US-based phone operator AT&T, which ran the famous Bell Labs, has agreed to set up a centre in California for consumer mobile technology research.
AT&T’s centre in Palo Alto will join those from peers Sprint Nextel and Verizon, according to local news provider Palo Alto Online.
At AT&T local entrepreneurs can pitch ideas to staff in about 10 minutes to gain backing and the company said it hoped to see about 400 ideas per year, with venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital partnering the phone operator to identify good companies and potentially invest in them.
AT&T said it would open other such innovation centres in Texas and Israel.