This spring, Oulu launched a new collaboration model connecting companies, international talent, and research. The first run of the Future Expert Launchpad (FELP), delivered in partnership with the City of Oulu and BusinessOulu, wrapped up with a Showcase event on May 11, 2026 at the University of Oulu. The innovation work ran simultaneously on three levels: through the city's talent programme, university project courses, and the early build phase of Finland's new AI cluster, the Radical AI Deployment Ecosystem (RAIDE). This collaboration between Demola, BusinessOulu, the City of Oulu, and Oulu's universities forms a uniquely integrated ecosystem for driving future innovation.
Demola and BusinessOulu's joint eight-week FELP programme brought together multidisciplinary teams to tackle real business challenges in Demola's internationally certified project environment. Through a partnership between Demola and the University of Oulu, some of the FELP projects were also run in parallel as university courses — giving student teams a chance to approach the same problems from their own angles. This spring, those projects were taken on by Information Processing Science students from the University of Oulu.
Having both the FELP teams and university course students work on the same challenges creates fresh, distinct perspectives. The setup is also flexible and straightforward: the projects can count directly toward students' degree programmes.
FELP's goal is to support the professional development and employment of highly educated international talent, graduating students, and others looking to pivot their careers. The programme offers access to real-world projects where a genuine market need has already been identified — giving participants a practical way to grow their expertise.
BusinessOulu brings together job seekers and the regional business network. Participation doesn't affect unemployment benefits, and teams are deliberately cross-disciplinary — mixing IT engineers, nurses, language students, horticulturalists, and more. That breadth of backgrounds fuels creative thinking and innovation, culminating in participants showcasing their skills directly to companies.
"Building smooth connections between companies, talent, and universities is critical. Programmes like FELP give companies low-barrier access to fresh perspectives and new people, while participants get to demonstrate their skills through real development challenges. What's particularly exciting in Oulu is that broader R&D pathways are taking shape at the same time — ones where local activity connects to disruptive technologies and national initiatives." — Jussi Leponiemi, ICT Account Manager
The collaboration between Demola and the University of Oulu brings projects also into university project courses. This spring, project topics connected to the same themes have been tackled by students of information processing science at the University of Oulu. When the same project themes and ideas are addressed both in the FELP team and in project courses, new interfaces and perspectives are combined in a way that cannot be found elsewhere. The implementation is also flexible and clear, as the projects can be directly approved as part of degree programmes.
"The collaboration has given our students the opportunity to gain insight into working life cooperation and to solve problems originating from companies under expert guidance. At the same time, they gain practical experience in innovation and demonstration work in a way that mirrors similar activities in companies", says Elina Annanperä Degree Programme Director, Information Processing Science at the University of Oulu.
In Oulu's innovation landscape, city-, university-, and national-level programmes have been woven together into a coherent whole.
The national layer connects through the Radical AI Deployment Ecosystem (RAIDE), launched in Helsinki on May 26. RAIDE is Finland's new business-driven AI cluster, with founding partners including Wärtsilä, Danfoss, Kempower, Bittium, and the wellbeing services counties of Pirkanmaa and Ostrobothnia. Demola is building the cluster. Companies in the Oulu region that explored new solutions through FELP and university courses this spring can now move — through the same partner — into longer-term R&D collaboration at the RAIDE level.
"Oulu is showing how innovation can happen seamlessly — bringing together universities, the city, and the national level. Participants and partners become part of something larger: growing the next generation of top talent, creating new business and entrepreneurship at the city level, and enabling cross-sector collaboration across Finland in a way that has no real precedent." — Ville Kairamo, CEO, Demola Global
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