proposal, Pillar II of the Framework Programme will be closely linked to the ECF. The ECF must be consistent with the Framework Programme, and Horizon Europe should not be reduced to an industrial policy instrument. The Framework Programme's collaborative projects involve significant multidisciplinary cooperation between universities, businesses, local and regional authorities, research institutions and NGOs. Research should be based on excellence and be more science-driven, not policy-driven. The connection between the two programmes should be clearer and more detailed, especially since the Commission has very unfortunately stated that the ECF will not finance research activities. Both Horizon Europe and the ECF should cover areas other than those directly linked to economic competitiveness and industry. It is important to exploit the potential of all fields, including social sciences, humanities and arts. Narrow focus or only funding exclusively targeted specific sectors or technologies risks undermining the wider potential for developing innovative solutions, is politically short-sighted and undermines competitiveness in the long term. This divide is demonstrated by pillar II Competitiveness and Society, where the relatively low budget of the Societies part compared to the Competitiveness part is questionable.
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Meeting with Sirpa Pietikäinen (Member of the European Parliament)

21 Oct 2025 · Health

Meeting with Annukka Ojala (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu)

21 Oct 2025 · Role of universities in research

Meeting with Kirsi Haavisto (Head of Unit Research and Innovation)

13 May 2025 · EU Knowledge Valorisation Policy and the role of universities

Response to EU Life sciences strategy

16 Apr 2025

Innovation in Europe is hampered by overregulation, and EU is lagging behind other continents. This can be seen both in the difficulty of processing health data and in the regulation of device development and testing. The Life Sciences sector in Europe is of vital economic and societal importance. Compared to most other fields, innovation in the Life Sciences sector is high-risk, protracted and investment intensive, and national and EU level funding models to academia need to reflect this. Scaling up from academia to pilot plants and then on to industrial scale production is complex and requires substantial investments. These two combined sometimes result in both Life Science industries and investors being conservative in nature, which further exacerbates the implementation of innovation. The potential for disruption or transformation of the sector by AI, e.g. by facilitating the more rapid development of novel drugs or the potential for rapid circumventing patents by providing alternative solutions, may further add to this. For the Life Sciences sector in Europe to thrive there is a need to further strengthen existing partnerships between academia and industry and build new ones at all levels. This should include public-private partnerships, but should not be the only route for partnership development. Innovation activities close to healthcare should be more needs-oriented. Researcher-driven ideas can be too complex, so there should be ways to identify needs and innovate solutions for them, also giving startup companies better chances of success. An excellent example of need-based innovation is the Biodesign concept (originally from Stanford: a multidisciplinary team descends to the grassroots level to observe deficiencies and, together with clinicians, innovate technological solutions to challenges and needs). The development of new imaging methods and the integration of imaging information brought by different methods should be supported. AI and, more broadly, the computing power of computers provide opportunities to produce a better image with poorer data, in which case sufficient diagnostic quality can be achieved with more affordable and sustainable methods. There is a significant opportunity for new innovations here. The Life Sciences sector faces substantive administrative barriers towards bringing products to market, especially in healthcare. The costs associated with these both inhibit the development of treatments for rare/orphan diseases and their subsequent production. This, combined with the move in healthcare towards personalized medicine and the impact of AI on speeding up development in some areas, means there is an urgent need to reexamine the processes for bringing products to market in the healthcare sector. The development of AI methods in the diagnosis of diseases still needs more attention, especially methods that can combine health data from different sources (In Finland we have the possibility to collect information from healthcare information systems, if the EU regulation would allow it, we can be a model country in EU). Like other fields, education in the Life Sciences field needs to change in response to AI, big data etc as well as societal and technological changes which may drive HE towards more online or hybrid systems. However, this sector requires extensive, high-level hands-on training, to facilitate high-quality experimental validation of hypotheses and of in silico computational based analyses. While VR based training may partially replace or augment the traditional teaching lab, compared to other fields this will be an increasingly expensive field to deliver high quality training in, something national funding models will need to adequately address. Investment should also be made in the clinical implementation of AI methods. Many methods have been developed, but implementation is limited and should be accelerated in order to get a better benefit from AI (affects productivity and economy).
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Meeting with Ville Niinistö (Member of the European Parliament)

20 Dec 2023 · Research and innovation

Meeting with Ville Niinistö (Member of the European Parliament) and Helsingin yliopisto

27 Nov 2023 · Current topics of education and research

Meeting with Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Nov 2022 · Meeting with the representatives of the city of Oulu

Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner) and East and North Finland EU Office and

2 Dec 2020 · Academic cooperation with Africa

Meeting with Risto Artjoki (Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen)

11 Oct 2018 · Horizon Europe