Satu Ek

Satu is a Senior Project Manager at Spinverse for the planning and preparation of Horizon 2020 project proposals. She is specialised in the development of bioenergy and ALD thin film applications, and advanced nanomaterials in general. She has a lot of experience in fruitful European collaboration between industry and academia, and application-oriented R&D work aiming for new products in various SME companies. Satu has also acted as an expert in the evaluation of project proposals for Horizon 2020 calls on behalf of the European Commission.

For several years Satu has actively participated in the planning and preparation of numerous successful applications in the FP7 and Horizon 2020 framework programmes with a total of EU funding worth of hundreds of millions euros. Prior to the work at Spinverse, she worked for seven years as a project manager in collaborative EU and national projects at Picosun for the development of ALD thin film processes and equipment for various applications and industries. Previously, Satu has worked for the development of bioenergy applications, such as biogas, biodiesel and purification processes of water, at Preseco. Additionally, she has worked for the development of chemical characterization equipment at Biolin Scientific.

Satu has a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry at Helsinki University of Technology, currently known as Aalto University. She has been an author or co-author of dozens of scientific publications and conference abstracts in the field of ALD/MLD thin films and ALD/MLD-modification of various kinds of substrates. In her thesis she studied gas-solid reactions of aminoalkoxysilanes on porous silica and the MLD deposition process of polyimides in the gas phase. She has given numerous speeches in the field of nanotechnology in international seminars and panels. Satu keenly follows technology developments in different industries, especially related to clean technology, (bio)energy, nanotechnology and various materials.

In her spare time, Satu enjoys being outdoors with her family and friends jogging, swimming and spending time with her kids’ football hobby. Travelling, study of foreign languages, breeding cats, music and photography are also close to her heart.