Researcher Entrepreneur of the Year is a €5,000 recognition award granted annually by the Academic Entrepreneurship Fund of the KAUTE Foundation to a researcher who has created a research-based business. In this article, we present the finalists for 2026. The winner will be selected in May.
Jana Buzkova – Nadmed Oy
Jana Buzkova is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the biotech company NADMED Oy and one of its four co-founders.
The company develops and provides technology for measuring NAD levels from blood samples. NADs are key molecules in cellular energy production and metabolism, influencing, for example, physical performance and aging.
“We followed a very traditional research path. When our CEO, Jari Närhi, joined the team, founding the company felt like a natural next step. He has extremely strong business expertise,” Buzkova says. Funding from Business Finland helped the team understand the commercial potential of their research.
Although Buzkova is a researcher at heart, she also enjoys the variety her role has brought to her daily work.
“Running a company has involved a lot of learning along the way, but my academic background has been very useful in supporting that journey. It also helps me communicate with people from different backgrounds, as I’ve been fortunate to meet a wide variety of people.”
People are a key source of motivation for Buzkova. She enjoys working closely with her team and operating behind the scenes.
“The best thing is being surrounded by people who are all pulling in the same direction and believe in the same goal. It’s incredible how much we’ve learned over the years.”
While there are similarities between academic work and entrepreneurship, Buzkova also sees clear differences. According to her, business is significantly faster-paced than academic research.
“In a company environment, it’s easier to try out different approaches, and the results can be shared much more rapidly”
Jana Buzkova, what would be the best possible thing that could happen to your company?
“The best outcome would be for a major clinical laboratory provider to adopt our NAD test as part of its standard testing panels. The NAD test should be easily accessible to everyone.”
Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen – NPHarvest Oy
Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen is the founder and CEO of NPHarvest. The company develops and leases equipment that recovers nitrogen and phosphorus accumulated in wastewater and further processes them into clean nutrient products. In this way, NPHarvest helps reduce eutrophication of water bodies and improves the efficiency of wastewater treatment.
NPHarvest is a continuation of an Aalto University project of the same name funded by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, within which Uzkurt Kaljunen began his doctoral research. While finalizing his PhD, he recognized the commercial potential of his research results.
“The value of my research is much greater when its results are commercialized. If my dissertation were to remain just a piece of academic knowledge, its societal impact would also be much smaller.”
According to Uzkurt Kaljunen, scientists are essential, as purely commercial innovation is exactly that—commercial.
“A great deal of innovation originates in academia. If we want to solve major challenges, we need an academic perspective. It helps us ask what kind of development is truly beneficial for society.”
For Uzkurt Kaljunen, startup entrepreneurship is a means to do meaningful work. While there are other similar technologies on the market, NPHarvest’s points of differentiation are clear.
“We focus on developing and delivering equipment that is easy to use and cost-efficient. Solutions like this are not really available yet,” Uzkurt Kaljunen explains.
“At the same time, we respond to the EU’s increasing focus on the circular economy.”
A demonstration unit leased to a customer is currently operating in Germany and has already produced promising results.
Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen, what would be the best possible thing that could happen to your company?
“Our goal is that nutrient recovery and recycling becomes the standard in the field, naturally with our technology. The best thing that can happen is that our equipment is in use in every biogas plant and wastewater treatment plant.”
Uzkurt Kaljunen believes that doing good leads to more good, and that scalable ideas have the power to change the world. “I’m not necessarily entrepreneurial by nature, but this company is deeply important to me.”
Fabio Valoppi – Perfat Technologies Oy
Dr. Fabio Valoppi is the Chief Technology Officer of Perfat Technologies Oy and one of the company’s co-founders. The company’s goal is to turn healthy vegetable oils into functional alternatives to traditional saturated fats from animal and tropical origin.
“With our technology, we can transform any liquid vegetable oil into oleogels, without any chemical modifications. Oleogels are materials that look like coconut oil or butter, with customizable properties like hardness and melting, that the food industry can use, for example, in baking.”
The company was not founded on a whim, but rather as a natural continuation of numerous research projects and funding rounds.
“We always ask how something could be done better or differently. Funding from Business Finland helped us understand how to commercialize our research results,” Valoppi says.
Before Perfat was established, and was still a project inside the University of Helsinki, the three co-founders started working together, each later taking on a leadership role: Fabio as CTO, Anton Nolvi as COO, and Jyrki Lee-Korhonen as CEO.
Valoppi is driven by curiosity, and it is that drive that shapes his work and contributes to the company’s commercial direction. “As CTO of Perfat, I get to focus on the impact of my work.”
The company’s most significant revenue stream comes from the development of healthy oleogels.
“Perfat Soft contains 80% less saturated fat, and 30% fewer calories than conventional solid fats, while still retaining the same structure as traditional fats used, for example, in baking. Perfat Soft also contains 30% dietary fiber, which is beneficial for gut health.”
In addition, developing solutions for other companies and licensing are an important part of Perfat Technologies Oy’s business model.
In Valoppi’s view, entrepreneurship and research have much in common.
“The romantic image of the researcher is dead. A 21st-century researcher is essentially an entrepreneur. Applying for funding, pitching ideas, and taking care of people, research, and finances is very much like running a company.”
According to Valoppi, the leap from researcher to entrepreneur is more of a step than a jump.
Fabio Valoppi, what would be the best possible thing that could happen to your company?
“The best thing would be for our technology to live on indefinitely and help people live healthier lives. It would also be great to have our own research and technology center where we could continue development. You need the right environment to grow: If you only have a sandbox, you don’t know anything about swinging. A playground enables much more.”
The Researcher Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 will be selected in May
The Researcher Entrepreneur of the Year award may be granted to an individual who is a full-time entrepreneur with a new, research-based business idea, whose company is in the early stages of development (less than five years in operation and annual turnover of less than €10 million).
Learn more about previous winners and finalists: