James Delahunty
24 Apr 2006 7:56
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) officially opened a new joint research facility in MIT's Kendall Square neighborhood on April 20th. Both hope the research and development effort can speed up the process of product innovation. The two told the media that the facility will improve the organisations ability to share wireless technology breakthroughs. Nokia and MIT have teamed up for research efforts since the 1980's.
Officials said that the facility will allow for the daily interaction necessary to push forward the pace of development efforts. It will lead to new technologies being pushed into Nokia's handsets much sooner. "We're moving from a world where we look at the device as a phone into a world where we view devices as mobile gateways," said Dr. Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia Research Center.
"This is one of the most exciting areas for innovation and new technologies, but it represents its own world of challenges; we want to create real information gateways that move information from the desktop into the pocket." he added. MIT officials see it as a chance for their researchers to remain on top of the field and keep focused on projects involving types of applications that customers will demand. "We must understand what the issues are at companies like this or we will become irrelevant," said Prof. Rodney Brooks, director of CSAIL. "I think we've had good results working together so far, but we're really only starting to understand the issues."
Source:
PC Mag