Two JYU projects receive funding from the Research Council of Finland to promote research utilisation
Project to be carried out at the Department of Chemistry Engineered enzyme networks for catalytic production of bio-based products will receive €240,000 in funding from the RCF.
The project aims at the utilisation of enzymes that convert biomass-based fatty acids into partially oxidised, functionalised fatty acids. These functionalised compounds, in turn, find uses in the modification of other bio-based material streams, in particular cellulose and other carbohydrate polymers.
"Enzymes that process fatty acids are abundant in Nature, but their large-scale utilisation has been hampered by the fact that these enzymes require modifying the fatty acids with a chemically attached tag, a coenzyme, that has to be added prior to enzymatic reaction, and removed at the end. We have previously found methods how to use less expensive tags, and in ENETCAT we aim at functionalising the fatty acids in such a way that the tags are fully recycled, just as coenzymes are recycled in Nature. Such processes would enable the direct conversion of fatty acids to value-added products with enzymes, and allow the scale-up of the processes to industrial scale", Professor Petri Pihko says.
Project implemented at the Faculty of Information Technology Drive-In Lab for Testing In-Car User Interfaces will receive €300,000 in funding from the RCF.
In-car user interfaces (UIs) are becoming increasingly complex due to the abundance of information, assistance, and entertainment available to drivers in modern cars. Driver distraction is among the greatest contributors in safety-critical incidents in traffic.
"Our aim is to validate that a new Drive-In Lab testbed can reliably differentiate distraction effects of in-car tasks. The new data is aimed to aid in designing and rating in-car interactions by identifying the best and worst practices in in-car UI design based on their distraction effects. We will analyze the utility of the produced data for relevant collaborators and stakeholders, such as Euro NCAP and automotive industry. If the novel methodology is proven valid and impactful, the testbed can have a great societal impact on reducing driver distraction and thereby, road fatality and injuries by improving traffic safety on the roads, worldwide", Associate Professor Tuomo Kujala says.
The application success rate was 26 per cent. The projects start on 1 January 2026 and run for two years.
The RCF Proof of Concept scheme supports research projects in taking their ideas towards commercialisation and generating other societal impact. The funding encourages researchers to, for example, test their research results in practical settings or develop new approaches to address the needs of industry, public administration or the third sector. The RCF monitors the impact of the research projects.
