Ericsson to invest SEK7bn in three ICT centres

Swedish ICT technology and services provider Ericsson announced Monday that it is planning to construct three new research and development centres that will focus on delivering interoperability testing services for new technologies underpinning cloud services.

Ericsson says that over the next five years it will be investing about SEK7bn in two new research and development centres located in Stockholm and Linköping, Sweden, and a third in Montreal, Canada.

According to Ericsson the new ICT centres will have a cutting-edge design and a new sustainable construction model that will reduce energy consumption by 40 per cent compared to its other sites.

The company says the R&D centres, which will be located close to Ericsson’s main R&D hubs and take up a combined 120,000 square meters and house up to 24,000 engineers, will be home to the entire Ericsson portfolio and focus on generating network and technical innovations that will underpin cloud-based services.

It also says it will allow researchers to connect remotely to the research centres for interoperability testing and trials.

Hans Vestberg, Ericsson’s chief executive officer said that the ICT centres will help deliver innovations more quickly by connecting researchers across the globe to the new R&D centres: “Great ideas come from collaboration, and at these centers we will push the boundaries of possibility on next generation technology and services. Flexibility enabled by new ways of working will realize innovation faster to the market and to our customers.”

The company’s latest investment into R&D will complement its existing global research activities in China, the US, Canada and Hungary. The two new ICT R&D centres in Sweden are planned to begin operation from the end of 2013 (Stockholm) and from the end of 2014 (Linköping), while the Montreal-based R&D centre will be launched at the beginning of 2015.