Project Alpha coordinated by Centria, prepares for its first testing event

Saku Seppälä is leading a major project in which new solutions are being created to enable the presentation of user-specific situational awareness in networked and allied inter agency activities.

Centria is coordinating Project Alpha, a nationally and internationally significant project that aims to create new knowledge, expertise and shared innovations for identifying cyber threats as well as for improving situational awareness. The research project, part of Business Finland’s Digital Trust programme, develops solutions and interfaces to integrate different systems and data sources. The new solutions will enable the presentation of user-specific situational awareness in networked and allied interagency activities.

Project Alpha’s first testing event will be held 31.10-2.11.2023 at the Vierimantie campus in Ylivieska. Its purpose is to bring the project actors together, test the functionality of the data sources and software, see how the components are made so far work with each other and plan together what improvements and additions are needed for the next public testing event. The trial is seen as an important milestone in the project, for which careful preparations are made. It is a concrete opportunity to jointly test the different Proof of Concept solutions produced during the project. Working closely together has produced synergies between the different actors, says Project Manager Saku Seppälä.

– It is extremely nice to work with such a diverse consortium, says Saku Seppälä, who is particularly fascinated by the synergy of different skills and actors in Project Alpha. – It is also interesting in this time. Project Alpha is doing important work to support decision-making between public authorities, says Seppälä.  

Seppälä is originally from Kokkola, but has lived and worked for most of his working life in the capital region. The new employee at Centria, who now lives in Ylivieska, is motivated by clear objectives. – The salt of project work is that the objectives set are to be met within a certain time frame. After that, we can set new goals with a sense of purpose. 

In addition to project coordinator Centria, Project Alpha’s research involves VTT, Airbus, Anarky Labs, Bittium, EXFO, Erillisverkot, Fairspectrum, Goodmill Systems, Insta, Mentura, Nokia, the Finnish Defence Research Institute (PVTUTKL) and the Finnish Ministry of the Interior. The project is funded by Business Finland.