14 DAY TRIAL // Intel Corporation and Nokia announced several months ago a partnership aimed at the development of new solutions for the mobile industry, and new plans on this direction have been made official today, including the creation of the first joint laboratory in collaboration with the University of Oulu.
The Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center that was opened today is expected to employ about two dozen R&D professionals, while being set to become the latest member of Intel’s European Research Network, Intel Labs Europe.
According to the two companies, the lab would be initially focused on the research for new and compelling mobile user experiences expected to enhance the capabilities of mobile devices.
“Creating interfaces that are more similar to interactions in the real world can enable experiences that are more natural and intuitive, in the same way that modern games and movies are more immersive through the use of realistic 3-D graphics,” the joint announcement reads.
Moreover, the duo announced that the opening of the new lab is in line with the recent launch of the MeeGo open source platform.
The MeeGo operating system is capable of offering improved flexibility when it comes to the development of 3-D experiences on mobile devices, and much of the research activity in this laboratory would be open source.
“The University of Oulu’s focus on future telecommunications solutions as well as electronics and photonics made it the perfect location for the Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center,” says Justin Rattner, Intel chief technology officer and director of Intel Labs.
One other area of research the lab would be looking into is the technologies that would allow displaying a 3-D hologram of the person one is talking to, something that is currently seen only in scientific movies.
“3-D technology could change the way we use our mobile devices and make our experiences with them much more immersive,” said Rich Green, Senior vice president and chief technical officer, Nokia.
“Our new joint laboratory with Intel draws on the Oulu research community’s 3-D interface expertise, and over time will lay down some important foundations for future mobile experiences,” he continued.
According to the two, the new lab should be located at the Center for Internet Excellence at the University of Oulu, and should benefit from a tight collaboration with the Oulu Urban Living Labs.