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New Center for Internet Excellence combines research and business creation

19/08/2009

The Center for Internet Excellence (CIE) has started its activities this week in Oulu, Finland, aiming to combine cutting-edge research innovations with agile new business creation processes. CIE’s mission is to actively drive co-creation of next generation internet technologies, appliances and services. The center brings together researchers from private companies and academia, whose collaboration aims to capture and create internet-driven growth opportunities.

CIE will operate as an independent unit of the University of Oulu, with 100-200 Finnish and international researchers from the University of Oulu, Nokia, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, and other project partners coming to work there. The City of Oulu and Technopolis Oyj are also actively involved in the Center. As part of the multi-disciplinary University of Oulu, CIE will combine traditional technical know-how with business, medical, social science and environmental research.
“CIE approaches the commercialization of internet services from the perspective of user needs,” says Heikki Huomo, Director of CIE. “Researchers from both academia and the business world will be working in the same space. The best ideas come from working together when researches from different organisations get the opportunity to exchange ideas and to work together in joint projects.” Unlike traditional models for research and productization, CIE will be creating business already during the research projects.
“The Oulu Internet Center for Excellence is an important new opening for Nokia in a key business area. It will increase competitiveness, create new business opportunities, and promote realization of a new environment of collaboration," says Erkki Ormala, Nokia’s Vice President, Technology and Trade Policy.


Source: CIE

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