Arto Hippula is a distinguished professional in project founding, renowned for his daily efforts in convening consortiums composed of industrial and interest groups. His expertise lies in fostering collaboration, co-invention, co-development, and the co-exploitation of research projects and their outcomes. His work is characterized by innovative ideation in the landscape of interactive technology. He is dedicated to discovering ways in which this technology can be harnessed to drive industrial and commercial benefits while enhancing the accessibility, safety, and efficiency of computer-based systems, services, and machinery. With a wealth of experience and a strong educational background, Arto adeptly identifies the needs and opportunities within the realm of interactive technology across various industries, from specialized user needs to defense and industrial automation. His previous role in a Nordic assistive technology funding organization has equipped him with invaluable insights into Nordic welfare systems and the challenges faced by user groups with disabilities and impairments.

Through constructive and experimental research, TAUCHI aims to obtain a profound understanding of the phenomena that affect and regulate human-technology interaction, to apply this knowledge in creating better ways of interaction, particularly utilizing less used modalities, and to improve the quality of life and inclusion of select user groups (including mobile users, physically challenged users, visually impaired, children and elderly people), enabling their use of information and communication technology. Examples of our results include public transportation route information services that are accessible on mobile phones using spoken dialogue; the services are in public use in Tampere. Similarly, our basic research produces results that are applicable in general, when developing mainstream applications. At the other end of the spectrum are prototypes developed for special user communities, such as children and users with severe disabilities. A novel multimodal media center application has been produced for physically and visually impaired users. Using eye-tracking technology we have developed an application that more than doubled the text entry rate achievable for users with motor neuron disabilities. Haptics (feedback based on touch) are currently studied extensively to provide a communication mechanism for users with vision impairments – and for all users who are faced with communication in busy environments.