Nokia names industrial automation startup HaiLa winner of the 2019 Nokia Open Innovation Challenge
Press Release
Nokia names industrial automation startup HaiLa winner of the 2019 Nokia Open Innovation Challenge
21 November 2019
Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced that Canadian startup company HaiLa, which offers technologies that can drastically reduce energy consumption for Internet of Things devices, has won the 2019 Nokia Open Innovation Challenge. HaiLa was awarded 100,000 in financial resources and will be given access to researchers and product development teams at Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs to position it for business growth as the world moves towards industrial automation enabled by 5G networks.
HaiLa beat out more than 200 other startups from 70 countries around the world that competed in this year's competition, which involved several assessment rounds. The company and four other finalists gave presentations and demonstrations at a grand finals event held today at Nokia's global headquarters. German startup Wandelbots finished in second place.
Located in Montreal, HaiLa's technology enables IoT device data to hitchhike on ambient waves, drastically reducing IoT power consumption. HaiLas technology allows reuse of the ambient signals in the environment and simply backscatter the modulated data on top, eliminating the necessity for dedicated single tone transmitters, making the technology easier to integrate with the existing infrastructure and reduce IoT power consumption.
The Nokia Open Innovation Challenge continues Nokia's proud heritage in investing in new technologies. As a key component of the competition is the ability of the startups to work with Nokia, HaiLa and Wandelbots will also have the opportunity to collaborate with Nokia Bell Labs researchers to enrich Nokia's end-to-end 5G network architecture with the startups' innovative use cases. Nokia has complete build-outs of its end-to-end network, complete with network slicing, at Future X Labs in Espoo and Murray Hill, NJ.
This year's Nokia Open Innovation Challenge, which was launched in April, sought out startups with disruptive ideas in industrial automation categories that would help bring about Industry 4.0. The competition was organized by Nokia Bell Labs in partnership with NGP Capital, a global venture capital firm, backed by Nokia. This year marks the seventh year of the annual competition.
Charlotte Savage, Founder of HaiLa, said, Such an honor to be chosen as the winner, thank you to Nokia for this incredible opportunity. However, this was never about the competition. The goal was to establish a real partnership with one of the leaders of the networking industry to enable sustainable wireless communication. We look forward to be at the forefront of carbon emission reduction with Nokia.
Marcus Weldon, President of Nokia Bell Labs and Corporate CTO of Nokia, said, We're on the verge of an industrial revolution, enabled by 5G networks that will unleash significant new levels of productivity and value for enterprises and industries. This year's Nokia Open Innovation Challenge was designed to nurture innovative new solutions in automation, robotics and human augmentation, which are foundational to this revolution. I would like to congratulate HaiLa on their innovative solution to reduce energy consumption for IoT devices, as well as all the other finalists. We look forward to deepening our collaboration to create this exciting future together.
Bo Ilsoe, Partner of NGP Capital, said, It was a great pleasure to work with so many talented entrepreneurs and companies. A winner had to be chosen, but everyone participating deserves success on their future path. NGP is a proud partner of the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge.
The other finalists that competed in today's event included:
Wandelbots: Germany-based Wandelbots, which won second place and 50,000, is democratizing industrial robotics by enabling anyone to program any robot via smart input devices and example-based teaching. Wandelbots is the first company to offer a technology that allows industrial robots to be trained by laypeople which helps bringing down the time and financial resources needed for both small- and large-scale automatization projects. This means that Wandelbots is at the forefront of a growing market segment that works towards making robotics available to more users worldwide.
ControlThings: Based in Finland, ControlThings offers a middleware technology for recording Verifiable Audit Trails using crypto identities in devices and user interfaces. The benefits of the local ledger technology that ControlThings uses in Verifiable Audit Trails is privacy and scalability. The ControlThings unique solution scales up to any sizes of networks and provides edge computing, with no required central point of control. The security model allows authentication and communication even in an off-line situation.
Maxst: Based in South Korea, Maxst offers an augmented reality (AR) engine and visual SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). Maxst's platform enables authoring of AR contents easily online with drag-and-drop interface and a rich media contents library. This will expand the target users from AR app developers to general designers or marketers without coding language expertise requirements. Maxst will completely convert the developer-oriented AR SDK ecosystem into a SaaS AR platform. Hence, the company can significantly reduce development cost as Maxst's AR platform offers a holistic AR experience with a subscription-based software on cloud.
SanNoor: Located in Saudi Arabia, SaNoor Technologies is developing laser-based visible light communication devices and systems for high-speed, energy-saving, eco-friendly, and secure wireless data communications. SaNoor is addressing t
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
02/10/2026
v1.9.3 introduces AUv3 support
Roland have just released an update that kits their free iPad-based software synth out with AUv3 support, meaning it can now ...
02/10/2026
Dolby Atmos support, AI-powered stem separation & more
The latest version of MOTU's DAW software is now available, and marks a major step forward with t...
02/10/2026
Portable DAC created in collaboration with Steve Levine
British hi-fi experts iFi audio have unveiled a new Master Tuned variant of their praised iDSD GR2 p...
02/10/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson looks at streaming piracy from a different lens, focusing on digital trust, consumer risk, and the future of subscriber protecti...
02/10/2026
Friday 2 October 2026
Crystal Lake, a Friday the 13th' prequel series, com...
02/10/2026
Friday 2 October 2026
Sky VIP helps families celebrate the Christmas season wit...
02/10/2026
How the fertility sector in Ireland remains unregulated
Undercover filming reveals how without proper regulation the promotion of controversial fertility treat...
02/10/2026
Transforming Homes, Transforming Lives
Presenter Baz Ashmawy and his team take on four life-changing builds across Kildare, Limerick, Wicklow and Offaly in the...
01/10/2026
Third collaboration with celebrated composer
Spitfire Audio have once again teamed up with Grammy-nominated composer, producer and technologist BT, creating...
01/10/2026
FL Studio gets dedicated grid controller
Novation have teamed up with FL Studio developers Image-Line to create another dedicated controller for the popular...
01/10/2026
Six new USB interfaces introduced
Universal Audio's USB audio interface line-up has just been refreshed, gaining six new models aimed at musicians, prod...
01/10/2026
Siretta's SNYPER-5G cellular network analyser has been shortlisted for the IoT Global Awards 2026.
The IoT Global Awards recognise products, services and o...
01/10/2026
Mesh Broadcast Services Fits Big-Truck Audio Power into Compact Eclipse Unit with Calrec Argo M Canadian OB company Mesh Broadcast Services has fitted its Eclip...
01/10/2026
X-Rite Pantone Launches Spectura to Advance Connected Color Quality from Lab to ...
01/10/2026
Thursday 1 October 2026
Nominees revealed for 2026 Sky Arts Awards
Current slide, 0 0, undefined1
0
Irish National Opera and Jennifer Walshe: MARS
Jacob Al...
01/10/2026
Vital TV antenna replaced at SudburyHelicopter and broadcast engineers work together to upgrade TV services for 1.5M in the East
--
Share to Linkedin
Octobe...
01/10/2026
Arqiva appoints Simon Duffy as ChairSimon Duffy joins as Chair effective 01 October 2026
--
Share to Linkedin
October 1, 2026
Press Office
01 October 2026...
01/10/2026
Season 4 of the multi-award-winning hit entertainment series The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In is back, serving up another round of unpredictable laughs, unforg...
01/10/2026
New season begins Sunday, 4 October at 6pm on RT lyric fm and RT Listen
RT lyric fm's arts and culture documentary series The Lyric Feature returns on S...
01/10/2026
RT is proud to continue its commitment to supporting and celebrating the arts across Ireland this October, highlighting a vibrant programme of theatre, music, ...
30/09/2026
Add an envelope generator to any plug-in
Sync Audio's latest creation is a handy utility plug-in that can be used to combine and modulate other effects ...
30/09/2026
All-analogue tape-style drive joins Series A
Strymon's reputation was built on their digital knowhow, so many were surprised (and intrigued) when they a...
30/09/2026
Two new expansion packs released
Sonuscore have just introduced two new expansion packs for The Pulse, its production engine instrument for modern cinematic...
30/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
30/09/2026
New Solution Expands Harmonic's Network Intelligence Portfolio and Brings Comcast-Developed Fiber Monitoring Technology to Broadband Operators, Providing Re...
30/09/2026
How to Shop Well Now starts Monday at 9.35pm
on RT One and RT Player
On the...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN, OR AT ANY ADDRESS IN, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ITS TERRITO...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
EQ plug-in can now be played via MIDI
Scaler Music have recently released a new and improved version of their patented musical EQ plug-in, kitting it out wi...
28/09/2026
New synth developed in collaboration with philterSoup
Boutique effects pedal and Eurorack manufacturer Animal Factory Amps have announced that the new compa...
28/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz adds an integrated multi-channel pulse analysis option to its FS...
28/09/2026
Monday 28 September 2026
Sky launches Full Fibre 1.6 Gbps for millions of homes
Sky has launched a new Full Fibre 1.6 Gbps product, rolling out from today, gi...
28/09/2026
Arvato Systems Highlights It's Role for Automotive Manufacturers and Suppliers
TISAX
Arvato Systems has successfully completed the TISAX Level 3 assess...
28/09/2026
Crimecall, presented by Carla O'Brien, returns tonight for a brand new series at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player.
In tonight's episode, alongside appe...
28/09/2026
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS AT THE HEART OF NEW IRISH WRITING
LIVE FROM POETRY IRELAND, DUBLIN AND ON RT RADIO 1 FROM 7PM
DETAILS: www.rte.ie/writing | FOLLOW: #r...
27/09/2026
New compact pedal packs in 120 effects
The latest multi-effects pedal from Boss is a compact unit that promises to give any pedalboard a massive boost in s...
26/09/2026
Launched alongside three new expansion packs
In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Native Instruments have released a major update for their Maschine 3 ...
25/09/2026
Algorithm update & new DVA vibrato-detection engine
A new flagship version of Antares' iconic pitch-correction software has arrived, and along with a co...
25/09/2026
New flagship unit to arrive in early 2027
Two notes Audio Engineering have revealed that a new and improved version of their hugely popular reactive load bo...
25/09/2026
AI-free mixing tool gets an upgrade
Launched in October 2025, Tim Exiles Finalist is an algorithmic mixing tool that's been designed for those who don&#...
Nokia names industrial automation startup HaiLa winner of the 2019 Nokia Open Innovation Challenge 
