Four researchers at Linnaeus University make onto IVA’s 100-list
Yesterday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) presented this year's 100-list of research projects that are considered to have great potential for commercialisation, business development, or societal impact. Linnaeus University has three research projects on the list and is involved in a fourth. This year's list highlights research that addresses technology in the service of humanity within climate change, energy supply, welfare technology, cybersecurity, and crisis preparedness.
In the picture, from left: Douglas Brommesson, Mauro Caporuscio, Angelos Chatzimparmpas, and Thomas Bader.
The 100-list is developed by the IVA project Research2Business, which aims to make Sweden a leader in transforming academic research in technical and economic sciences into innovation and competitiveness in the business world. The selection committee consists of some 40 qualified individuals from IVA's broad network of representatives from academia, business, and public organisations. The project is carried out in collaboration with Vinnova, PRV, Teknikföretagen, The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, The Knowledge Foundation, Almi, and Sweden's universities and university colleges.
"We are very proud. This is an important recognition for us as researchers and a quality stamp on our research," says Mauro Caporuscio, professor at the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology.
Sustainable and innovative organisations
Together with research colleagues Diego Perez Palacin, Farid Edrisi, and Samuele Giussani, Mauro Caporuscio leads the ALADINO research project. The project develops methods and tools for modelling, evaluating, and developing digital twins of organisations. A digital twin is an exact virtual representation of the organisation that, among other things, helps optimise processes and increase innovation capabilities, so that organisations become more sustainable.
"We want to continue developing our work, and a place on the list can make it easier for us to be visible and find new organisations to collaborate with," Mauro Caporuscio explains.
Reducing the carbon footprint of wood constructions
Thomas Bader, professor at the Department of Building Technology, also has a place on the list with a research project on developing technology for cross-laminated timber. The goal is to increase the competitiveness of cross-laminated timber as the sustainable construction material of the future and, thereby, contribute to a green transformation of the construction industry.
"I have collaborated with many others on the project, and it means a lot that we, through a place on the list, get the opportunity to spread the knowledge. We are now in the final phase and see many results that can benefit the wood construction industry," says project leader Thomas Bader.
Understanding and trusting automated decisions
For researcher Angelos Chatzimparmpas, IVA’s focus areas hit the mark regarding his research project on simplifying the management of algorithms so that human experts can understand and evaluate them – for example, how artificial intelligence (AI) works and what AI bases its decisions on. Together with colleagues, he has developed a digital tool that is now available worldwide to explain and visualise machine learning. They have also designed several visual and analytical approaches that enable machine learning experts to improve workflow.
"Being on the 100-list indicates both recognition and appreciation of my research and demonstrates how important it is to be able to explain and trust processes between humans and machines. There is great potential for my research to have an impact on both academia and more business-oriented activities”, says Angelos Chatzimparmpas.
Prerequisites for a modern civil defence
To investigate complex prerequisites and lay a foundation for how the Swedish civil defence can be designed, researchers at Lund University have teamed up with Linnaeus University's researcher Douglas Brommesson. In their research project, they have analysed the prerequisites at three levels – citizen level, administrative level, and international level. Among other things, they studied citizens' confidence in authorities' crisis preparedness and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected citizens' opinions on legitimacy and responsibility.
"I am pleased that we, as social scientists, are being recognised by IVA. It shows that the boundaries between different scientific disciplines do not always have to be so strict and that there is potential for fruitful cooperation between technologists and social scientists," says Douglas Brommesson, professor at the Department of Political Science.
Just like the other researchers, Douglas Brommesson now sees more opportunities to establish valuable contacts:
"I hope that being on the list can give us the opportunity to build cooperation with businesses, other researchers, and various actors who have an interest in civil defence and crisis preparedness."
Learn more about the research projects:
- Aligning Architectures for Digital Twin of the Organization (Aladino), Mauro Capruscio.
- Improving the competitive advantage of CLT-based building systems through engineering design and reduced carbon footprint, Thomas Bader.
- Visual analytics for explainable and trustworthy machine learning, Angelos Chatzimparmpas.
- New wine in new bottles: Preconditions for a modern civil defence, Douglas Brommesson.