Nokia announced on Tuesday it has opened its first innovation centre serving Africa and the Middle East in Morocco, which will not only provide Nokia's network infrastructure technologies to play with, but also programmes to boost digital skillsets.
The new Nokia Innovation Center (NIC) in Salé features a range of network infrastructure technologies, including IP, optical transport and fibre solutions, housed within a state-of-the-art data centre. Nokia says the facility supports use cases from 5G mobile backhaul to data centre fabric and security.
While the NIC will serve as a focal point for innovation across the EMEA region by enabling testing, verification, deployment and training of solutions for critical network technologies, Nokia is also positioning it as a driver for Morocco’s own digital ambitions under its Digital Morocco 2030 plan.
To that end, the NIC aims to nurture local engineering talent by offering practical training to engineering schools and universities. That includes not only certification programmes for service routing and network routing, but also Gen-AI integration tools using natural language to help upskill and reskill young Moroccan talent.
“This centre will not only enhance our position as a regional hub for digital services across EMEA, but will also play a crucial role in developing local talent,” said Ghita Mezzour, Morocco’s Minister of Digital Transition and Administration Reform, who attended the innovation centre’s inaugural ceremony. “By aligning with Digital Morocco 2030, the centre contributes to our efforts in advancing STEM education, equipping our youth with the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy, and supporting our nation’s 5G readiness and technological future.”
