EPFL and ETH-Zürich agree joint research with Nokia

Nokia and the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne and Zurich (EPFL and ETH-Zürich) have announced the establishment of a joint long-term research programme that will see the mobile phone company open a laboratory in Lausanne.

The collaboration will focus on helping people benefit from an increasingly interconnected world. Access to the so called, “Internet of Things” from a mobile device will allow people to collect information from their physical environment, filter it based on their location or preferences, and share with their friends or communities.

The initial joint research agenda will focus on pervasive communications, exploring new interaction experiences and technologies utilising all the human senses.

It will also involve the development of services and applications based on the user’s context, such as location, and personal preferences, and consider how to make the Internet easily accessible on mobile devices.

“Nokia has already carried out a great deal of research in the field of pervasive communications, and sees the fusing of the digital and physical worlds as a key objective in mobility. We have chosen to work with the Swiss Institutes of Technology because of their expertise in this area,” said Bob Iannucci, Nokia Chief Technology Officer and Head of Nokia Research Centre.

“This agreement with Nokia reinforces a very exciting cluster of high tech companies and research labs emerging on the EPFL campus,” commented Martin Vetterli, EPFL Vice President for International Relations and an expert in communication systems.

“ETH-Zürich welcomes the joint research efforts of its partners, and views the collaboration as an opportunity to devise new and innovative solutions for what has become known as the Internet of Things,” said Peter Chen, Vice President for Research from ETH-Zürich.

Scientists from three different ETH-Zürich departments – Computer Science; Management, Technology and Economics; and Information Technology and Electrical Engineering – will be involved in the programme.

The new laboratory will open on the campus in Lausanne on the 5 June 2008.