When Nokia opened the doors to its new radio campus in Oulu, Finland, the smell of irony was in the air for CEO Justin Hotard.

Having taken over from the ousted Pekka Lundmark earlier this year, Hotard is now front and center of a firm that, compared to his predecessors, appears to be doing research and development (R&D) the right way.

A few days before the Oulu ribbon-cutting ceremony, TechInsights published figures that suggested Intel, Hotard’s former employers, spent a whopping $16.5 billion on R&D in 2023. That’s 28% more than Nvidia and some 156% more than AMD. To put things in perspective, that same year, Intel’s Foundry business went on to lose $7 billion.

Compared to his current employers? Nokia spent some $4.6 billion on R&D in 2023. A number that would rise to $4.88 billion in 2024.

For all the money spent on R&D, what has Intel to show for it? Highly funded projects that kept getting cash despite going nowhere, before ultimately being shelved – with fears its 14A process might be the latest casualty of such efforts. Or the attempt to revitalize its chip architecture with legendary designer Jim Keller, a project that died quicker than it came about.

Then, when Intel does bring one of its innovations to production, it can’t seem to get it actually working – like its infamous 13^th and 14^th Gen Raptor Lake processors and their instability issues.

The man trying to turn Intel around, CEO Lip-Bu Tan, said he wanted to change the firm’s mindset, making R&D a central part of the business … only to then lay off several hundred research staff, like those in its Israeli hub.

And yet, despite spending a whole lot less, my trip to the Oulu campus seemed to me that Nokia was spending far more wisely.

That was a feeling Hotard himself seemed to share. During a press junket, I got to ask him about how the two companies compare to one another when it comes to R&D, having left a company that, frankly speaking, has neglected R&D in recent years.

The Nokia CEO told SDxCentral that his “mantra” since joining the company covered fundamental research in the places where it can invest in technology, and where it can differentiate partnerships and leverage ecosystems.

“If you go back and look at the amount of investments that have happened, sometimes it's not about whether you neglected, but did you make the right investments?" Hotard said.

Instead of throwing money at an idea in the hopes that it’ll eventually stick, the Nokia CEO stressed that its approach instead brings those two core areas together – fundamental research and an ecosystem mindset – to ultimately determine where to invest.

The CEO highlighted as an example of that approach being successful was one made by his predecessor: the acquisition of Infinera.

Having splurged some $2.3 billion (for perspective, almost half its R&D budget), on the optical chipmaker to expand its size and scope of its network infrastructure business. That move already looks to be paying off – with the brand joining its network infrastructure offering as the shining light of Nokia’s recent, otherwise flat financial performance.

Hotard outlined that since joining Nokia, he has borrowed a pearl of wisdom from mobile networks president, Tommi Uitto, in that the fruits of R&D spending won’t show up for a handful of years, and that planting the seeds of innovation now will ensure proper growth and yield results in the years to come.

“It's about focus, and it's not just focus on where we are investing, but it's focused on what we are investing in, in the stack, and be really smart about that,” Hotard told SDxCentral. “Where we see opportunities to drive long-term growth and value, we'll invest R&D. But it's always about that balance and discipline. And I think it's a little bit, honestly ... it's not about what you know, what the absolute metrics are. It's about where you are investing in, and really digging into that.”

Nurturing grassroots ideas vs free coffee

Beyond getting spending right, Hotard joins a company that seems, from what I saw in my short time in Oulu, to have gotten the culture right – a stark difference from his previous employers.

Upon becoming Intel CEO, Tan suggested that the chip firm's previous internal culture hindered employees' ability to “develop and grow.” Meanwhile, what we observed and learned from Nokia staff on the ground suggests the company fosters grassroots ideas.

Take the digital twin keeping track of its factory floor. Nokia could have just tapped Nvidia for its Omniverse platform, but a staff member instead took the initiative and developed it in-house using publicly available software tools.

That almost proletarian approach to problem-solving was frankly refreshing to see at a multi-billion-dollar tech firm.

Of course, there is the old "wheel out the good bits for the journos to see" and "don’t look behind that curtain" when it comes to these sorts of site visits. But interacting with staff without being under the watchful eye of the PR department, there didn’t seem to be much of that. The folks there actually wanted to be there and clearly enjoyed being a part of the process.

The same can’t be said for Intel’s staff. Their reward for all their hard work? Free coffee, which the company had only weeks prior axed after claiming it spent $100 million annually on free food and drink.

If ever there was a time for the Captain Picard facepalm meme, it would be that.