Nokia helped build a mobile world. Now you want to dazzle the next – from inside Bell Labs

From a New logo To the first American CEO bornNokia went out to overcome her golden contract and the challenges that followed as a major consumer company. But in its new world as a communication equipment maker, there is still a great place for the Nokia Bell laboratories, which she has since 2016 after she acquired Alcatel-Lucent.

Nokia not only sits on this original; It also works to embrace startups from laboratory research. “If we can launch two or three companies from Bell Labs within two years, it affects a major impact, then I call this program success,” said Nisant Patra, Director of Technology at Nokia.

AbstronAn young company that develops non -invasive imaging technology to diagnose the ear, represents The first Spinot Nokia launched it in partnership with Celista Capital. VC will provide strategic guidance, marketing and communications support, while Nokia Bel Labs will continue to provide laboratory resources and research and development expertise for this opening project.

With efforts like Spinouts, Patra said, “The whole purpose is to remove technology from Bell Labs to be able to present it to the world in various areas of different uses or industries – sometimes, in both.” But for startups close to home grass, there are other ways of Nokia ignition.

One of the Nokia tools is a 20 -year -old company project NGP CapitalPreviously known as Nokia growth partners. Patra said that the NGP thesis is either expanding or synerfully in the market, not investing in companies that Nokia will get in the end. “I do not say that this cannot happen, but this is not how we invest.”

Direct acquisitions are used as a separate tool – to treat direct gaps and help in following the broader Nokia strategy. The days have come when Buy with the start of the French operation In order to re -enter the consumer electron market through healthy technical devices, which is a step He did not get out of expectations. Nokia’s priorities have shifted since 2020.

Based on its firm presence in communications, the company follows growth in two directions: defense and double use technology, which led Get Fenix ​​GroupAnd AI and data centers, where 2.3 billion dollars purchase From visual network equipment maker Erup It can enhance her position.

Rapid, an emerging company in an interface programming interface of one billion dollars, was another company It was obtained in 2024 In order to easily help developers connect to communications networks. “I was very involved in negotiation, because that was in the valley,” said CSTO from Nokia.

Patra joined Nokia about four years ago, but his participation with startups exceeds his current role. In addition to advising for two junior companies, one of them in the Radar Tech program and one in the Internet of Things, he is also the chairman of the Board of Directors of Spacetech Startup ReorbitFinnish satellite provider. “The passion for this founder is another thing; I enjoy a lot.”

Patra said that startups and companies are not mutual conditions: there are now startups inside Nokia. One of these lunar surface communication system (LSCS) has developed, cooperating with Axiom Space and NASA to place 4G LTE network on the moon. Decline He did not go to planningBut the task helped Nokia to check aspects of the network operation.

The start of the startup in Nokia is about to take a more formal turn. In April, Nokia Bell Laboratories Cut On its new Bells Venture Studio studio, which will be run by Nokia Ventures A team with the support of the Economic Development Authority of New Jersey (Njeda).

Along with the innovation center NJ Nokia Bell Labs, it will be the Venture Studio Part of the Strategic Innovation Center Focus on helping startups to market intellectual property from Nokia Bell Labs and local universities, especially in artificial intelligence, communications, cloud computing, and visual and wireless networks.

New Jersey is the historical habitat of Bell Labs and its international headquarters, but Nokia Bel Labs now run research centers around the world, including major sites in Europe. With no Nokia headquarters in Finland, it is not surprising, according to Patra, “There is an intention to build a similar studio in Europe.”

Historically, Europe is also where Nokia has strengthened most entrepreneurs. Due to its huge importance to Finland, also known as Nokia Effect, her country of origin was shaken by the huge hairdos he made between 2011 and 2013, which led to the sale of the mobile phone section to Microsoft. But this decline also caused Startup boom– With some support from Nokia itself.

The program you implemented at that time to give seed financing to help excess employees to create companies, Nokia BridgeIt is estimated that he contributed to the creation of at least 400 companies. Not all of these companies were emerging, but some were, including the mobile operating system maker JawlaThe former Nokian still plays a major role in the vibrant technical scene in Finland.

The Nokia Bridge is no longer present, but the company still wants to support employees while they are moving to startups – even when their jobs are not part of Reducing the workforce The company is lowering the expenses Up to $ 1.2 billion By the end of 2026.

At that time, Nokia noted that the exact scale of the program depends on the development of the demand for the final market. Two years later, expectations are still unclear after US President Donald Trump raised unrest in the global markets war.

“We are not immune from the sophisticated global trade scene quickly. However, based on the early customer notes, I think our markets should be relatively flexible,” CEO Justin Howard announced at the time the company mentioned. A clear loss of about 68 million dollars For the first quarter of 2025.

But even after the cuts, Nokia expects that Nokia will have between 72000 and 77,000 employees, and it is ready to inspect some sirens in entrepreneurship. Two senior researchers joined Astranu when it revolves, for example; Patra said that with a budget of up to $ 10 million annually, the nursery program encourages internal employees to become entrepreneurs.

It is too early to know the number of startups that all these initiatives can perform, and the number of young people. But if this may become the new meaning of Nokia’s influence, this will undoubtedly be a big victory for a 160 -year -old company that has been invented again and again.