Markku Rajala has been nominated as the awardee of the Fine Particle Forum
Award 2009. For long, Rajala has carried a central role in the networking of
the Finnish fine particle field by increasing the interaction both between academia
and industry and within industry stakeholders, in an unprejudiced, interdisciplinary
way.
Rajala was one of the key persons in the interdisciplinary group developing
the liquid flame spray technology (LFS, nHALO®) – a technology combining
the aerosol, materials and design expertise in a novel way. He was also the
first to start the commercial utilization of the technology in Finland. Rajala
has contributed to establishing at least six companies operating in the field
of aerosols by encouraging to commercialization or by becoming an entrepreneur
himself. He was also responsible for managing the NanoHarju -program which successfully
developed the business of nanotechnology companies in the western Uusimaa region.
Markku Rajala is also one of the upstanding members of the Fine particle forum
and is a founding member and a chairman of FAST (from aerosol science to industrial
applications) - a subdivision of Fine particle forum tailored for the SMEs.
Consequently, Rajala has brought his own expertise and the expertise of his
contacts to the benefits of Fine particle forum bringing strong understanding
about the importance of the IPR to the business of the companies operating in
the field of fine particles. In addition, by his own example, Rajala has been
encouraging the Fine particle forum to utilize the potential of open innovation
as a community.
Rajala is working at Beneq
Oy specializing in the use of aerosol-processes in industrial applications.
In his work Rajala has able to recognize and utilize the fine particle related
innovations, and has been successful in linking the Finnish scientific expertise
in aerosols with the business sector.
Fine particle forum Award 2009 will be granted to a company, organization
or person, who has applied the fine particle research to socially or technically
and economically important subject or has been active in promoting and significantly
improving the visibility of the fine particle field in addition to being an
active influence in the society. The previous awardees have been Tulikivi Oy,
Docent Raimo O. Salonen and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The award
committee was chaired by Prof. (aerosol physics) Kaarle Hämeri, University
of Helsinki and the other members were Specialist Minna Väkevä, Oy
Halton Group Ltd and Head of Air protection group, Tarja Koskentalo, YTV.
Fine Particle Forum is an independent and neutral network of nano- and fine
particle stakeholders in Finland. The forum is based on networks and partnerships
created in Fine-program of Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology
and Innovation). More than 100 member organisations include companies, research
organizations, publicly funded organizations, ministries, funding, NGOs, etc.
The forum provides
- Active networking and tailored partnering – interdisciplinarily
- Promotion of the Finnish, internationally very competent know-how in aerosols
- Gathering and delivering information
- Open innovation, peer-to-peer support
More information: Project manager, Fine Particle Forum, Martta Toivola (martta.toivola(at)culminatum.fi)
Culminatum Innovation Oy Ltd is a regional development company. Established
in 1995, Culminatum implements the national Centre of Expertise Programme as
well as projects for developing the Helsinki region’s innovation environment.
Posted October 29th, 2009
