Built environment and mobility
Partner with us to accelerate innovation and turn complex challenges into scalable, real‑world solutions. VTT’s built environment and mobility R&D infrastructure offers clear, accessible pathways for companies and public actors to develop, test and validate new technologies in authentic environments, and connect with major national and international initiatives. Our platform combines intelligent laboratories, advanced testing environments and real‑world measurements with digital technologies such as AI, digital twins and data analytics. This enables system‑level testing and co‑creation from early concepts to real‑world deployment.
The built environment must deliver energy efficiency, resilience, healthy indoor conditions and circularity, while transport systems are expected to be safer, smarter and better integrated into urban environments. At the same time, solutions must be validated faster and at system level in real operating conditions. The answer is state-of-the-art infrastructure.
We offer:
- Joint R&D and co‑innovation, from early experiments to large national and international initiatives.
- Pilots and demonstrations in unique laboratories and living labs for fast and credible validation.
- Targeted testing and characterisation services for materials, components, digital solutions and system‑level performance.
- Ecosystem collaboration brings together companies, cities and research partners to co‑create impactful solutions and accelerate deployment.
Let’s build better cities, buildings and mobility systems – together! Explore below what our laboratories and living labs offer to support your R&D and innovation needs.
Clean Air Lab
Clean Air Lab is a specialised R&D laboratory supporting the creation of healthy, safe and productive indoor environments. It helps organisations assess and mitigate airborne contaminants by combining advanced experimental facilities with computational modelling. The laboratory includes a fullscale research air handling unit, air filtration and purification R&D systems, test rooms for emissions and decontamination studies, and versatile measurement technologies for particulate, microbial and gaseous pollutants.
GeoLab
GeoLab enables high-impact solutions for the built environment, climate resilience and challenging subsurface conditions. It combines advanced laboratory testing, scalable experimental systems and real-world field measurements with state-of-the-art surface and subsurface modelling and visualisation. GeoLab supports decision-making and technology development from urban environments to demanding underground applications, including long-term radioactive waste management.
Future Hub Living Lab
Future Hub Living Lab helps companies turn smart building innovations into proven, market‑ready solutions. It is a real‑world smart building and energy living laboratory where new data‑driven solutions can be developed, tested and validated under authentic operating conditions. Fully instrumented office building, real‑time data, digital twins, AI‑based analytics and smart control technologies together provide a rare opportunity to evaluate performance where it truly matters – in everyday use. The lab enables companies to pilot and benchmark solutions such as energy optimisation, demand response and healthy indoor environments. This generates trusted evidence of performance, reduces uncertainty for customers and investors, and accelerates commercial deployment.
Mobility Living Labs
Our Mobility Living Labs provide real‑world operating environments for developing, testing and validating mobility services and technologies in close interaction with users and stakeholders. Operating in real conditions, such as public transport systems, enables rapid piloting, reduces uncertainty, accelerates development cycles and supports the creation of solutions that are technically sound, user‑centred and ready for adoption. Our impact assessment capabilities complement this work by enabling system‑level analysis of new transport technologies, services and policy measures. The assessments are based on scientifically well‑founded, multidisciplinary methods and verifiable data, and they support the analysis of both direct and indirect impacts as well as the scaling of results to the national and European level.
Arctic Field Research
We also carry out Arctic Field Research in real winter and offshore conditions from in situ ice observations to experimental validation of design approaches and structural solutions. This enables our partners to either adapt their existing solutions to arctic conditions or specifically design new ones for high arctic performance.
The Circular Built Environment Lab
The Circular Built Environment Lab (Circular Construction Hub) is a planned research, testing and demonstration environment aimed at accelerating circular economy solutions for the built environment. The concept focuses on combining physical demonstrators with full digital work and material flow processes. The demonstrator enables researching each stage from planning and building to dis- and reassembly of the building, including material and component flow in the real world.
The laboratory is currently being developed and seeking funding, with the goal of creating an internationally recognised demonstration centre for circular construction. It aims to unite researchers, businesses, cities and partners to provide a safe environment for testing circular solutions, accelerating innovation and speeding up the journey from research to market.
