Autonomous solutions capable of situational awareness and human interaction open up multiple growth opportunities for Finnish industries. This ambitious goal inspires Marko Mäkipää, the Vice President of VTT’s Cognitive Production Industry research area, leading the work of more than a hundred top researchers at VTT.
Marko Mäkipää commenced in his position on August 1, 2025. Prior to his appointment, he worked as a team leader at VTT for over five years, in charge of an AI team focused on digital material design. He has over two decades of experience in research, manufacturing and entrepreneurship.
”I’m inspired by the opportunity to lead the future of smart industry research at a time when AI, automation and robots are entering virtually every corner of everyday life. Throughout my whole research career, the cornerstone has been digitalisation of manufacturing and operations where big leaps are taken right now,” says Marko Mäkipää.
The next step in the renewal of the industry: situationally aware and self-learning machines and systems team up with people
The research area under Marko Mäkipää’s leadership develops technology solutions that help customers turn different data sources into learning, autonomous solutions.
“These systems not only execute predefined tasks, but they can also adapt, explain their actions and collaborate alongside humans. For instance, when mobile machinery and robots operate in the same environment with humans, all parties must be able to adapt even to unexpected situations," Mäkipää says.
The central theme of the entire research area is the use of diverse digital data sources and their analysis to enable prediction and autonomous operations.
“In our area, we focus on comprehensive solutions that harness sensor data to improve situational awareness, as well as intelligent augmented reality tools for training and remote maintenance. We also support the development of industrial processes with the help of artificial intelligence.”
Raising competitiveness and productivity of Finnish companies
The concrete goal of the research area is to boost the business of Finnish companies.
"We want to multiply the growth of Finnish industries and drive major productivity leaps in close cooperation with companies in artificial intelligence, situational awareness, augmented reality and robotics. The impact of our research on Finnish society is realised above all through industry partnerships," Mäkipää says.
