mLab East Asia to stiffen mobile technologies

The government of Finland, the home of Nokia, is also backing mLab, a name that signifies tands for “mobile applications laboratory.”   Represents of Finland, Nokia and the
World Bank’s Information for Development programme (infoDev) launched the effort last week in a collaboration with a Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) consortium that includes National University Ho Chi Minh City, FPT University and Elcom Ltd.  

At the opening ceremony, Finland’s ambassador to Vietnam Kimmo Lahdevirta touted mLab East Asia as “a regional hub for building and promoting development of innovative mobile application solutions in the East Asia region.

“By providing technical and financial grant support to Vietnam in the innovation and new technology sector,” he continued.

Finland’s government, the ambassador said, partnered with infoDev and Nokia since 2010 in a global programme called “Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy” to assist technology-enabled entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to harness innovation. An important part of the programme is the establishment of regional mobile applications laboratories in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Ellen Olafsen, the infoDev operations officer Ellen Olafsen who manages its incubation grants program, said Vietnam was selected to host the regional project because her programme saw lots of potential in the country for mLabs. “Our decision was based on the market conditions,” she said.

Nokia’s Indochina developer relationship manager Fabien Lotz said Nokia has recorded almost 200 million mobile applications downloads from its Nokia Store from Vietnam since early 2010, the time the Finnish group popularised Nokia Store.

SHTP member Saigon Hi-Tech Business Incubator manages and operates the mLab East Asia.

Similar mLabs already operate in Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan and South Africa.