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 news analysis Apple confirms it will open up the iPad in Europe this fall The latest efforts to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act mean developers can offer to side load apps to both iPhones and iPads in the EU. Apple has also taken steps to improve what it offers to smaller and non-commercial developers in the By Jonny Evans May 02, 2024 6 mins iPad Apple Mobile Apps news Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days Sign-ups will be available over the next 30 days By Lucas Mearian May 02, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry IT Jobs IT Skills opinion Why you’ll soon have a digital clone of your own AI isn’t going to replace you at work. You will. By Mike Elgan May 02, 2024 7 mins Augmented Reality Generative AI Virtual Reality news analysis Workers with these AI skills are getting cash premiums As AI deployments become more critical to digital transformation projects, organizations are struggling to find skilled workers to support the new technology, so they're paying premiums for prospective hires or current employees who obtain the n By Lucas Mearian May 01, 2024 7 mins Generative AI IT Jobs IT Skills 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