Innofinland Prizes of the President of the Republic 2009

Innofinland 2009: Material and energy efficiency - a new opportunity

The national Innofinland Prizes of the President of the Republic 2009 were awarded for the 16th time on 15 December 2009, the National Innovation Day, in the premises of the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland.

In harmony with the concurrent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Innofinland, with its theme “Material and energy efficiency - a new opportunity”, brings into focus Finnish innovations which give us more effective products and services that save both raw materials and energy and, hopefully, mitigate global warming.

In the awarding ceremony, Director General Helena Säteri from the Ministry of the Environment gave a speech in which she pointed out that with the awareness of energy issues growing, the demand for innovations today exceeds the supply of new ideas. “New ideas and concepts are also embraced quicker than before,” she said.

In 2009, a total of 174 entries took part in Innofinland; Uusimaa, Satakunta, and Southern Ostrobothnia were the provinces with most entries.

Five equal national Innofinland Prizes and two honourable mentions were presented. The prize winners received an Innofinland statuette and an honorary diploma.

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen together with the Chairman of the Innofinland Jury, President of the NBPR Martti Enäjärvi and the Director of Federation of Finnish Enterprises, Risto Suominen presented the national Innofinland Prizes 2009 to the following businesses:

• Axco-Motors Oy, Lappeenranta, Increased efficiency and reliability for motors and generators
• Jomet Oy, Forssa, Ecological and user-friendly packaging of office paper
• Lennol Oy, Jalasjärvi, Furniture paddings from recycled PET bottles
• MZYMES Oy, Joensuu, Energy savings through enzymatic pre-treatment of wood chips before the refining step in thermomechanical pulp production
• Techila Technologies Oy, Tampere, Virtual supercomputer for energy-efficient computing

The honourable mentions went to:

• Emeca Oy, Köyliö, Novel type of pile joint and robot-based manufacturing method
• nGlass Oy, Nummela, New production concept for client-oriented glass processing

In addition to the national prizes, regional Innofinland Prizes were presented earlier this autumn.

Purpose and background organisations of Innofinland

The purpose of the Innofinland Project is to promote creativity, skill and entrepreneurial spirit in Finland in a practical and new way in order to develop opportunities to increase well-being nationally. The Innofinland Contest awards both technology and service innovations, either alone or in combination, made by skilled and creative Finnish businesses.

Innofinland was established in 1994, and the President of the Republic acts as patron of the project. The Innofinland Prizes –both regional and national– are awarded each year as an acknowledgement of and encouragement for innovative entrepreneurship.

The prize can be awarded to a business, organisation or private person whose ideas, inventions or innovations have significantly promoted creativity, entrepreneurship, cooperation and employment in Finland.

The organisers of Innofinland 2009 consist of a wide range of influential actors in Finnish business life: the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), the Foundation for Finnish Inventions, the Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland, the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland, the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (Sitra), the Finnish Enterprise Agencies, the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, the Employment and Economic Development Centres (TE Centres), the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes), the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Ministry of the Environment, and Åland Technology Center. Other contributors are Finnish Regional Councils, educational establishments and other organisations that support innovative activities.

Innoint and Innoschool

In addition to the Innofinland Prizes, the annual prizes in the Innoint Invention Contest for Conscripts and in the Innoschool Innovation Event for school pupils were awarded for the tenth time at the National Innovation Day ceremony on 15 December 2009.

Further details of the prize winners are available from:

• Chairman of the Innofinland Working Committee, Director Risto Suominen tel. +358 (0)9 2292 2932, email risto.suominen (at) yrittajat.fi
• Innofinland Project Manager Timo Suokas, tel. +358 9 6939 5308, mob. +358 (0)40 772 1733, email timo.suokas (at) prh.fi
• Innofinland Project Secretary Leena Puolimatka, tel. +358 9 6939 5239, mob. +358 (0)40 546 0125, email leena.puolimatka (at) prh.fi
• Director of Communications and Community Relations Juha Klemola, National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland, tel. +358 (0)9 6939 5800, email juha.klemola (at) prh.fi

Photos from the prize ceremony will be available from 16 December 2009. Please contact Auvo Mäkinen, National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland, auvo.makinen (at) prh.fi, tel. +358 (0)9 6939 5595, +358 (0)40 505 3581.

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