Unikie aims to become the leading AI Lab in the Nordics: The company increases investments in AI development

The company's Chief Technology Officer Niko Haatainen will take charge of the AI Lab and Peter Sarlin will invest in the company.

/EIN News/ -- TAMPERE, Finland, May 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Technology and innovation company Unikie has made a significant investment in artificial intelligence by establishing a new AI Lab that aims to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence by customer companies and expand the use of artificial intelligence in its own product development and business.

The new AI laboratory will serve as the spearhead of Unikie's artificial intelligence expertise. Its operations are led by the company's CTO Niko Haatainen, and Silo AI's founder and AMD Silo AI's CEO Peter Sarlin invests in the company.

"Using artificial intelligence in our own development has given us an understanding of what AI really changes. This allows us to help our customers on a genuinely practical level – not just based on theory," says the company's CTO Niko Haatainen.

A strong foundation for an international-level AI player

Unikie has a strong track record of developing and utilizing artificial intelligence extensively – from serving Europe's largest automotive companies to smart drones and other smart devices, such as mobile phones. The company's CTO Niko Haatainen, who is responsible for artificial intelligence, leads the AI team, as part of an international technology organization of about 600 people.

Unikie's team has implemented numerous concrete AI projects, for example, for autonomous driving, drone technology and manufacturing applications, covering machine vision, the use of language models, traditional machine learning, and model architectures related to deep neural networks. The company serves clients in the network and communications, automotive, transport and logistics, and manufacturing and retail industries, including several Fortune 500 companies.

The company's own product for autonomous driving, Unikie Marshalling Solution, is an example of the deep integration of AI into a productized solution, which revolutionizes the logistics of car factories, ports and logistics compounds by automating, for example, the transfer of cars from factories to dealerships.

In addition, AI has been widely implemented across the company’s own software and product development processes – from coding and testing to HR processes by utilizing various language models and AI-based tools.

"Unikie is an excellent example of Finnish technology expertise that is strongly tied to practical work. The company has deep experience in demanding AI projects in industry and vehicle technology, a strong internal development team and its own product with artificial intelligence at its core. These are exactly the building blocks that will create the next generation of European AI operators," Sarlin says.

The AI Lab supports customers' AI journey

Unikie plans to increase its AI team to 100 specialists over the next twelve months.

"Unikie's strong investment in the concrete use of artificial intelligence will bring significant business benefits to our customers. I am particularly pleased that we have Peter as our AI laboratory advisor to support our growth," says Juha Ala-Laurila, CEO of Unikie.

The aim of the AI Lab is to bring artificial intelligence solutions closer to customers' business and product development. Focus areas include the following AI-enabled solutions:

• Device-centric AI applications, such as autonomous vehicles, computer vision solutions, drone technology, and industrial automation.
  
• Real-time quality assurance and process control using AI, delivering measurable cost savings to clients.
  
• Internal AI tools that accelerate software development and improve work quality.
  
  

"I believe that the value of AI will ultimately be measured by how deeply it is integrated into products and processes. Unikie is now in an excellent position to take the next growth leap and become one of Europe's top AI players," Sarlin concludes.

More info:
Unikie's AI offering: https://www.unikie.com/service/ai-data-analytics/
Reference cases: https://www.unikie.com/work/

Elina Mansner, Communications, Unikie, +358 44 044 7767, elina.mansner@unikie.com
Juha Ala-Laurila, CEO, Unikie, +358 50 553 4773, juha.ala-laurila@unikie.com

Unikie is a global software engineering and innovation company that provides intelligent solutions for the automotive, logistics, manufacturing, smart devices, and defence industries. The company makes extensive use of its expertise in advanced technologies, data analytics and the application of AI in embedded software development. The company aspires to be the preferred partner for leading players in their fields and a recommended employer for experienced software experts.  Unikie’s customers include companies like BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Cariad, Scania, Cargotec, Valmet, Sandvik and Nokia.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/076eeeb2-90fd-4567-88b0-557c5d7fded6
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Unikie’s logo on our office building

nikie's logo filmed at Unikie's Headquarters in Tampere, Finland.

From left: Niko Haatainen (CTO, Unikie), Peter Sarlin (CEO, AMD Silo AI), and Juha Ala-Laurila (CEO, Unikie)

In the picture from the left, Niko Haatainen (CTO, Unikie), Peter Sarlin (CEO, AMD Silo AI), and Juha Ala-Laurila (CEO, Unikie).