Nokia Will Leave Union County, Relocate Headquarters To New Brunswick

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Big news was announced Monday for the HELIX, the currently-under-construction science, tech and "innovation campus" Gov. Phil Murphy is heavily pushing in the heart of New Brunswick.

Nokia Bell Labs announced they are leaving their current headquarters in Murray Hill (Berkeley Heights in Union County) and will relocate to the HELIX in 2028. Nokia will relocate approximately 1,000 employees to New Brunswick, and intends to make New Brunswick their new global headquarters for research & development.

Nokia leadership and Gov. Murphy formally announced the news in a splashy press conference at 2 p.m. Monday at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.

What is the HELIX? For the past several years now, Gov. Murphy has been pushing the construction of a research/science/tech campus on a five-acre lot directly across from the New Brunswick train station.

The campus will be called the HELIX (New Jersey Health + Life Science Exchange) and will consist of three buildings: H-1, H-2 and H-3.

H-1 will be the new home of Rutgers Medical School, plus an NJ Innovation Hub. The HUB will have co-working space and shared public health research labs, with the goal of being a launch pad for micro-tech and start-ups.

Nokia plans to occupy the entire H-2 building. They are expected to move in in 2028, according to a spokesman for the New Brunswick Economic Development Corporation (DEVCO).

H-3 is planned to be a 42-story apartment building. If it gets built, it will be the tallest building in Central Jersey.

Work on the HELIX site started in 2022. Construction on the H-2 building is not even supposed to begin until 2025.

The idea is to have New Jersey's two largest universities (Rutgers and Princeton), and its two biggest dueling hospital networks (Hackensack Meridian and RWJBarnabas) come together under one roof in the center of the state — and all play nicely in the sandbox.

Think of it as New Jersey's answer to Silicon Valley: Gov. Murphy said he imagines the HELIX to be a place where research is shared, new life-saving vaccines are developed, a new Facebook is invented and so on.

"Think about all Rutgers does. Think about all Princeton does," Murphy previously mused. "(They) will be able to walk down a hall and collaborate with science and pharmaceutical researchers. This is where new businesses will be born and new jobs will be created."

Nokia is the newest tenant. Their arrival — albeit not until 2028 — is big news because it means the Murphy administration is seeing some success in wooing private companies to the HELIX.

"This is big," DEVCO president and HELIX CEO Chris Paladino said on Monday. "It simultaneously does multiple things: It reinforces the longstanding relationship between New Jersey and Nokia Bell Labs. It asserts and expands New Jersey’s leadership position in the global innovation economy. It also opens the doors to powerful new collaborations."

"We are thrilled to welcome Nokia Bell Labs to the HELIX," said Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Rob Garrett.

In 2021, Tel Aviv University announced they plan to open a satellite campus at the HELIX: Tel Aviv University The Newest Tenant At Rutgers' Tech Hub

Murphy also said the door is "wide open" for private New Jersey companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Merck and others to rent space at the HELIX.

The HELIX campus is on Albany Street, and meant to provide easy on/off access to Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. via Amtrak/NJ Transit's shared Northeast Corridor train line.

Nokia said in a statement Monday they were enticed to relocate to the HELIX because of "world-class, newly built facilities, proximity to all major cities along the Northeast Corridor, specifically New York City, mass-transit access providing multiple commuting options, tremendous partnership opportunities with world-class academic institutions and a high degree of livability" in the city of New Brunswick.

"Our Murray Hill campus has been home to iconic Nokia Bell Labs innovation for over 80 years," said Nokia chief strategy and technology officer Nishant Batra. "Ultimately, we want a facility that feels right for the next 100 years of Nokia Bell Labs.”

Nokia Bell Labs is a leading global research company, formed by the merger of Finnish-owned Nokia and Bell Labs, as part of Nokia's larger acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent in 2016. It was at Bell Labs in Holmdel (now Bell Works) where the world's first transistor radio and solar energy cells were invented, commonly seen as the solar panels we know today. In 1947, Bell Labs researchers started creating the framework for cellular phone networks.

Today, Nokia Bell Labs says it is working on cutting-edge research in 6G, AI and industrial automation.

Central Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone applauded Nokia's decision to leave Union County and relocate to New Brunswick:

"This relocation to the Helix Hub is a win-win move that provides their researchers with a state of-the-art facility and helps bring big investment to downtown New Brunswick," said the congressman. "This is further proof that the Democratic agenda of investing in American workers and ingenuity is working. I helped pass the CHIPS and Science Act last Congress to ensure semiconductor investments here in the U.S. and specifically here in New Jersey. Nokia’s announcement shows that we’re on the right path.”

Learn more about the HELIX: www.helixnj.com

Prior Patch reporting on the HELIX/HUB in New Brunswick: Rutgers, Princeton Come Together Under One Roof At NJ Tech Hub

Tel Aviv University The Newest Tenant At Rutgers' Tech Hub