Association for Cooperation for Research and Development of Electronics KOTEL - Finland

 

KOTEL is an association for co-operation in the fields of research and development of electronics in Finland. It aims to advance quality, reliability and economy of electronics. The co-operation includes the whole life cycle of a product: development, production, delivery, use and service.

 

Co-operation is carried out in workgroups, research projects and training concentrating on specific topics with in the operating area of KOTEL. The KOTEL working groups act as a focus for the sharing of technical information and experiences relating to various sub-areas in the field of electronics. The main functions of the work groups are to draw up proposals for research projects and topics of focus and to assemble groups of experts to share information on technologies and problems.

 

Current KOTEL Work Groups are:

 

TR5 Environmental tests

TR6 Reliability technology

TR7 Electromagnetic interference

TR12 Software engineering

TR15 Mechanical design

TR18 Thermal design of electronics

TR19 Environmental issues

TR19 Printed Circuit Boards

History

 

KOTEL was created in April of 1967, on the initiative of the advisory board of the VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) radio laboratory, representatives of state institutions and Finnish electronics companies were invited to attend a conference to discuss the development of testing in Finland, reliability research, international collaboration and the required organisation.

 

In June of 1967 a commission set up at the conference proposed the establishment of a "Collaborative body for the trial-testing and study of components (KTY.)" The constitutive meeting was held on 25.9.1967. Twelve companies and institutions registered as members at that meeting, and the VTT radio laboratory volunteered to provide the KTY with office- and secretarial services.

 

Founding members:

Oy Fiskars Ab, Electronics

Airforce Headquarters

Imatran Voima Oy

Oy Nokia Ab, Electronics

Post and Telegraph Administration

GHQ (General Staff of the Armed Forces, main headquarters), dept. of electrical engineering

Oy Strömberg Ab

Televa

Vaisala Oy

Wallac Oy

Finnish State Railways

Oy Yleisradio Ab (Finnish Broadcasting Company)

 

At their first meeting, the working committee decided on the acronym KOTEL. At first, KOTEL strove towards the organised sharing of information on component testing, but soon centred it activities on a workgroup mode of collaboration comprising the formulation of recommendations, drawing up of questionnaires and the publication of workgroup reports dealing with topical issues in the fields of components, environmental testing and quality.

 

In order to consolidate its position, KOTEL became a registered association in 1983. Amongst other things, this made it possible to arrange funding for research projects. In 1986, KOTEL broadened its activities to include collaboration at the Nordic level by signing a co-operative agreement with sister organisations in the other Scandinavian countries. Collaboration takes the form of sharing information on the reports, training events and research projects undertaken by the respective sister organisations.