October 23, 2012

Mayor Emanuel Announces Nokia is Strengthening Commitment to Chicago with New Group, New Hiring

Relocation of Mobile Phones Xpress Internet Services Group and 150 Jobs to Chicago Latest Step in Company’s Growth in City; Company also Seeking to add 100+ Additional Chicago-based Employees in High-Tech Roles

Mayor's Press Office    312.744.3334

Today Mayor Emanuel announced that Nokia is relocating its Mobile Phones Xpress Internet Services group to Chicago, bringing approximately 150 jobs to the city and reaffirming its commitment to Chicago. With approximately 1,200 employees, Nokia’s largest office in North America is already in Chicago, which will grow with the relocation of the group to the City.  Additionally, Nokia has immediate needs for more than 100 additional employees in Chicago, in a variety of highly skilled technology roles. The two, parallel efforts will push Nokia’s headcount in the city to nearly 1,500. 

“Nokia’s growth in Chicago is a huge win for the city of Chicago and further testament that the technology space in the city is exploding,” said Mayor Emanuel. “More and more companies in this space are seeing that Chicago has the top talent available to help innovate and grow businesses in the coming years. I look forward to working with Nokia to extend Chicago’s leadership and growth, creating jobs and economic opportunity for years to come.”

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications with products that have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world.  Nokia’s Mobile Phones Xpress Internet Services group will join, in Chicago, the Location & Commerce (L&C) business. The Chicago office is one of three key sites for Nokia’s L&C business, creating location-based services that are core to its overall vision to build products that sense the world.  L&C aims to build and monetize unique location experiences for great mobile products, as well as the navigation industry, the automotive market and government and business solutions.  

“We’ve been perfecting digital maps for more than 15 years in the Chicago area, says Ogi Redzic, vice president of Nokia L&C, Traffic.  In today’s increasingly mobile environment, we are on a mission to create a virtual index of the real world. To help achieve that, we’re actively recruiting for employees in Chicago because we believe Chicago offers a critical mass of Internet, communications and technology talent to help us grow.”

With the relocation of the Mobile Phones Xpress Internet Services group from Itasca to the City, and the hiring of the positions for the Location & Commerce business, Nokia’s overall presence in Chicago now encompasses more than 350,000 square feet of leased office space.  There were no financial incentives involved in moving the Nokia team from Itasca to Chicago.

Mayor Emanuel met with Stephen Elop, global CEO of Nokia, in August, to discuss both the corporate move and the company’s broader plans for Chicago. The company also worked extensively with World Business Chicago throughout their search process, including exploring potential sites, working on talent recruitment and retention, and connecting with other tech companies that have also recently moved to the city. World Business Chicago will continue to work with Nokia to ensure a smooth transition to Chicago.

“Nokia’s Xpress Internet Services group and its additional hiring are significant additions to Chicago’s flourishing tech ecosystem, which has recently gained great momentum,” said Michael Sacks, Vice Chairman of World Business Chicago. “We look forward to working with Nokia as we continue to grow this important sector of Chicago’s economy.”

Earlier this year, the Mayor announced the City’s Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs, produced by World Business Chicago, which contains 10 growth strategies for Chicago’s economy. One of the central points of that report is the attraction of new corporate, regional or divisional headquarters. This is the 10th corporate, regional or divisional headquarters move announced by Mayor Emanuel in his tenure. 

Since taking office, the Mayor has stood with more than 60 companies that have announced nearly 25,000 jobs coming to Chicago. 

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