University of Oulu

The University of Oulu  (UOO) was founded in 1958 and is among the largest universities in Finland with 16 000 students and 3500 staff members working in ten faculties. UOO has high-quality research environments for international research groups. UOO has been involved in the EU R&D Framework programs since FP4, and has participated in more than 250 projects and networks, of which over 20 have been coordinated by UOO. UOO has a highly skilled and experienced support staff helping research groups and principal investigators to successfully carry out coordination projects. The faculties and the specialized research units of UOO form a foundation for multi- and interdisciplinary research, innovation and training of experts for demanding professional tasks. University of Oulu in general, and Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) in particular, is extremely experienced in participating in and/or managing EU co-financed and international projects. At any given moment, ITEE is involved in about 200 simultaneously running projects, majority of which include international elements and partnerships. In EU Horizon 2020 ITEE is currently the coordinator for 5 consortium projects (NewPack, MIRACLE, CS-Aware, Hyfliers and P2P SmarTest), and is in WP leader, scientific coordinator and partner roles in 11 others (e.g. Q-Rapids, 5g Champion, Cutler, Terranova, 5Grange, Sat5G, CoM n Play Science, Secredas-Ecsel, Restore, YoungRes and HTx). Additionally in H2020, ITEE is involved in numerous Marie Slodowska Curie Actions in all categories, i.e. in Individual Fellowship, ITN, Cofund and RISE projects. Also included in the active project portfolio are e.g. ITEA3, Celtic+ and Ecsel initiatives. With regard to EU structural funds, ITEE is coordinating and partnering in several Interreg, ERDF and ESR projects. Additionally, ITEE constantly and actively carries out several commissioned assignments to its international clients.

The Center for Ubiquitous Computing (UBICOMP), ITEE is with an annual budget of €2.6 million and worldclass infrastructure, the center’s mission is to conduct research on the next generation of interactive technologies. The scope of the research cuts across Ubiquitous Computing and Human-Computer Interaction, with a distinct focus on application-driven research. We regularly publish in the best ACM and IEEE venues, including top conferences and journals. The Center’s research is primarily funded through external competitive grants and industry. Members of the Center have received prestigious individual awards, including a fellowship of the Academy of Finland Distinguished Professor programme, an Academy Research Fellow, a Marie Curie Career Integration grant, multiple Academy of Finland postdoctoral grants, and best-paper awards. UBICOMP’s new Perception Engineering research lab is equipped with a state of the art research infrastructure in form of a wide range of VR/AR HMDs (e.g. Oculus, HTC, Sony, HoloLens, ODG, Epson), equipment for holistic performance measurements of VR HMDs, focused on high-quality in-house virtual worlds that can be tailored at will for experiments. In late 2015, the Center was awarded one of the few prestigious long-term grants by Finland’s Strategic Research Council, aimed to finding solutions to the major challenges facing society. Also at the University of Oulu, managed by UBICOMP is the state-of-the-art €900,000 FabLab that spans 280 m2 and is the largest in Finland and amongst the largest in Europe. It is equipped with tools that can bring any idea to life. This facility provides 3D printing, laser cutting, metal cutting and high-resolution NC milling, wood and vinyl craftsmanship, as well as a built-in electronics and gadgets studio. The facility is used to advance our research as well as enrich our educational activities by enabling students to gain first-hand experience in designing and building innovative objects that bring together unique shapes and custom-built sensing  capabilities.