stc, a digital leader in the MENA region, has partnered with Nokia to jointly operate its Technology Innovation Center over the next five years. An agreement was signed to this extent by Abdullah Alowini, Technology Strategy & Architecture VP at stc, and Khalid Hussain, Saudi Country Senior Officer at Nokia, in the presence of eng. Haitham Al Faraj, SVP, Technology and Operations at stc, and Amr K. El Leithy, Head of Middle East and Africa Market at Nokia. The center will allow the stc employees to interact with global subject matter experts from Nokia and its international partner network to create innovative services and products for end-users.
The partnership will carry out several programs to strengthen stc’s innovation mindset to develop truly innovative use cases and enhance engagement with entrepreneurs across the globe. The collaboration will also help conceptualize and produce at least four use cases every year according to the stc's business strategy. These innovative use cases will be primarily based on the latest technologies like 5G, Mobile Edge Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Platform, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.
The Innovation Center will be equipped with the latest technologies and will utilize Nokia's Open Ecosystem Network to develop and showcase new solutions. stc will access learnings and insights from Nokia’s several other partnerships to efficiently operate The Innovation Center. Several activities, including new product development practices, lean start-up methodologies, internal innovation enablers, service design, co-creation, cross-pollination, and technology scouting, will be conducted to foster new ideas.
The Innovation Center will be performing several well-thought-out competitions to trigger new ideas and use cases. A winner will be selected at the end of every challenge, contest or hackathon, based on the idea or business model and viability.
Abdullah Alowini, Technology Strategy & Architecture VP at stc , said : “We are committed to providing the latest products and services, and this agreement is one of the many other initiatives that show our commitment in this direction.. We are confident that The Innovation Center will accelerate developing local content and path-breaking use cases, improving our people's quality of life and contributing to the economic and social development of Saudi Arabia in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
Khalid Hussain, Saudi Country Senior Officer at Nokia , said: “This collaboration is testimony to yet another strong, evolving partnership between stc and Nokia, contributing towards fast realization of Saudi Vision 2030. We, at Nokia, are excited to work with stc on this unique initiative to develop unique ideas. We look forward to leveraging our global perspective, insights, and technology expertise to help conceptualize new ideas to enhance the feel of life of the citizens."
Source: stc Press Release