How can we create health-secure spaces? How do viruses and other pathogens spread? How do we account for human behaviour? The multidisciplinary E3 Excellence in Pandemic Response and Enterprise Solutions (E3) project has provided answers to these questions, offering new scientifically validated knowledge and practical solutions. The project culminated in a public final seminar, Tackling Pandemics (30th October 2024, Helsinki), where the project's public final report was also released. The event highlighted the latest research findings related to virus diagnostics, transmission routes, and the design of healthy spaces, and discussed how these findings can be implemented in practice.

The E3 project emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic from the need to develop and create research-based solutions to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens. This three-year joint development project involved seven research institutions and 22 companies, completed at the end of October 2024.

The project's aim has been to ensure that already during the Covid-19 pandemic and in particular before the emergence of the next one, comprehensive understanding and concrete technical solutions are available to reduce the spread of airborne pathogens in places where people meet, thereby helping pandemics end more quickly.

The solutions developed in the project have proven to be highly useful and necessary in combatting seasonal respiratory infections and are also effective during pandemics. The highly interdisciplinary medical component of the E3 project has investigated virus transmission in relation to infectivity and diagnostics. This has provided a solid medical foundation for research into air quality and building technology and practical experimental research conducted with companies in environments such as daycare centres, offices and hospitals.

Key research finding of the E3 project is that cleaning indoor air can significantly reduce illness rates. In the E3 daycare study, it was found that children's illness rates decreased by 18% when more clean air was introduced into the spaces using local air purifiers. The achievement of illness-reducing effects is ensured through correctly placed and sized air purifiers. This result is significant not only for children's wellbeing but also for reducing parents' work absences, which has a substantial societal cost impact.

HUS Helsinki University Hospital research doctor Ville Vartiainen from the E3 project states: "The research shows that common infectious diseases also spread through the air, and they can be prevented by removing pathogens from indoor air."

Roche is one of the companies involved in the CleverHealth Network ecosystem and brought their virus diagnostics expertise to the E3 project.  

”Thanks to the volunteered families from daycare centres, we got important Real World samples which are normally not available for research purposes. These samples will be tested by using our new test for respiratory infections, bringing valuable information on the prevalence of different viruses,” says Medical Scientific Liaison Manager Milla Mikkola from Roche Diagnostics.

"According to the research, purifying indoor air can significantly reduce morbidity, but air purifiers must be properly placed and sized according to the use of the space. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the air purifiers actually remain operational," reminds Professor of Practice Piia Sormunen from the University of Tampere.

Similarly, a pilot study conducted in a hospital environment in Romania confirmed significant reductions in particulate concentration and demonstrated that the indoor air quality of an old hospital building can be significantly improved with the help of air purifiers.

Studies in Finland also showed that producing clean air with air purifiers in a hospital room  achieved almost the same standardised threshold values as in recently constructed isolation rooms. Increasing clean air production thus makes it possible to protect patients from the environment and staff from infectious patients. Such solutions have significant potential globally for mitigating risks regarding airborne diseases in hospital environments.

Collaboration between companies and researchers has also advanced understanding in so-called microenvironments, aiming to improve indoor air quality locally, for example, in offices. The project has created special zones within spaces where air quality has been improved, and these conditions have been studied through experimental measurements and modelling. By creating microenvironments, indoor air quality and thermal comfort can be improved locally without increasing ventilation and, consequently, energy consumption.

Overall, the E3 research has demonstrated that the functionality of ventilation systems and the cleanliness of indoor air play a central role in preventing the spread of airborne diseases. Therefore, the functionality of the ventilation system must be designed from a health security perspective in the most effective way, taking into account not only buildings but also human activities within them. E3 insights provide new tools for this purpose. The project has also developed a comprehensive model for assessing infection risk, which can be used to evaluate the risk of infection in various spaces and conditions and to tailor air purification solutions according to actual needs.

"Interdisciplinary collaboration proved to be a recommended approach, as even the best research data does not reach the market without companies," states Jukka Vasara, Deputy CEO of Granlund and Chairman of the project's steering group.

As part of the E3 project, Granlund and AW2 Architects carried out their own development project, in which a model for modular hospital design was created. This model brought together the functional and technical requirements of patient rooms and other repetitive spaces and standardized technical building systems as well as entire room groups, such as hospital wards. The project also defined the lifecycle costs and carbon footprint of a typical hospital.

"Modular hospital design speeds up the initiation of the project because the initial plans can be assembled from typical rooms and wards. This saves time and costs for the entire project," Vasara concludes.