On November 18, members of the FiCCC project team from BusinessOulu visited VTT Oulu. FiCCC is a national consortium, and Oulu has an important role in it. As part of our regular visits across the ecosystem, we explored VTT Oulu’s expertise and facilities.
During the visit, we met with Kari Rönä and Mikko Karppinen, who guided us through VTT’s facilities and ongoing work.
Decades of Expertise Behind Oulu’s Strength
The visit offered a valuable inside view of one of Oulu’s unique strengths: VTT Oulu’s decades-long expertise in advanced microelectronics and photonics packaging.
While Finland’s semiconductor ecosystem is developing rapidly, VTT Oulu has quietly built a solid technical foundation since the 1990s. Today, their teams work with demanding packaging and integration techniques that enable chips, sensors, photonic components, and modules to operate reliably in challenging environments, from health technologies to industrial systems and communication devices. This long-term expertise forms an important part of Oulu’s deep-tech capabilities.
Active Role in European Chips Act Pilot Lines
We were pleased to hear about VTT’s involvement in a wide range of Chips Act pilot lines, especially those tied to advanced packaging, photonics, and quantum technologies. These pilot lines aim to strengthen Europe’s semiconductor readiness by bringing research and industry closer together.
VTT Oulu contributes to this work through its competence in packaging, materials integration, and module-level processes, ensuring that Oulu has a visible and meaningful role in Europe’s semiconductor development efforts.
High-Quality Facilities That Enable Innovation
During our tour, we visited labs and saw facilities that are essential for modern semiconductor and photonics development:
- Cleanroom and processing environments
- Advanced packaging and integration laboratories
- Capabilities for photonics components, sensor modules, and microelectronics prototyping
- Facilities suitable for regulated environments, such as health-tech device development
These facilities form a complete development chain, from early concept to prototype, which is an important asset for the region.
Opportunities for Companies and Researchers
Our discussions showed that VTT Oulu offers significant potential for collaboration. Their combination of expertise, infrastructure, and participation in national and European initiatives creates opportunities for:
- Joint R&D and innovation projects
- Prototype development and testing
- Participation in pilot line activities
- Collaboration in photonics, advanced packaging, sensing, and emerging health technologies
This creates valuable possibilities for companies in Northern Finland, especially SMEs and startups looking to accelerate development or validate new ideas.
Moving Forward Together
Our visit to VTT Oulu highlighted the important role this expertise plays within the FiCCC ecosystem. The capabilities we saw, and the conversations we had, reinforce how Oulu contributes to Finland’s Chips Act work and supports the national semiconductor landscape.
We look forward to continued collaboration and building on the strengths that already exist in our region.
