VTT Sense: Enabling circularity and the green transition with new sensing technologies

Ben László is currently working as a Business Development Manager for Kuusakoski Sweden. Among other materials, his focus areas are within WEEE, REEE and data security. Prior to his current position, he has worked as a business controller and interned in consulting as well as in banking. Ben completed his studies in Finland (Aalto University), France (HEC Paris) and Milan (Bocconi University).

Dr. (Tech.) Päivi Kinnunen works as a research professor in the field of circular economy of energy metals at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. She has the title of docent in process technologies for circular economy at Tampere University. Before joining VTT, she held industrial positions in metallurgy, and developed sustainable production processes for the mining and metal industry. In addition to technical competences, Dr. Kinnunen has M.Sc. degree in Economics and Business Administration with the special focus on circular economy in mining.

Eero Martikainen is responsible for future business opportunities and growth of Syklo Oy, new growth company on the field of Circular Economy. Syklo aims to grow rapidly in coming years with a goal to accelerate the transition towards circularity with strong partnerships. 

In addition to looking for new business opportunities, Eero has experience on sorting technologies from his previous career. He also participates in developing the processes in Syklo’s waste sorting plant in Rusko, Oulu, facility which uses several kinds of sensing technologies already. Digitalisation and IOT will play significant roles in building Circular Economy, from logistics and waste tracking to improved operation of recycling facilities. Syklo is exploring the field continuously and Eero is happy to share some insights and points of improvement in the sector.

Dr Toni Laurila is a co-founder and CEO of Sensmet Oy. Sensmet manufactures leading-edge process analysers for online monitoring of metals in hydrometallurgical production and recycling of Li-ion battery metals. Sensmet's solution allows process yield improvement, decreased reprocessing and optimised dosing of process chemicals. 

Dr Laurila has a long-term background in industrial analytics as well as measurement science and technology.

Hannu Eloranta (Dr. Tech.) is the founder of Pixact with 25 years' experience on optical measurements in industrial applications. Before Pixact he was working as a researcher at the Tampere University of Technology. His research topics included fluid dynamics, multi-phase flows and optical measurement techniques. Pixact is a spin-off from this research to further develop and commercialize optical image-based measurement techniques. Pixact's mission is to provide new tools for the diagnostics of industrial processes involving particle, bubble and droplet suspensions.

Markus Huuhtanen works as a Business Development Manager and is responsible for Vaisala’s Liquid Measurements business in Food & Beverage, Semiconductor and Life Science industries. He has worked in the company since 2015, including sensor scientist and application engineer roles. Markus is enthusiastic about optical measurement technologies and how they can help customer processes save resources.

Production technician. BSc in Chemical Engineering.

Experience in laboratory and quality management and in R&D. Developing and implementing methods for process and quality control.

Dr. Andreas Liapis is a staff scientist at Aalto University with 15 years' of experience in nanofabrication and optics. His research focus is on the development of new material systems for integrated photonics. Prior to joining Aalto, he was a research fellow of the Harvard Medical School, and an assiciate of Brookhaven National Labs where he worked on topics such as plasmonic solar cells, on-chip spectrometers, and nanoscale lasers.

Petteri Heikkinen works as a Head of Technology and he is responsible for exploring new technologies for X-ray imaging and analysis methods. He has worked in Detection Technology since 2016 and before that different microelectronics and MEMS manufacturing companies like Murata Finland/VTI, Selmic, Nokia and Planar International having 30 years’ experience in industry.

Mirka Sireni works as Business Development Director, Textile Fibers at Valmet. She is responsible for the development and growth of the Valmet-wide Business Accelerator on Recycled and Cellulose-Based Textile Fibers.

She has worked over 25 years in different positions in the pulp and paper industry in Austria, Finland, and Germany for Valmet, Andritz and Ahlstrom Machinery. 

Chair of session 1

Tuomas Sormunen is a Research Scientist at VTT, located in Oulu. He obtained his Master’s degree in Applied Physics from the University of Jyväskylä in 2018. He has worked with different spectroscopy and imaging modalities, and has background in image and signal processing, spectral analysis, as well as machine learning and computer vision applied to different domains. He has researched topics related to detection and sorting in circular economy, particularly plastics, in projects such as H2020 NONTOX and BF PLASTin.

Chair of session 2

Dr. Katariina Rahkamaa-Tolonen is a Team leader of Optical measurements team at VTT's Sensing and integration Research Area. She graduated in Process Engineering from the University of Oulu. Katariina has a D.Sc. in technology from the Åbo Akademi University. She joined VTT in 2009. She has experience in spectroscopic measurement methods in both basic and applied research, planning, applying and coordination of research projects. 

Chair of session 3

Jussi Soukkamäki has over 20 years of experience in optoelectronics industry. During the last 10 years he has worked with spectroscopical applications in various positions from R&D to sales and business development in companies like Rikola Ltd, Senop, Timegate Instruments and Spectral Imaging Ltd.(SPECIM). Currently he works as a Lead, hyperspectral and imaging technologies, at VTT.