Institute of Technology in The University of Tartu (TUIT) is successful in many fields of research, including materials science, robotics, biomedical and environmental technology, synthetic biology. However, the main weakness is found to be in the lack of integration in many of these areas into multidisciplinary framework. In addition to its strong research activities, TUIT also has a significant background in business collaborations and has long-standing collaborations with major European research centers such as CERN. Summarizing the activities of TUIT so far, we see that all areas of smart specialization of Estonia are affected, however they remain separated into different research directions of TUIT. Moreover, in addition to smart specialization, Estonia's decision to join CERN builds an important opportunity. Specifically, in addition to particle physics related R&D, CERN has a broad impact in multidisciplinary applications and technology procurement, providing opportunities for wide range of research activities.
All these disciplines are successfully united by material technology, enabling the application of the principles of interdisciplinarity to contribute to their simultaneous development. In materials technology, we integrate cutting-edge computer simulations and material models (Information and Communication Technology (ICT), horizontally and across disciplines) that support the development of new materials using nanotechnology applications. This, in turn, is an important prerequisite for, among other things, health technologies and application development, as well as the creation of innovative materials in many different fields (renewable energy, micro and nanotechnology, electronics, etc.).