Centre for Wireless Communications
Mission
The mission of Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) is to conduct world-class research,
train world-class graduates, create new technology and support industry.
Links
Department of Communications Engineering
University of Oulu
Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, or Tekes,
is the main public funding organisation for research, development and innovation in Finland.
Academy of Finland is the prime funding agency for basic research in Finland.
Finnish science and technology information service
City of Oulu
This is Finland
Visit Finland
Facts & Figures
The Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) is a professionally managed project-funded research group operating in conjunction with the Department of Communications Engineering at the University of Oulu, Finland. CWC's main office is located at the Linnanmaa campus area of the University of Oulu. In addition, CWC has a second office called CWC Kainuu in Vuokatti, 200km south east from Oulu. Running 30-40 research projects annually, CWC’s yearly budget has been stabilized to 6-7M€. The division of external funding in year 2009 is presented below.
CWC’s research activities are strongly characterized by three facts. First, it operates as “a bridge” between academia and industry supporting its research partners’ R&D work. Second, it aims at producing results that are of the highest international level. Third, its operations must cover all the resulting expenses, and if possible, CWC must be profitable. In short, the operational principles of CWC resemble corporate practices rather than those typical to universities. Surplus from CWC’s projects is used for strategic projects and for making new openings.
In 2010, CWC is running 41 projects with external research funding. During the last five years, the number of projects per year has varied very little proving the stability of the project base. In 2000-2010, CWC has carried out research in total 141 projects with funding from various external sources and with durations mostly between 0,5 and 3 years. These statistics are illustrated below.
CWC currently employs 100 researchers who are experts in wireless communications. In addition, there are 7 members of administrative staff. The composition of CWC’s staff and the educational level of research staff are illustrated below. More than half of the staff is doctoral students whereas almost one third of the research staff is professors and postdoctoral researchers.
The organisation aims at continuous knowledge building and achievements in the form of academic outputs, i.e. degrees and publications. These objectives are harmonised with the demands of project work where the interests of all cooperation partners are combined to achieve ideal results.