Henri Tirri, left, with Jimmy Wales

HELSINKI, Finland – Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is the 2009 recipient of the Nokia Foundation award. Wales, the man behind the community-driven encyclopedia that has become the web’s de facto reference site, was honoured for his contributions to the evolution of the World Wide Web as a participatory and truly democratic platform. In presenting the €10,000 award at the Nokia Foundation scholarship awards ceremony today, Henry Tirri, head of Nokia Research Centre and Nokia Foundation chairman, said the award was both deserved and timely.

“The theme for this yearís award is Open Innovation, a way of working which is very important for our activities at Nokia Research Center, and a value which we believe is embodied in the participatory and inclusive approach of Wikipedia.”

When Wales launched Wikipedia in 2001, its approach of letting its users compile and edit entries was revolutionary. But it’s a formula that has met with huge success: Wikipedia attracts an average of more than 330 million visitors a month, and contains more than 14 million articles in more than 260 languages.

Previous recipients of the Nokia Foundation annual award include Lauri Kuokkanen (1995), Pekka Tarjanne (1996), Linus Torvalds (1997), Arto Salomaa (1998), Kullervo Nieminen (1999), Osmo A. Wiio (2000), Ilkka Haikala (2001), Veikko Rintam‰ki (2002), George Metakides (2003), Heikki Lyytinen (2004), Moncef Gabbouj (2005), MÂrten Mickos (2006), Pekka Abrahamsson (2007), Aapo Kyrölä and Sampo Karjalainen (2008).

In addition to honouring Wales and Wikipedia, the Nokia Foundation also awarded doctorate scholarships worth €385,000 to 77 post-graduate students in the field of information and data communications technology.

Of course, most of the folk directly involved with bringing the ethos of innovative sustainability to life at Nokia are indeed of the blushing breed, but as we’re not (remember Conversations is written by an Anglo-Brazilian, a couple of Americans and an Irishman!) we’ll happily shine a light on some of the smart projects and some lesser-read public Nokia documents that go some way to understanding how and why Nokia continues to be so focused on being a company actively in pursuit of employing great sustainability practices.

From a product perspective and reducing environmental impact, we’ve witnessed some brilliant stories over the past 12 months, exploring packaging, energy saving solutions (and landmark collaborations) and recycling.

In December 2008 we ran a piece on Nokia’s approach to packaging and ethical consumption, which highlighted some amazing figures and showed a significant impact of reduced packaging and applying a different approach to traditional methods. Here’s a snippet from that article, highlighting these points: “Kirsi Sormunen heads up environmental affairs at Nokia and she also told us Nokia is looking at shipping products without chargers. The charger is one of the biggest factors when it comes to packaging, particularly in the UK where chargers are naturally big. Since reducing the size of product packaging, Nokia has effectively taken 12,000 trucks off the road, used 100 tonnes less paper and saved €470million. These changes don’t happen fast though. There are still a number of products shipping in the older, larger packs, but the change is happening.” (read the full story)

Around the same time Nokia launched a new site called Green Explorer in collaboration with Lonely Planet and the WWF to help people by sharing sustainable tips and advice on living and traveling in a greener way. It’s available as a widget on your device, and the site also highlights another solution we covered in great detail here on Conversations called we:offset – a mobile tool designed to help you track and offset your CO2 emissions on the move (read our we:offset big round-up). The site is certainly worth a look if you haven’t visited before, as is the widget and the we:offset app.

Energy saving has again been an area of great debate and focus, which saw in November of 2008 the big phone charger question revisited, a new energy star rating system unveiled and multi-manufacurer solidarity forged on the issue. Here’s a snippet: “The new star rating system “indicates how much energy each charger uses when left plugged into the wall socket after charging is completed.  The ratings covers all chargers currently sold by the five companies, and range from five stars for the most efficient chargers down to zero stars for the ones consuming the most energy.” This marks a significant and evolutionary leap forward for accelerating the improvement of eco efficiency in mobile phone chargers, and raising awareness surrounding the subject.” (read the full story).

The topic of crucial minerals and materials has been openly and actively engaged, as explored in a great piece by Charlie in April of this year. It definitely warrants a sit down and serious read – “We have no taste for unethical sources of crucial materials”.

Recycling has equally been an area Nokia has been keenly involved in innovating within. We ran a story earlier this year that touched on a number of the issues, ideas and initiatives in a piece entitled “One man’s trash is another man’s problem”. If you want to find out more about all the things Nokia is doing in this space, stick the kettle on and have a good read, as this piece links off to much of what’s being done in this important area of development.

Alongside all these stories (there are plenty more you can explore in our Environment section here on Conversations, including all the recent Progress Project news), it’s worth taking a closer look at the many pages and interesting documents within the Corporate Responsibility and Environment sections of the Nokia site. Publicly available, yet lesser-read, these valuable and inspiring spaces have been reserved to highlight how Nokia approaches sustainability and the environment.

There’s a lot of stuff in there, but if you’re interested in discovering more, in particular, you might find the following pages and documents of interest:

• Environment strategy – here you can read about what Nokia is aiming to achieve and a number of the projects and initiatives it is currently undertaking.
• Nokia Code of Conduct (available in 34 languages) – this document gives great insight into many areas of the business including sustainability and the environment.
• Product development and sustainable design – short overviews on each with links off to interesting associated projects.

There’s still lots to be done, but what do you think to all this? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

“Solutions” is the buzz word around Nokia at the moment, and is at the heart of each EVO store which represents the latest generation of Nokia’s stores. In it you’ll find more live demos, a highly trained staff who can further train and educate consumers on Nokia’s latest solutions.

Enjoy a few photos below of the new store!

Welcome! You’ve arrived too early though…

Ahh…much better

Elegant interior design

Devices and big screens, quite common in all Nokia stores

Have the staff activate your Ovi services right in the store!

Don’t forget to pay on the way out

A view of mall outside the store

We’re going to take your responses to David Mason, one of the guys responsible for the Progress Project, with an aim to bringing you more on these stories (we’ll keep you posted). Read on to find out what you collectively voted for after the break.

Most wanted, and taking the number one slot with 35% of the vote, was ‘updates on new projects in emerging markets‘. This topic clearly remains an area of interest, and we’ll be hunting out more stories from the Progress Project team to ensure we keep you up to date with all the latest developments.

In second place with 24% was ‘diaries from people using the services‘. We put this one in the poll as we think it would be great to get personal accounts from the folk using these solutions and directly affected by them. Granted, I reckon this may be a tougher one to deliver on as we’re wary not to make those people’s lives any more difficult than they may already be, but we’ll investigate further and see what we can do – even if we can get comments or text updates from them. Let’s see how we do.

Third on the list, with 22% of the vote, is ‘stories from people involved in the projects‘. So those responsible and actively helping to make the initiatives happen. Again, an area we’re passionate to pursue.

In fourth place, with 14%, is ‘showcase similar projects outside Nokia‘. This is one that we could use your help with. If you see any great initiatives in this area please let us know and include them in the ongoing conversation.

As ever, please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Read on to find out more and to join the social network debate.

Now, acquisitions of this nature often duck the news radar and rarely tend to cause our excitement thermometer to burst, but the purchase of Plum (as with the acquisitions of Bit-side, Plazes, Trolltech and the big one, Navteq), again highlights the sort of innovators and talent Nokia is keenly inviting to the Social Location table.

In this case, what’s interesting is this idea of micro communities and mini social networks. This is the expertise that the team of 10 people from Plum add to the Nokia equation.

This sparks an interesting question related to the size of our individual social networks – are we reaching a threshold now where we begin cutting back on the size of our social network contacts pool? Or do we keep collecting connections, and is the skill then in the segmenting those people and customizing the sorts of experiences we want to share with some groups and not others? Does the blurring of the lines between the personal and professional in these social spaces require more privacy customization? I’m more on the side of the latter, but what a beast to tame! That said, I’d certainly be willing to attempt to whip my social network existence into shape in such a fashion. Would you?

Now, when it comes to trimming back our list of ‘friends’, is that possible when web etiquette surely continues to play a large role here? I’ve never deleted an associate or friend. Not sure if I can, but perhaps it’ll come easier in time, or perhaps I’ll never need to.

Of course, if I start getting deleted by others I may change my tune.

Photo from tomeppy

GLOBAL

Nonetheless, analysts far and wide weighed in on the announcements. Below, we’ve mentioned a few choice articles, representative of the general discussion out there. So read on for a full flavour round-up.

The Nokia Booklet 3G
The guys at Engadget were excited with the new Booklet 3G, but were cautious about some things related to it. They were curious to see if the half-day battery life would hold up to real-life testing. Also, they were a bit surprised with the €575 price tag despite comments from Nokia executives that the Booklet would be heavily subsidized by operators.

A search on YouTube also revealed a ton of videos, with hands-on reviews, promo videos, and interviews.

The Nokia N900
The first Linux-based Maemo phone has everyone talking, as well. Here’s a video of a demo given to Mark Guim. We don’t know how he managed to sit still the whole time, so close to this device.

The Nokia X6
Taking a page out of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic’s book, the Nokia X6 is sleeker and packing a bit more than its predecessor. While we are not always super enthusiastic about small technical features in a product, it seems like many folks were relieved to hear that the X6 had a fancy capacitive touch screen. I suppose that’s a signal folks were looking for that Nokia indeed was going to come out with capacitive touch devices.

The Nokia N97 mini
Folks were happy to hear about the N97 mini. And the folks at Avec Mobile pointed out that while most of the differences are seemingly slight, one difference between the bantam and the bigger sibling is significant: price.

Lifecasting
One little item that did indeed get some mentions was the Lifecasting app for the N97, which makes it easy for folks to update their Facebook profile from a mobile. When the N97 launched it was called the Facebook phone. Now, it’s even more so.

Lionel Laurent from Forbes reports on Facebook’s forays into mobile and its growing relationship with Nokia.

You can get the Lifecasting app at Nokia Beta Labs. Here’s a video (kinda) demoing it. Though you don’t need a funky emo-doo to use it.

Parting shots
We also want to point out two articles that represent a feeling that’s out there. Basically, there is an underlying interest in the new products released, that Nokia is continuing to make moves to change user’s expectations of mobile devices of all types. But there is also a feeling that there was a lot that was not done or said at Nokia World, either for US customers or in response to competitors.

What do you think? What do the products announced at Nokia World 2009 tell you about where Nokia is going and what it can achieve? Likewise, if you’ve seen more reactions out there on the web or offline related to NW09 that you’d like to share here (good,  bad or indifferent) please share them below.

Image from MonsieurLui

We’ll be bringing you all the breaking news, stories from the show floor, photo galleries galore, videos, and you’ll be able to listen to all the latest in our series of Blogbites throughout the event.

So what can you expect? For starters there’ll certainly be more on the new Nokia Booklet 3G and the Nokia N900. We’ll be getting hands-on with these exciting new devices and bringing you the first photos of them in the flesh, more videos and all the initial reactions.

Plus, the event will usher in more news and see us getting the inside story on all the products, solutions and ideas that are fueling innovation in and around the Nokia’s buzzing ecosystem.

Needless to say, we’re pretty excited, and can’t wait to start feeding you our findings live from the show floor.

So stay tuned, and find out more about how you can keep up to date with all the happenings from Nokia World 09 here.

Read on for highlights of who’s talking about what at Nokia World 09, and why we’re fired up to hear what they have to say.

We’ll be reporting live from Nokia World 09, bringing you the latest must-know updates, so here’s the line-up of speakers and what to expect. These are the highlights of day one.

First up on stage on 2 September at 9am is Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. The man in charge will open the event with his Welcome to Nokia World 09 keynote speech. In terms of what we can expect, it’s little surprise that there certainly will be announcements, so watch this space for all the breaking stories and reactions from around the web.

Next up podium-side is Anssi Vanjoki, who’s keynote will explore the future of consumer driven mobile solutions. Again, this is sure to be an interesting insight into where things are headed for Nokia products and services. The CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Rene Obermann, will then deliver a keynote speech on connected life & work followed by Larry Kaplan, President and CEO at Navteq for what’s sure to be a fascinating talk on data for the human race.

As for day two (3 September), Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President of Services at Nokia is delivering his keynote speech on the topic of delivering on people and places. Intriguing. Shortly after Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Office at Nokia is giving a talk entitled bridging the gap: mobile solutions for the next billion.

We’re keen to hear what Facebook’s Director of Mobile, Henri Moissinac, has to say in his keynote speech on social applications: the future of mobile.

Tomorrow we’ll let you know all the Nokia folk we’ve booked interviews with at Nokia World 09. Plus, we’ll be opening the floor to your suggested questions for the people we’ll be chatting to, to ensure the Conversations voice is heard. So stay tuned for tomorrow’s update, and get your thinking hats on!

Get a quick video lowdown of Nokia World 09 >>

Keep up do date with all the latest Nokia World 09 updates here.

Nokia World 09 coverage >>

BOSTON, USA

But, I try hard to see what’s happening above that, as well, such as large industry trends (or non-trends) or events that I think are tremendously significant, but usually missed by the folks around me.

Below, I list two very interesting things that will get you talking. The first one compares phone usage patterns in the US and Europe. The second one is about some African hackers.

PhoneBoy’s got a point
Ars Technica reports on a study that claims that Americans pay almost five times more for wireless service than those living in EU countries such as Finland and Sweden.

The inestimable PhoneBoy chimed in, mostly in response to the US wireless lobbying organization, CTIA, which had crafted a response to the study, stating the study was flawed.

PhoneBoy rightfully points out that aside from difference in usage patterns between countries, there are significant differences to how users are billed. For example, in Europe the caller pays, while the US subscribers pay for out-going and in-coming minutes. In the US, subscriptions with bulk minutes included in monthly price are more common than in Europe, where there is a large percentage of pre-paid customers.

I’d like to add that in Europe it’s not hard to be roaming, whereas in the US you can go from Boston to Phoenix (equivalent to going from Espoo to Lisbon) and never roam. And, as one would expect from Americans, the US has more “all-you-can-eat” options, such as text and internet, and free off-peak or intra-network calling.

On my part, having lived in Finland and now in the US, I do feel that the cost is higher in the US (and the phones are certainly krappier and the plans more Byzantine). My last bill in Finland is close to my current bill in the US in price, but I know that our usage here will be higher as my kids take advantage of unlimited messaging and internet access, which they never had in Finland. Also know that Finland has in the past years moved towards bulk pricing of minutes and heavily subsidized phones.

It’s a moving target and any discussion might approach an “angels on a pin-head” discussion.

What do you think?

Hacking in Africa
MAKE magazine has been a leading voice in the DIY (do-it-yourself) trend that has boomed in recent years due to the ability to connect with crafters over the Web. One fun event run by the folks at MAKE is the Maker’s Faire, where crafters of all kind come together to share the things they’ve made.

I’ve been to one and it was a whole lot of fun.

This past weekend, Maker’s Faire Africa burst to life in Accra, Ghana [via core77]. The range of things folks were showing was pretty cool. It looks like there were tons of ingenious creations, and lots of discussions that had all these hackers and crafters sharing and working together, innovating, and even working on local solutions to local issues. And, of course, there was also the usual robots and electronics, a staple at every Maker’s Faire.

Were any of you there? What was it like?

We found a collection of images from the Faire. Enjoy.

My vote is that the next Faire be a few countries over in Nigeria. That’s to please my pal David O.

Images from whiteafrican’s photostream from Maker Faire Africa

STUTTGART, Germany

As you might imagine, we’re unnaturally excited here on Conversations, as the entire team will be in attendance, reporting from the frontline to ensure we deliver you some of the best insider coverage from the show floor.

In the run-up to the show we’ll be bringing you stories related to Nokia World 09, including looking back at previous Nokia Worlds, finding out what goes into making an event of such magnitude happen, asking you to suggest the questions you would like to ask our interviewees, and loads more. So make sure you stay tuned over the coming weeks (think of it as a very long drum roll… but certainly more pleasing to the ear).

To get things started we thought we’d highlight the first video teaser for Nokia World 09. Click through to see the full video and find out more about the event of year.

Download and save Nokia World 09 date to your calendar