The projects receiving support were selected from 112 applications with a total value of €85 million. The funded projects, worth a total of €50.6 million, will run until August 31, 2029.

The projects focus on addressing challenges important to Estonia's development in four areas: adding value to local resources, digital solutions, health technologies and smart and sustainable energy solutions. In all the projects, researchers will work closely with companies and industry associations to ensure that scientific knowledge is quickly translated into practical solutions.

"Through the TemTA program, we are investing in research collaboration that seeks solutions to real challenges facing Estonia and creates new knowledge, technologies and services," said Mats Hansen, head of targeted funding at the Estonian Research Council. According to Hansen, it is particularly important that the projects are developed in cooperation with companies and other users from the outset.

Researchers and partners from across Estonia are participating in the funded projects. A total of 13 research institutions, including six Estonian universities of applied sciences, as well as 184 companies and organizations and 121 doctoral students and early-career researchers are involved in projects funded in the program's second round. Topics range from improving elite athletes' performance to recycling textile waste and developing security architecture solutions for artificial intelligence networks.

According to Tarmo Sildeberg, vice rector for development at Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, the participation of universities of applied sciences in TemTA projects helps research results reach companies. "Our role is to put knowledge into practice — we test and evaluate new solutions through prototypes and applied research," he said.

Sildeberg said the knowledge gained from research and development also supports teaching by bringing real-world problems faced by companies and workplaces to students and faculty. "Closer cooperation with universities is also valuable because combining the expertise of different parties produces solutions with practical value," he added.

Practical projects

Including the results of the first round, 113 research and development projects have now received support from the TemTA program. While 48 projects were launched in the first round, another 65 research teams will begin work in September.

A total of €103 million is being invested in these projects. This means that hundreds of researchers, entrepreneurs and doctoral students will work together over the coming years to find solutions to Estonia's economic and social development needs.

Kristel Reim, program manager at the Ministry of Education and Research's research department, noted that too often valuable knowledge remains confined to a laboratory or research paper. "TemTA's goal is to help that knowledge reach companies — in the form of products and services that provide real benefits," she said.

Reim said she was pleased to see that many companies have decided to work with researchers to help solve problems important to Estonia. "This kind of cooperation is precisely what helps narrow the gap between research results and their practical application and creates an opportunity for solutions developed through these projects to find their way into companies' everyday operations and our daily lives," she said.

TemTA differs from other research funding measures in that projects are based on the specific needs of companies and sectors. In preparation for the second round, companies and organizations submitted nearly 300 development challenges, which also served as the basis for the projects' design.

Effect in numbers

• Funded projects: 113
• Total funding: €103.4 million
• Research institutions participating in the projects: 13
• Companies and organizations participating in the projects: 300
• Doctoral students/early-career researchers involved: 121

A list of the funded projects is available on the Estonian Research Council's website: etag.ee/temta.

TemTA is co-funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Education and Research. The program is administered by the Estonian Research Council.

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