PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Simo Särkkä

Simo Särkkä is an Aalto professor whose research uses Bayesian filtering and sensor data for machine learning, location sensing and medical technology. He earned engineering degrees at Helsinki University of Technology, worked in industry at Nokia, Indagon and Nalco, and advanced at Aalto from Senior Researcher to tenured professor. His book Bayesian Filtering and Smoothing appeared in 2013 and returned in a 2023 edition with Lennart Svensson; his sensor models help robots and support care for premature infants. By 2023, he was an ELLIS Fellow and led FCAI's AI Across Fields program. He coauthored a 2025 paper on temporal parallelisation for control, and as of October 2026 he is a Full Professor at Aalto whose group works across sensing, health and machine learning.

Born
1976
Works
334
Citations
9,713
h-index
41
Badges

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2006

    Engineering degrees

    He earns an M.Sc. (Tech.) in engineering physics and mathematics in 2000 and a D.Sc. (Tech.) in electrical and communications engineering in 2006 at Helsinki University of Technology.

  2. 2000–2010

    Industrial positioning and process control

    From 2000 to 2010, he works with Nokia Ltd., Indagon Ltd. and Nalco Company in industrial positions related to telecommunications, positioning systems and industrial process control.

  3. 2010–2019

    Aalto researcher to tenured professor

    He works as a Senior Researcher at Aalto's Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science from 2010 to 2013 and holds an Academy Research Fellow position from 2013 to 2018. Aalto appoints him Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation in 2015, and he gains tenure in 2019.

  4. 2013–2023

    Bayesian Filtering and Smoothing

    He publishes Bayesian Filtering and Smoothing with Cambridge University Press in 2013; the book describes methods for estimating a time-varying system from multiple observations. He and Lennart Svensson publish a second edition in 2023 that adds chapters on practical state-space models and expands coverage of extended Kalman filtering, smoothing and parameter estimation.

  5. 2019

    Robots and premature infant care

    In 2019, he leads Aalto's Sensor Informatics and Medical Technology research group, whose models help robots identify their environment. He works with Helsinki University Central Hospital on sensor-based models that help doctors respond to changes in premature infants' breathing, oxygen saturation and heart rate.

  6. 2023

    ELLIS fellowship and FCAI

    In 2023, he is an ELLIS Fellow and leads the AI Across Fields (AIX) program at the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI). His group's work combines Bayesian statistics, stochastic processes and machine learning in multi-sensor data systems.

  7. 2025

    Temporal parallelisation for control

    In 2025, he and Ángel F. García-Fernández publish Temporal Parallelisation of the HJB Equation and Continuous-Time Linear Quadratic Control in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

  8. Since 2024

    Full professor at Aalto

    Since 2024, he is a Full Professor in Aalto's Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation and leads the Sensor Informatics and Medical Technology group. His research covers multi-sensor data processing for location sensing, health and medical technology, machine learning, inverse problems and brain imaging; as of October 2026, he also leads FCAI's AI for Health SIG.

Career

  1. Since 2013Aalto UniversityAcademy Research Fellow, Associate Professor
  2. 2000–2010Nokia
  3. 2000–2010Indagon Ltd.
  4. 2000–2010Nalco Company
  5. Finnish Center for Artificial IntelligenceAI Across Fields program and AI for Health SIG lead

Education

  1. 2006Aalto UniversityD.Sc. (Tech.) in electrical and communications engineering
  2. 2000Aalto UniversityM.Sc. (Tech.) in engineering physics and mathematics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Aalto University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Aalto University. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Aalto University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Aalto University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Simo Särkkä yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Simo Särkkä, Aalto University users.aalto.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Smartphones pose new challenges for combining sensor data | Aalto University aalto.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Simo Särkkä: Sensor data guides robots and helps with care of premature infants | Aalto University aalto.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Bayesian Filtering and Smoothing | Cambridge Core cambridge.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Bayesian Filtering and Smoothing | Aalto University's research portal research.aalto.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. 10.01.2023 - Distinguished Lecture Series: Simo Särkkä (Aalto University, Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence) | ELLIS Unit Stuttgart ellis-stuttgart.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Särkkä, Simo | Texas A&M University Engineering engineering.tamu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Simo Särkkä - Aalto University's research portal research.aalto.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.