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Accelerating a new era of research innovation at Nokia Bell Labs

by Nishant Batra
21 Dec 2021
Peter Vetter and Thierry Klein

As the renowned research organization of Nokia, Bell Labs has always explored the fundamental science and produced the disruptive innovations that created the foundation of information and communications technologies. In the process, it has pioneered some of the key communications technologies of modern times, including for the 5G era, that has helped secure Nokia’s long-term technology leadership. At the same time, a key part of Bell Labs’ charter is to explore concepts and solutions that generate growth opportunities for Nokia in adjacent and emerging markets.

In order to successfully address this dual mission in a dynamically changing industry, Bell Labs streamlined its structure earlier this year, forming two sister organizations under the Bell Labs umbrella: Bell Labs Core Research and Bell Labs Solutions Research. That means for the first time in its nearly one hundred years history, Bell Labs has joint leadership with two co-Presidents.

It is my honor to appoint two veterans of Bell Labs to these roles – Peter Vetter, as President of Bell Labs Core Research, and Thierry Klein as President of Bell Labs Solutions Research.

Bell Labs Core Research performs research at the cutting edges of science. The mission of Core Research is to create game-changing innovations that define the future of networks. Under Peter’s leadership, it will explore and innovate the key technologies that will prepare Nokia’s business for the 6G era on a 10-year horizon. This includes foundational research on network architecture, programmable-network systems and security, optical systems and components, mobile radio systems, and platforms and ASICs.

Bell Labs Solutions Research conducts fundamental and applied research focused on new Nokia value chains, business opportunities and ecosystems. Solutions Research pursues research and innovation into advanced technologies, architectures, systems and applications beyond Nokia’s current product and solutions portfolio. Under Thierry’s leadership, the team will research advanced sensing technologies, AI-based knowledge systems and fundamental algorithms, autonomous software and data systems, and integrated solutions and experiences.

This two-pronged approach to research allows us to preserve what has always made Bell Labs so special – its commitment to exploring the fundamentals of science – while focusing that work on the principles guiding Nokia’s business. Bell Labs’ ongoing focus on the future of networks and future of industrial systems gives us a unique capability to explore technologies at their intersection. It is an exhilarating time for Nokia Bell Labs, and I am excited about the new innovations it will continue to produce.

By combining the scientific focus of Nokia Bell Labs with the strategic and market focus of its Strategy and Technology organization, Nokia is ideally positioned to create value in the new era that will be defined by the confluence of connectivity, edge compute and software.

Nishant Batra

About Nishant Batra

Nishant is a global leader with broad experience in strategy and technology development and portfolio management, as well as in having significant profit and loss responsibilities across the telecom and enterprise sectors. He has been intimately involved in bringing cutting-edge products to market across industry domains and has a deep understanding of the silicon, software and system requirements necessary for innovation.

At Nokia, Nishant is the Chief Strategy and Technology Officer (CSTO) with responsibility for corporate strategy, technology architecture and pioneering research at Nokia Bell Labs; Nokia’s information technology (IT) infrastructure and digitalization initiatives; centralized security domains; and Nokia’s venture capital activities.

His function lays the path for Nokia’s future technology innovation and identifies the most promising areas in which Nokia can create new value. By setting the company’s vision and understanding the evolving market and business dynamics, Nishant is responsible for developing a coherent business-strategy, technology and architecture vision across the company and implementing it in partnership with the Nokia Business Groups. Furthermore, he is responsible for establishing a solid research foundation on which Nokia innovates new products and for providing the critical support infrastructure that ensures all Nokia business units can deliver that vision properly and securely.

Prior to joining Nokia in 2021, Nishant worked at Veoneer in Sweden, a worldwide leader in automotive technology, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Before this, he spent 12 years at Ericsson holding several positions, most recently as Head of Product Area Networks.

Nishant holds an MBA from INSEAD; a master’s degree in Telecommunications and a master’s degree in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University in the US; and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications from Devi Ahilya University in India.

Nishant is based in Espoo, Finland and has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and the US.