Tampere University

Tampere University (TAU, Tampereen korkeakoulusaatio sr) is Finland’s second-largest university with over 21.500 students and 4000 staff members. Tampere University is a multidisciplinary, foundation-based University conducting scientific research in technology, health and society providing the highest education within these fields. University’s seven faculties award annually over 4000 degrees. In 2021 Tampere University was the university with the most applicants in Finland. 

In 2021, the total income of the university was 336 M€ of which 41 % was external R&I funding. TAU ranks fourth among all Finnish participants in Horizon Europe and H2020 funding. The university researcher community and support services have long experience on different national and international funding instruments including EU funding. TAU has an EU support team dealing with legal, financial and administrative issues. TAU has received the European Commission’s “HR Excellence in Research” award. 

FAST-Lab profile 

The Future Automation Systems and Technologies Laboratory research group (FAST-Lab.) at Tampere University aims to promote industrial efficiency and productivity through automation and robotics. The research group is known for its numerous international projects, for which it has received millions of euros in funding from the European Commission. FAST-Lab. focuses on factory automation, industrial informatics, industrial cyber-physical systems, robotics, and artificial intelligence. The intelligent industrial environments developed in the lab focus on seamless human-machine collaboration, supported by the latest information and communication technologies.

To date, the FAST-Lab research group has been involved in more than 30 European (from FP5 to Horizon Europe) and international research projects, where business cooperation is an integral part of the whole. Currently, there are nine ongoing projects, each with 9–38 partners. In addition to companies of all sizes, the project partners include research institutes, universities, and associations, mainly from abroad (at the moment European, Japanese and Korean partners).  

Key People in the Project 

Professor Jose L. Martinez Lastra joined the Tampere University of Technology in 1997 and became University Full Professor in 2006. His research interest is in applying Information and Communication Technologies to the field of Automation. He leads the FAST-Lab with the ultimate goal of seamlessly integrating the knowledge of humans and machines in order to create smart environments. Prof. Lastra has co/authored over 300+ articles and holds a number of patents in the field of Industrial Informatics and Automation. Prof. Lastra is an active member of the international research scene with a track record of 30 funded European Research projects. In CLARUS besides being the principal investigator he is involved in the concept development of technical solutions, innovation and dissemination activities, and analysis of business and technical requirements of the by-products industrial pilot. 

Seyedamir Ahmadi is a project researcher at FAST-lab with experience in smart factory automation and knowledge-based decision-making solutions. He received a M.Sc. in Automation Engineering from Tampere University of Technology in 2018 and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from UCSI University. In CLARUS project he acts as the organizational and technical lead for all TAU related activities in the project and is primarily involved the development of AI models for the by-products industrial pilot, as well as general pilot implementation activities.   

Wael M. Mohammed is a doctoral researcher at Tampere University. He received a M.Sc. in Automation Engineering from the Tampere University of Technology in 2017 and a B.Sc. in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Jordan in 2010. As he is currently pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Engineering Sciences, Mr. Mohammed’s research interests include Robotics, Digital Twins, Knowledge-based Reasoning Engines and Factory Automation. In addition, Mr. Mohammed has been involved in writing proposals for research and innovation projects funded by the EU commission. In 2015, Mr. Mohammed joined FAST-Lab, and he has been working in the lab since then. In CLARUS project, Mr. Mohammed is involved in concept development and technical support for the data transformation services and AI models of the by-products industrial pilot.

Contributions to the project are: 

• In depth analysis to use case problem and requirements 
• Expertise in data transformation and harmonization mechanisms for different data sources from pilot use cases. 
• Design and development of AI models and Machine Learning algorithms for the By-products use case that will be customized and integrated into the MLOps framework. 

• Leading CLARUS pilot validation, which involves the technical and organizational management of deploying the CLARUS solutions in the pilot use case and the validation of the proposed solutions.  
• Contribution to other project dissemination and exploitation plans of the project amongst other contributions. 

Expectations from the project 

• In depth knowledge from the AI models to be deployed in the pilot scenario to address the pilot’s business and sustainability needs in the bio-production industry 

• Insights from the Green Deal Index (GDI) with a broader view on sustainability issues 
• Analysis of the project results and clear methods to disseminate the results