Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang has committed to ambitious new targets for R&D hiring and achieving net zero emissions. Credit: IDG UK Lenovo has committed to hiring 12,000 new research and development (R&D) professionals over the next three years. The announcement was made during Lenovo’s annual company kick-off, where chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang set out the company’s vision for the year ahead. Alongside the hiring commitment, Yang also said that R&D investment will be doubled during the 2022/23 financial year, as the company looks to stay ahead of new and emerging IT architectures. Last year, the Chinese-American tech giant hired 5,000 R&D workers to support research into what it calls “Client-Edge-Cloud-Network-Intelligence”. The newly announced hires will work on new hardware and software to help customers stay ahead of emerging technology trends, such as edge computing and the metaverse. “Our intention is to optimize between technology with quick market returns and foundational research, and between continuous improvement and breakthrough innovation,” Yang said. Yang also outlined Lenovo’s ongoing pledge to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the company’s Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) commitments. While Yang didn’t speak specifically about diversity and inclusion at today’s event, in Lenovo’s 2020/21 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report from earlier this year the company showed that it had managed to broaden its recruiting efforts and improve its onboarding process to hire tech workers from a wider variety of backgrounds. Related content opinion Adobe Express Enterprise is where iWork could boldly go Adobe Express Enterprise is a powerful tool for business users seeking creative assets. By Jonny Evans May 21, 2024 4 mins Apple Generative AI Mobile news Adobe Lightroom gets first Firefly feature — Generative Remove Users of the photo-editing tool can now access the Generative Remove feature already available in Photoshop. By Matthew Finnegan May 21, 2024 2 mins Adobe Systems Generative AI Productivity Software news Microsoft launches AI-powered Copilot+ PCs The first batch of Copilot+ PCs will come with Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors and will hit the shelves on June 18. By Gyana Swain May 21, 2024 5 mins Windows PCs Microsoft Generative AI opinion What happens when genAI vendors kill off their best sources? You don’t really think you can depend on answers pulled from the likes of self-appointed Reddit experts, do you? By Steven Vaughan-Nichols May 21, 2024 5 mins Generative AI Google Technology Industry Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe