The Helsinki Testbed

This week has been a busy one for me and the other people who are working with the Helsinki Testbed. Last Monday I gave a presentation at Vaisala about my vision for the collaboration between research, operational forecasting, and the commercial sector in Helsinki. (Apparently in advertising my talk, Vaisala public affairs sent out the URL to this blog, eliciting lots of new readers from Vaisala. Hello Vaisala Readers!) The talk was well attended and well received, from what I've heard.

This week there were two big activities for the Testbed. Wednesday was the planning meeting for Phase II, where new applications would be developed, at Vaisala. Thursday was the Testbed Workshop, where research results and the status of the Testbed were reviewed. Richard Pyle from Vaisala in Boulder had come to talk about his vision for the Testbed within Vaisala's Precision Weather initiative. As a historical curiosity, Rich Pyle was at SUNY Albany (Computer Science, SUNY 1983) at the same time I arrived in 1991. No truth to the rumor he left shortly after I arrived because I arrived!

Anyway, I see a lot of potential for the Testbed in the next few years based on the optimism that I saw at these two meetings this week. It's an exciting time to be at Helsinki!