The Location Innovation Hub is Europe’s only centre of excellence focused on location information. LIH works with a largenetwork of partners. Operations started in early 2023.
“Our goal at LIH is to support businesses and government organisations in developing their competitiveness. We help to take leaps in digitalisation by using location data,” says Project Manager Antti Jakobsson.
“We are one of four European Digital Innovation Hubs in Finland. We operate on a one-stop-shop basis, directing customers to the services of other European hubs.”
LIH helps businesses develop solutions for the future
According to the European Green Deal, businesses and governments should now look for concrete solutions to climate challenges, biodiversity loss, overconsumption of natural resources and the promotion of a circular economy. The aim of the Location Innovation Hub is to support actors in making use of solutions such as next-generation positioning technologies and precise positioning. By harnessing the potential of high performance computing and artificial intelligence, a company can makea significant leap in development .
“We provide our customers with networks, partners, training, guides, and test environments. Together with a network of partners, we tailor the package to the company,” says Faris Alsuhail, technical infrastructure specialist at the Location Innovation Hub.
“We measure the digital maturity of customers at the beginning of the process and find out how the company is developing. The goal is to increase the competitiveness and digital competence of our customers so that they can thrive in the European market and expand into new business areas,” says Alsuhail.
Networks unleash the potential of location data
The actual customer work in the Location Innovation Hub will start in the autumn 2023, when most of the services will be ready to be offered to customers. During the spring and summer, LIH has already been showcased at various events. For example, LIH brought to Finland the Geomob event concept, which is popular around the world. The first Geomob Helsinki event attracted dozens of researchers, students and companies interested in the future of earth observation. The event was a good example of LIH activities aimed at sharing knowledge, strengthening networks between people and promoting the potential of location data.
”From a sustainable development perspective, more efficient use of satellite data would make a lot of things possible! Innovations are waiting to be implemented when considering how to meet different environmental and climate requirements in sectors such as forestry and agriculture”, says Joonas Jokela, Customer and Network Manager at the Location Innovation Hub.
Aiming for a permanent ecosystem
From the outset, the Location Innovation Hub’s aim has been to create a permanent basis for action. LIH and other Digital Hubs are actively engaged with both the business community and government. Funding is essential as it helps small businesses to grow.
“We should have a dedicated funding programme with a permanent status to promote digitalisation through location-based information. This is what LIH is trying to contribute to,” says Antti Jakobsson.
“Our goal is to bring more innovations and businesses that make efficient and secure use of location data for a cleaner future in Europe.”
Location Innovation Hub
The Location Innovation Hub (LIH) is a centre of excellence in location information coordinated by the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute.
LIH serves small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and public administrations that have the need to test and refine innovation and develop their businesses with location data.
LIH consists of a wide network of companies, research organisations and universities, as well as the public sector.
The Location Innovation Hub, supported by the European Commission, is one of the four digital innovation hubs in Finland (EDIH) and is part of the European network of innovation hubs.
Read more: www.locationinnovationhub.eu
