DAILY BRIEF: Social gaming, Finnish film, solar and industry innovation, and consumer trust
Finnish photovoltaic technology company Valoe will receive 2.5 million euros in financing from The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) for a solar cell plant in Lithuania. The financing enables Valoe to complete its investment in the plant, where it is developing its next-generation solar cells, and scale up the plant’s production capacity from 60 to 120 megawatts. The interdigitated back contact (IBC) cells allow for modules of variable sizes, flexible or three dimensional. The double-sided cells also increase the efficiency of solar panels. Valoe has already entered into a major delivery agreement in North America for the cutting-edge solution.
Finnish IoT connectivity company KNL Networks has partnered with FLICQ to help maritime customers to digitalise their operations for reduced costs and optimised maintenance. The collaboration brings to market an affordable turnkey solution for real-time condition monitoring and predictive analytics of vessel machinery. The solution uses a FLICQ SmartEdge sensor to record and process data from the equipment and sends the data to KNL’s COLLECT device, which then transmits the actionable insights to the crew via the onboard network and to the fleet owners on-shore via KNL’s pole-to-pole network. The information enables maritime customers to reduce maintenance costs, prevent machinery breakdowns and schedule repairs in advance to reduce time at port.
Finnish company Rocsole has won the prestigious Spotlight on New Technology Award granted by Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the world’s primary trade show in the oil and gas sector. Rocsole was recognised for its patented Liquid In-Tank Inspection (LITI) product. The product uses tomographic imaging techniques that have not previously been used commonly in the offshore industry for scanning vessels for water, oil, emulsion or gas layers. It brings various benefits to the market, making it possible to generate full profiles of vessels with no radiation, which is safer for both the environment and the user. It also provides reliable data on tanks and separators even in very challenging conditions.
Three Finnish films have been selected for the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen that will screen its selection online on 13–18 May. Among the 56-film roster competing for the 8 000-euro main prize in the International Competition is Mika Taanila’s Patent No. 314805. The experimental short film was part of the Finnish Film Foundation’s 50th anniversary celebrations and will receive its world premiere at Oberhausen. It is based on archival material produced by Finnish engineer Eric Tigerstedt, who solved the dilemma of sound on film already before World War I. Finnish-Hungarian film Crossing Paths is also included in the International Competition, while Petteri Saario’s Winter Lake, a film about two teenage cousins camping on a frozen lake, was selected for the Children’s and Youth Film Competition.
Helsinki-based game studio Dazzle Rocks has raised 6.8 million US dollars (approx. 6.3 euros) for its still untitled Minecraft-like massively multiplayer online (MMO) mobile game. The funding round was led by Galaxy Interactive, through its Galaxy EOS VC Fund, with participation from Spintop Ventures, Dazzle Rocks chairperson Ken Lamb, ByFounders, David Helgason, MTG, Sisu Game Ventures and a group of return investors. Dazzle Rocks has been working on the social gaming sandbox MMO since 2015 and plans to release it in the second half of 2020. The game has been designed to be attractive to gamers in both Western and key Asian markets, including China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Finland’s VTT has been tasked with leading Smart Tags, a project that has united European research partners and food industry and technology developers with the goal of increasing consumer trust in food products and systems. Read more about in our breaking news article by clicking the link in the headline.