The Young Researcher Award to Dr. Pia Silventoinen-Veijalainen

Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion has awarded the 2026 Young Researcher Award to VTT researcher and team leader Pia Silventoinen-Veijalainen. She develops novel plant-based ingredients and production processes for plant proteins. In her work, Silventoinen-Veijalainen seeks solutions for producing healthy and tasty food more sustainably in the future.

For a young researcher Pia Silventoinen-Veijalainen, 34, already has a long career behind her.

“I’ve studied practically every possible cereal crop in a wide range of different projects,” she says, reflecting on the past ten years at VTT, where she has spent her entire career so far.

In addition to cereals, Silventoinen-Veijalainen’s research focuses on legumes such as faba beans, which can be used to develop high-quality plant-based foods.

A student exchange in France during her university studies initially led Silventoinen-Veijalainen to pursue a career in the food sector. Bio- and food engineering technology quickly captivated her because it combined engineering sciences with concrete questions related to people’s everyday lives, nutrition and food choices.

Her research has focused on dry fractionation technologies used in the production and processing of plant-based food ingredients. Unlike conventional food ingredient production processes, dry fractionation technologies do not use water or chemicals, making them more energy-efficient.

The goal is to develop more sustainable ways of producing food ingredients while also improving the texture, quality and taste of plant-based products.

Sustainability, Nutrition and Food security at One Table

Plant-based diets are no longer a marginal phenomenon but part of a broader transformation, linking environmental issues, nutrition and food security together.

“In the future climate change might lead to the need to cultivate new kinds of plant species in Finland. That is why we need a deep understanding of different plant materials,” Silventoinen-Veijalainen explains.

From a circular economy perspective, food production should be examined throughout the entire value chain — from field to table and further on to the utilisation of side streams. The aim is to use all raw materials and process fractions as efficiently as possible in high value-added products instead of allowing usable material to go to waste.

Research into domestic plant-based raw materials and new food production methods also strengthens Finland’s security of supply: the more we can develop and produce food and food ingredients domestically, the more self-sufficient and resilient the food system will remain under changing conditions.

Silventoinen-Veijalainen’s background as a volleyball player in her youth first sparked her interest in healthy food – an interest that still continues to motivate her research today: the goal is to develop products that are not only sustainable but also nutritionally high-quality.

Collaboration with companies brings research into practice

At VTT, Silventoinen-Veijalainen has led numerous industry projects aimed at understanding the potential of new products, processes and production methods before scaling them up to larger production volumes.

Research collaboration helps companies reduce the financial risks associated with product development. Companies gain access to research and development expertise that would not always be possible to build within their own organisations.

“It’s important for society that inventions and innovations created in research institutes are taken forward so that research does not remain in laboratories but is used to create new products, technologies and business,” Silventoinen-Veijalainen says.

In the best cases, VTT’s research projects generate inventions that can be patented and further developed in collaboration with companies. Such inventions have also emerged from Silventoinen-Veijalainen’s projects. In some cases, research also gives rise to entirely new start-up companies built around technologies and expertise developed in research organisations.

From young researcher to experienced mentor

Silventoinen-Veijalainen’s research career is impressive. She has published 20 peer-reviewed scientific articles and served as a supervisor for master’s theses and doctoral research.

For Silventoinen-Veijalainen, the most rewarding aspects of research are ideas, understanding the phenomena behind them and seeing new results emerge. Her fascination in research data and interpreting experimental results began early in her career, and that curiosity has stayed with her ever since.

In her current role as a team leader, she is especially motivated by supporting team members and developing new ideas together.

“It is wonderful to see colleagues learn new things, come up with new ideas and become inspired together. I’ve been fortunate to have excellent mentors, who have encouraged and inspired me throughout my career,” Silventoinen-Veijalainen says.

Silventoinen-Veijalainen remains deeply interested in the innovation and development of plant-based foods. She is also increasingly interested in biotechnological food production, where food or food ingredients are produced in bioreactors using microbes.

This also impressed the award committee of The Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion:

“Silventoinen-Veijalainen’s research represents exactly the kind of forward-looking technological expertise that we at the foundation wish to highlight with the Young Researcher Award. Her work combines sustainable development, security of supply, novel food technologies, and the development of Finnish business in a way that our times truly require,” says Jorma Kyyrä, Chair of the Grant Committee.

She is motivated by following the direction in which the food system is evolving. As a team leader, her work has increasingly shifted from individual research questions towards understanding broader systems and developments.

Food research also has a personal dimension for Silventoinen-Veijalainen. As a mother of two, she often reflects on what kind of food future generations will eat.

“When I think about the future of food, I also think about my children — about ensuring that they will have healthy and nutritious food in the future.”

The Young Researcher Award is granted by the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion. The award may be granted to a young researcher in the field of technology who has achieved significant scientific results, created notable technological innovations and/or worked closely with industry. In addition, the research must have significance from the perspective of sustainable development. The recipient must also demonstrate postdoctoral research achievements.

The award may be granted to a person who turns no more than 35 during the calendar year in question. The prize amount is €10,000.

Text: Irene Omwami/Kaskas

Photos: Vilja Pursiainen