HMD Global sets up new global R&D Centre in Tampere, Finland

“As a company that believes every phone should be built upon the foundations of security, reliability and dependability, we are proud to announce the acquisition of assets of Valona Labs -- a renowned and trusted mobile software business,” said Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer, HMD Global.

Valona Labs is a well-known mobile and cyber security company, acquiring which enables HMD Global to build foundations for the brand-new Center of Excellence in Tampere, Finland. Nokia Mobile now has numerous R&D centres in various parts of the world (in Taiwan and India), some of which are their own, and the others are based on high-quality partners like Valona Labs used to be before the acquisition.

 “Cyber security incidents have been on the rise during this global pandemic, meaning there’s no better time to increase our efforts on mobile security,” says Ari Heikkinen, the newly appointed senior director of security and enterprise solutions at HMD Global. Even though Valona is a relatively young company, Nokia believes their expertise will enable HMD Global to bring faster software updates and more security to Nokia smartphones. This will propel HMD Global’s transition from a pure hardware business to now a more combined and balanced hardware and services company.

According to the company’s press release on July 2, there will be an immediate recruitment drive for software professionals who can build upon the company’s reputation as a global leader in smartphone updates and security.  

In March, HMD Global unveiled its new global data roaming service, HMD Connect. This enables people from around the world to enjoy a free data SIM, one of the features of which is not having to change the SIM while travelling to different countries. HMD also has plans to expand to include imaging and audio technologies in the future. Juho also confirmed the arrival of an even more affordable 5G phone in the future, with the latest SD695 5G chip, and that they are focusing on high-end devices.

The city of Tampere is renowned as a destination for technological development, especially in relation to telecommunication. The expansion of such businesses is highly likely to open doors for newer opportunities for professionals in this sector from all over the world, especially Finland.