Nokia and STC have announced a collaboration to operate STC’s Technology Innovation Centre in Riyadh. Under the five-year project, Nokia will carry out several programmes to help STC develop at least four new applications every year to support STC's business goals. Nokia will also support STC to create use cases for upcoming technologies.

STC will join Nokia’s Open Ecosystem Network, which is a corporate digital collaboration platform. STC will use Nokia's expertise in technologies such as 5G, mobile edge computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud platform, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Under the partnership, Nokia will raise STC engineers' capabilities to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Nokia will conduct several competitions to stimulate new ideas. A winner will be selected at the end of every challenge, contest or hackathon, based on the concept or business viability. This will help STC develop new revenue generation streams. 

Nokia will use its experience from other partnerships worldwide to manage and operate the innovation centre. Nokia will conduct activities including new product development practices, lean start-up methodologies, internal innovation enablers, service design, co-creation, cross-pollination, and technology scouting, to stimulate new ideas. The innovation centre will be equipped with the latest technologies and will use Nokia's Open Ecosystem Network.