Handset king, Nokia and the University of Cambridge, on Tuesday announced an “extensive and long term programme of joint research projects” that will focus on nanotechnology.

In a statement the handset firm said its Nokia Research Center (NRC) will establish a research facility at the University’s West Cambridgesite and will collaborate  with the Nanoscience Centre and Electrical Division of the Engineering Department .

Nokia said in the statement that it will base around ten people at Cambridge initially with more expected “over time”.

“Cambridge and Nokia share a common belief in the ability of nanotechnology to deliver products and applications of tangible value to people,” said  Professor Mark Welland, director of the IRC (Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration) in Nanotechnology at Cambridge.  “The fact that we also share a common commitment to the responsible introduction of nanotechnology into thepublic arena adds a further unique dimension to this collaboration.”

The move is the third partnership with a research institution NRC has announced in the lasteighteen months, Nokia said.

Dr. Tapani Ryhanen heads Nokia global research in nanotechnologyand will lead Nokia’s collaboration with Cambridge.  He said: “Nanotechnology long ago left science fiction movies for the laboratory and, more recently, we saw the first commercialapplications.  The techniques we are developing really bring us a toolkit for working with the processes of nature at a very basic level – the level of molecules – in a safe and controlled way.”

Projects for the partnership will be selected by a joint steering committee, which will meet twice yearly to review ongoing work and to select new topics.  NRC Cambridge (UK) will be established within the university’s West Cambridge site and both NRC and the University of Cambridge will make arrangements for shared use of facilities, equipment and networks, it said.