Designing tomorrow's communication networks together
The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) are attractive partners when it comes to technology transfer. Telecommunications giant, Nokia, has built a research centre in Lausanne and one of the reasons in favour of the location was its proximity to the NCCR “MICS – Mobile Information and Communication Systems".
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, University of Cambridge, Peking University – and now the EPF Lausanne; in 2008, Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia decided to locate one of its research centres on Lake Geneva because the NCCR "MICS " is based at the campus of the EPF Lausanne. It is here that researchers are engaged in developing the mobile communication networks of the future. And it is here that Nokia in close partnership with Swiss scientists, wants to develop projects to popularise the Internet of Things.
Why did Nokia choose to locate on Lake Geneva? "We rely on open partnerships with top universities worldwide. The EPF Lausanne along with the NCCR “MICS” lead the international ranking lists. They also have a flexible infrastructure for technology transfer," explains Juha Laurila. "Some 30 professors and 60 graduate students, half of them at the EPF Lausanne, are working on issues that directly address our company’s interests. And Nokia wanted to harness this potential," states Martin Vetterli who is the former Director of the NCCR “MICS”, and now Vice President of the EPF Lausanne and a driving force behind establishing the partnership. "Our dynamic campus and interdisciplinary approach to work at various levels of activity, from basic research to applications, impressed Nokia," states Karl Aberer, Director of the NCCR “MICS”.
Nokia benefits from the knowledge acquired within the NCCR “MICS”, but the company has something to offer in exchange. "Our current research team of ten is due to be doubled in the foreseeable future and works directly on campus," comments Juha Laurila. "It sets research goals jointly with our partners in the NCCR ‘MICS’. We raise technological questions that are essential to industry and aimed at subsequent marketing. As such, our presence increases the probability of research generating actual products." Martin Vetterli considers this pragmatism to be crucial, "because sometimes researchers at universities fixate on problems that have long lost any relevance to industry." The partnership does not mean that Nokia misappropriates the work conducted in the NCCR “MICS”. Martin Vetterli calls it a "working relationship based on osmosis".
The partnership contract states that the company that fully funds the team project has a prior claim to the intellectual property of the applications developed. At the same time, the partnership offers researchers opportunities. "There is a strong incentive for young researchers to come into contact with the professional environment and work on the latest innovations developed by Nokia along with the appropriate software." Incidentally, the Nokia partnership gives the Lausanne researchers a chance to see results of their work used worldwide – in the 450 million devices produced by Nokia every year. "In terms of relevance and visibility, that is quite remarkable," suggests Karl Aberer.