New R&D and innovation center Innovations and technology leadership are the cornerstones of Vaisala’s success. As our customers need reliable and sustainable products that work anywhere from the freezing cold of the Antarctica to the scorching heat of Sahara, as well as from demanding industrial environments all the way to space, this is where the new R&D premises step in. Throughout our long history as a leader in environmental and industrial measurements, science-based innovations have been at the core of Vaisala. As the need for accurate observations is ever increasing as a result of several pressing societal and environmental megatrends, we have opened a new R&D and innovation center to further boost innovations for a sustainable future. The new premises are located next to our headquarters and production facilities in Vantaa, Finland. The new R&D center is a unique arena for product development, including all levels from starting co-innovation with customers to hardware and software design, development, and testing, after which also production to a large extent takes place at the same campus area. The new building houses about 300 experts, representing 67% of Vaisala’s R&D personnel in total, working in various areas of research and development. Image Curiosity and experimental product development in the center of the design The planning of the new building has been highly user-centric, starting with a study of the users and their types of work as well as analyzing the typical lifecycles of projects. We found out that a core element of success is that collaboration runs smoothly throughout the projects and that we can drive experimental product development with a “From idea to product” approach. The physical building is planned so that key spaces are located close to each other, most of them on one floor. This makes it possible to start innovating together with our customers in a meeting room, and very rapidly move from the ideation phase to concretizing a potential product for example using 3D printing. As laboratories are located both near the meeting rooms and the main hallway leading to the other buildings at the Vaisala headquarters, this enables sharing the work between the teams and learning from each other. Image Working smoothly in hospital incubators, hurricanes, and space Whether our products and solutions are monitoring cell culturing, helping nations and people to cope with extreme weather or going to space with NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover, they need to work reliably and accurately in the most extreme of conditions, always fulfilling demanding requirements for measurement performance. To ensure the highest standards, we have custom designed testing equipment that mimics real-world conditions in a unique way. High-performance and long-term stability of the sensors is ensured by thorough testing in our versatile testing systems. Controlled and safe gas testing environments are always the basis for the development of top-class gas sensors for applications like biogas process control, transformer monitoring or hydrogen peroxide decontamination. In a nutshell, testing is a key part of our design process, and a truly essential element for Vaisala. Almost 40 custom-made laboratories There are 37 custom-made laboratories in the new R&D center. These include a spacious EMC lab for measuring electromagnetic compliance, rain tower for simulating natural rain, vibration & free fall laboratory, environmental chambers, where instruments can be tested in extreme temperatures and humidity conditions, and system testing laboratories, where software compatibility and quality is ensured. Construction work of the 7,900 m2 building begun in January 2019, and employees have gradually started to work in the new premises during the spring 2021. Get a glimpse of the new R&D and innovation center Watch the video New R&D and innovation center
New R&D and innovation center Innovations and technology leadership are the cornerstones of Vaisala’s success. As our customers need reliable and sustainable products that work anywhere from the freezing cold of the Antarctica to the scorching heat of Sahara, as well as from demanding industrial environments all the way to space, this is where the new R&D premises step in.
Throughout our long history as a leader in environmental and industrial measurements, science-based innovations have been at the core of Vaisala. As the need for accurate observations is ever increasing as a result of several pressing societal and environmental megatrends, we have opened a new R&D and innovation center to further boost innovations for a sustainable future. The new premises are located next to our headquarters and production facilities in Vantaa, Finland. The new R&D center is a unique arena for product development, including all levels from starting co-innovation with customers to hardware and software design, development, and testing, after which also production to a large extent takes place at the same campus area. The new building houses about 300 experts, representing 67% of Vaisala’s R&D personnel in total, working in various areas of research and development. Image Curiosity and experimental product development in the center of the design The planning of the new building has been highly user-centric, starting with a study of the users and their types of work as well as analyzing the typical lifecycles of projects. We found out that a core element of success is that collaboration runs smoothly throughout the projects and that we can drive experimental product development with a “From idea to product” approach. The physical building is planned so that key spaces are located close to each other, most of them on one floor. This makes it possible to start innovating together with our customers in a meeting room, and very rapidly move from the ideation phase to concretizing a potential product for example using 3D printing. As laboratories are located both near the meeting rooms and the main hallway leading to the other buildings at the Vaisala headquarters, this enables sharing the work between the teams and learning from each other. Image Working smoothly in hospital incubators, hurricanes, and space Whether our products and solutions are monitoring cell culturing, helping nations and people to cope with extreme weather or going to space with NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover, they need to work reliably and accurately in the most extreme of conditions, always fulfilling demanding requirements for measurement performance. To ensure the highest standards, we have custom designed testing equipment that mimics real-world conditions in a unique way. High-performance and long-term stability of the sensors is ensured by thorough testing in our versatile testing systems. Controlled and safe gas testing environments are always the basis for the development of top-class gas sensors for applications like biogas process control, transformer monitoring or hydrogen peroxide decontamination. In a nutshell, testing is a key part of our design process, and a truly essential element for Vaisala. Almost 40 custom-made laboratories There are 37 custom-made laboratories in the new R&D center. These include a spacious EMC lab for measuring electromagnetic compliance, rain tower for simulating natural rain, vibration & free fall laboratory, environmental chambers, where instruments can be tested in extreme temperatures and humidity conditions, and system testing laboratories, where software compatibility and quality is ensured. Construction work of the 7,900 m2 building begun in January 2019, and employees have gradually started to work in the new premises during the spring 2021.
