Nokia morphs itself from within
Nokia is the world's largest mobile phone maker and with more than one billion handsets shipped is by extension the world's largest computing platform.
Every day Nokia sources 329 million parts and builds a million phones in 100 plus handset models and distributes these phones in 70 different languages to 150 countries.
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He [Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president at Nokia] added: "It's very obvious in a converging internet world that when software, media and hardware come together it allows us to monetise our know-how in multiple ways."
To aid this latest genesis Nokia has invested in research centres around the world, building relationships with universities and academic institutions.
In the UK Nokia has partnered with Cambridge University and is focusing on the application of nanosciences to the mobile phone market, and has partnered with Professor Mark Welland, one of the world's leading nano experts.
Earlier this week the firm unveiled Morph, a concept phone that revealed the company's long-term ambitions; a mixture of high technology and services.
Morph is the product of nanosciences - a handset that can be folded, stretched, used to sense the world around it, and deliver the high end functions of a future communications device.
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Professor Henry Tirri, head of System Research Centers, is tasked with fostering the collaborative research between Nokia and partner universities worldwide.
"Our research scope is very wide - but we're not focusing on display, radio technology or battery life - it goes from nanosciences in the UK to services and software in Palo Alto."
The research centres work outside the roadmap Nokia has for handsets, looking at future technologies and applications from one to three years ahead, three to eight years and beyond.
"An enormous amount of the patents found in today's handsets originated in Nokia's Research Centres - from the interface design to improvements in audio quality on the phones to applications."
He added: "A lot of things that you will see in the future, as Nokia moves to be an internet company, will come from the research labs."
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"Voice is one function of these devices, but we are moving to a data centric world. These devices can connect the physical world with the digital world.
"But what are the services which will marry the two?"
One such project trying to do just that is under development at Palo Alto. Nokia's researchers are using the GPS technology in some of their phones to help create a real-time picture of traffic flow.
The lab is working with Berkeley University and state authorities to trial software on mobile phones which will hopefully lead to a better understanding of how traffic moves through a system, and ultimately lead to better information for motorists as they drive.
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Dr Shen added: "When technology is below the user requirement, technology drives the industry.
"But once you cross over to the mainstream then you have to look at services and the user experience.
"The real focus now is compelling user experiences. It has to be user experience driven rather than technology driven."