Nokia Bell Labs Breaks Ground on New HQ in New Jersey

Nokia Bell Labs has many reasons to celebrate. The search giant celebrated its 100th anniversary in May at its venerable Murray Hill campus, part of New Providence, New Jersey, where major technological developments have taken place, such as the Bellmac-32 microprocessor and the satellite earth station known as the horn antenna, which helped prove the big bang theory.

The company also held a September 4 ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, approximately 20 miles south of Murray Hill and 6 miles from the IEEE Piscataway office.

Construction of the 10-story, 34,374-square-meter building is expected to be completed by the end of 2027. The Health and Life Science Exchange 2 building, known as HELIX 2, is the second of three planned buildings under construction in the city’s new innovation district, designed to attract research labs, workspaces and offices for startups.

Attendees at the ceremony included Thierry E. Klein, President of Bell Labs Solutions Research, and Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs Principal Research. Both men are members of the IEEE. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was also in attendance, as was New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill and other state and local officials.

“Today’s groundbreaking marks an exciting new chapter in the long history of Bell Labs in New Jersey,” Klein said. “As we build and move into HELIX, it continues our legacy of excellence, pioneering spirit and commitment to groundbreaking research on the East Coast. The location offers unique advantages that will accelerate our innovation capabilities and provide greater proximity to academic centers of excellence and fantastic new startups and companies.”

The new location, he said, “will provide access to a vibrant urban environment that will help us attract the next generation of talent. Access to universities such as Princeton, Rutgers, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Stevens Institute of Technology is second to none. This is not just a move for the next two, three, four or five years; this will be home to Bell Labs for a long, long time.”

An innovation hub

Nokia Bell Labs could have relocated its headquarters anywhere in the world, Murphy noted, but it chose to stay in New Jersey.

“Our illustrious history of innovation in New Jersey could be summed up in two words: Bell Labs,” the governor said. “For more than a century, Bell Labs has transformed our state, our nation and the world. It is literally an iconic and unique institution in the world. We are innovating and beginning to lay new foundations for quantum physics, generative artificial intelligence and optical communications. Through partnerships, joint ventures and spinoffs, Nokia Bell Labs will facilitate the creation of new products and companies that [continue to] boosting New Jersey’s innovation economy.

To ensure New Jersey is at the forefront of innovation, the Governor announced plans in 2018 to create 12 innovation hubs across the state to attract entrepreneurs, startups and early-stage businesses. The first hub, the HELIX 1 building, adjacent to the new Nokia Bell Labs headquarters, is expected to open next year and include the Rutgers School of Medicine and Translational Research Institute.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy addresses attendees at the groundbreaking ceremony at the podium. Nokia

The facilities will offer furnished offices and laboratories equipped with scientific equipment, officials say. Tenants will include Hackensack Meridian Health and Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health.

New Brunswick is no stranger to innovators, Cahill noted. The pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is headquartered in the city and got its start in a local wallpaper factory. The Johnson brothers and Thomas Edison often ate at the counter of a nearby drug store, where they discussed manufacturing advances, the mayor said. Edison’s laboratory was in Menlo Park. Cahill also said Albert Einstein, who worked at Princeton University and lived in the city, was often seen walking the streets of New Brunswick, about 30 miles away.

State-of-the-art research facilities

The new Nokia Bell Lab offices will meet the needs of scientific researchers and specialists in targeted fields, Klein said.

“This is an efficient, modern, low-carbon facility, providing sustainable electricity, heating and cooling capabilities,” he said. “Our researchers will have access to the best possible facilities. That’s our dream.”

This isn’t the first time Bell Labs has moved its headquarters, Vetter noted. Major R&D operations were established in New York in 1925. They were moved to Murray Hill in 1941. Some of the greatest innovations were developed there over the next decade, including the transistor and the cellular network.

“I want to think that our decision will again be a catalyst for groundbreaking innovations in the decade after we move in and will touch on a variety of areas such as 7G, ​​AI, quantum computing and quantum network security,” Vetter said.

“As we build and move into HELIX, it continues our legacy of excellence, pioneering spirit and commitment to groundbreaking research on the East Coast.” » —Thierry Klein

“We also need to make sure the research is applied to the real world,” he said. “We like to say that if someone has a problem in the real world and you solve it in the lab but you don’t make that technological leap into the real world, the problem still exists.

“It’s not just about breakthrough research or technologies,” he added. “It also creates the companies that will commercialize these technologies and lead the next century of innovation.”

IEEE Milestones Recognize Bell Labs Innovations

Another celebratory event is planned for October 21 at Murray Hill. Several technologies developed there are to be designated as IEEE milestones. The technologies include three Nobel Prize winners: super-resolution microscopy, charge-coupled device and fractional quantum Hall effect. IEEE Region 1 and the IEEE North Jersey Section sponsored the nominations.

Administered by the IEEE History Center and supported by donors, the Milestones program recognizes outstanding technical developments around the world.

Monitor The Institutefrom the article about the Nokia Bell Labs Milestone achievement ceremony in November.