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The Porter´s value chain model was introduced for strategic business purposes. During the last decades also Universities and University based institutes have started to use actions similar to private business concepts. A University based institute is not independent actor like company but there are interest groups who are expecting them to act like they would be. This article discusses about the possibility of utilize tuned value chain to public research organizations (PRO). Also the interactions of tuned value chain model to existing industrial network are discussed. The case study object is the Centre for Separation Technology (CST) at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) in Finland.Keywords: value chain; public research organization; research collaboration. J. Technol. Manag. Innov. 2012, Volume 7, Issue 4 Finland has been executed like the transition of public research and technology organizations (Loikkanen et al., 2011) and the evaluation practices in public research organizations (Lähteenmäki et al., 2006).Because the interest of this study is closely linked to chemical engineering (and any other capital intensive industry where the actions are similar) the studies of Kannegiesser (2008) are essential.Bin and Salles-Filhoa (2012) studied the contributions to a methodological framework in science, technology and innovation management and an interesting case study from Brazilian university where the focus was orientation towards sustainable innovation is reported by Löbler et al. (2012). Research frameworkIt is widely recognized that technological innovation plays a central role in the long-run economic growth of a social system and that emerging technologies. The Triple Helix model, theorized by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz, 1996), suggests that in a knowledge-based society the boundaries between public and private sector, science and technology, university and industry are increasingly fading, giving rise to a system of overlapping interactions which did not previously exist. In practice the model is seen for example as universities are performing tasks that were formerly assigned to firms and vice versa. While the academic work is being redirected towards commercial applications, industry-university collaboration is becoming a critical issue; and wider industrial and political interests are integrated into the planning and organization of university research. The Triple Helix thesis states that the university can play an enhanced role in innovation in increasingly knowledge-based societies. Therefore academic researchers have to take into account the impacts of the scientific outputs of their work onto industry, and at the same time researchers working in industry need to be up-dated on the evolutionary developments of science. (Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz, 2000; Ughetto, 2011) Patent markets can be considered as an example in terms of three coordination mechanism because of the "social contract" implicit in the patent system. In Figure 1, patents are considere...

The moisture content of filter cakes is probably the most important characteristic that should be kept at a desired level in industrial cake filtration applications to maintain consistent product quality and minimize energy consumption. Most of the currently applied methods for contactless real-time monitoring of the moisture content are based for example on x-ray or microwave techniques, and therefore, the equipment for the purpose is highly specialized. This paper introduces a novel soft sensor for filter cake moisture estimation that uses machine learning algorithms and data collected with basic process instrumentation. The method is primarily based on the cooling effect observed in the cake and air, caused by evaporation of liquid from the cake during the dewatering period, and it can be supported by other process data. The specific energy consumption of vacuum filtration and the subsequent thermal drying to zero moisture is also analyzed. The results of pilot-scale experiments with calcite slurry and a horizontal belt vacuum filter show that in order to minimize the specific energy consumption of vacuum filtration, it is crucial to find the right combination of slurry concentration, vacuum level, and mass of filter cake per unit area. The proposed method for estimating the filter cake moisture content is especially suitable for real-time monitoring and control, enabling also considerable reduction in the energy consumption of the overall process. When applying the proposed soft sensor method in a pilot-scale process, the mean absolute error of the estimated moisture content of the filter cake is ~0.4 percentage points when the temperature of air at the vacuum pump inlet and the vacuum pump air flow rate are included in the input variables.