Nokia’s research division, which recently celebrated its 20 year anniversary, now has a new Research Center in Palo Alto, California. At the same time, Nokia announced a three-year agreement with Stanford University, to develop joint research projects on collaborative mobile computing and applications.
Nokia Research Center Palo Alto will initially focus on four core areas:
- Context-aware content and communities, which could provide technology advancements in the areas of search, advertising and recommendation engines;
- Wireless grids, that enable a large number of diverse devices to work together;
- Advanced user interfaces and visual media, for Nokia multimedia computers;
- Innovation radio and sensor networks, offering novel applications of emerging short-range radio technologies.
In the first of a series of planned collaborations, Nokia and Stanford will focus on joint research activities that will incorporate new project-oriented courses on mobile computing and services. Given their close proximity, researchers from Nokia and Stanford will work together using the Stanford campus community as an experimental testing ground for new technologies and services developed by Nokia Research Center.
Initially, Nokia Research Center Palo Alto will employ around 35 researchers and plans to expand to upwards of 100 researchers as new projects are established. Projects will be managed under the direction of the Head of Nokia Research Center Palo Alto, Dr. John P. Shen. Nokia now has major research facilities located in two of the leading U.S. educational and technology markets – Silicon Valley and Cambridge, MA. Nokia Research Center Cambridge is a joint effort with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and represents a long standing successful collaboration. The shared Cambridge facility was opened in April 2006.