As of January 2018, VTT's Senior Principal Scientist Riikka Virkkunen started as Co-Chair the Factories of the Future (FoF) Public Private Partnership Board. She has also been selected for European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA) board. Both boards have high-level representatives of the top companies and research organisations from Europe.
FoF and EFFRA are working with the Commission (DG RTD and DG Connect) on the future priorities of research and innovation in the area of manufacturing industry. Also, the instruments and future partnerships in FP9 are now intensively discussed.
"FoF and EFFRA boards are excellent forums to bring forward topics that we consider important for the renewal of European and Finnish industry. VTT's lighthouse 'Industrial Renewal' fully supports this prioritisation. At the same time, we are able to make new important connection to leading European companies, such as Comau, Bosch Rexroth, Siemens, Continental Automotive, Prima Industrie, Volvo Group, Mondragon, Orgalime, as examples of members of EFFRA board, and strengthen the relationships with top research partners and the Commission. These connections can become very valuable for us and our customers when we are building the future consortia or business relationships", says Riikka Virkkunen.
