Context: Earlier this year, Nokia Technologies (the division that runs Nokia’s IP licensing business) announced the successful completion of its smartphone license renewal cycle (February 8, 2024 ip fray article). There are growth opportunities in video, IoT and other fields, where Nokia is making a lot of headway (September 23, 2024 ip fray article).
What’s new: In a press release, Nokia announced today that “Jenni Lukander, President of Nokia Technologies business group, has decided to leave the company and will step down from the Group Leadership Team.” As ip fray has just found out, Nokia Technologies VP and Chief Licensing Officer for Wireless Technologies, Patrik Hammarén, is taking over on an interim basis. Mrs. Lukander will support the transition in an advisory capacity until th eend of the year.
Direct impact & wider ramifications: For decades, Nokia’s IP division has been one of the most important talent pools in this field. The significant achievements during Mrs. Lukander’s term include that two relatively protracted legal disputes (with Daimler (now named Mercedes-Benz) and OPPO), were settled. Even if Mr. Hammarén’s appointment is interimistic, Nokia’s focus on growing its technology licensing business in such fields as automotive, consumer electronics, IoT and multimedia is going to be at least as strong as it would have been under the same leader.
A new LinkedIn post by Mrs. Lukander went live shortly after the corporate press release. She recalls her “17 years with Nokia and over six years at the helm of Nokia Technologies and in the Nokia Group Leadership Team,” and now wishes to pursue new opportunities.
The post ends on a positive note as well, wishing in the sincerest of terms Nokia’s CEO, her interim successor and the wider team “all the very best for the future.”
This is a surprising but presumably smooth transition as far as one can tell from the outside.