Lenovo Expands Global R&D Footprint with New AI Innovation Centers and a Digital Trust Lab

Lenovo is expanding its global Research & Development (R&D) capabilities by adding new facilities in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region to complement its existing footprint of 18 locations.

These new locations form the newly created Lenovo AI Technology Center (LATC) and Digital Trust ecosystem to drive Lenovo’s hybrid-AI vision.

LATC will advance Lenovo’s core capabilities, shaping the future of AI-powered computing. Lenovo’s researchers will focus on the real-world deployment of foundation models, the evolution of agentic AI, and the orchestration of intelligent systems that collaborate seamlessly across environments. As AI reshapes how technology is built and experienced, LATC is leading Lenovo’s efforts to turn innovation into impact at speed.

The initial expansion and investment will add three key locations to Lenovo’s global footprint, including new centres in Edinburgh and London (United Kingdom), and a further lab in Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), which will open later this year. In addition, Lenovo has opened a new Digital Trust Lab in Tel Aviv (Israel).

With their vibrant tech sectors and rapidly expanding AI ecosystems, London and Edinburgh stood out as ideal locations for Lenovo’s initial LATC facilities.

These new facilities are part of the R&D team’s wider AI innovation strategy and will operate under the leadership of the Lenovo Group’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr Tolga Kurtoglu, who was appointed in July 2024.

Commenting on the expansion, Tolga Kurtoglu said: “As Lenovo expands its global R&D footprint, we’re deepening our commitment to advancing responsible and trustworthy innovation. The new LATC facilities reflect our belief that breakthroughs in AI must be built on a foundation of security, privacy, and collaboration. By bringing together world-class researchers, engineers, and academic partners, we’re accelerating the development of technologies that not only push the boundaries of what’s possible but do so in ways that earn and maintain trust in the benefits of AI to society.”

LATC is led by Dr. Anwar Ghuloum, a research scientist who has held engineering and AI leadership roles at Intel, META, Google, and Nvidia. He oversees the development of foundational technologies that advance Lenovo’s vision for personal and enterprise agentic AI across devices, infrastructure, and cloud.

Anwar leads the development of Lenovo’s flagship Agentic AI platforms, including two core technology pillars: the AI Agent Core & Development Framework for intelligent agent creation and the AI Model Factory for scalable model deployment. He will drive technical alignment across Lenovo’s broader AI initiatives to support the company’s hybrid-AI strategy.

Anwar Ghuloum remarked: “LATC is central to Lenovo’s ambition to lead in the era of hybrid AI. By bringing together world‑class research, advanced model development, and deep collaboration with universities and industry, we’re building the foundational technologies that will power the next generation of agentic AI.”

The mission of the Digital Trust lab in Tel Aviv is to drive real-world impact on security, privacy, and trust related to Lenovo’s Hybrid AI strategy, and to build on the already strong cybersecurity and privacy foundations of Lenovo’s existing product lines. The launch of the lab builds on Lenovo’s momentum in the region, following the 2023 opening of the Lenovo Cybersecurity Innovation Center (LCIC), an academic research facility in partnership with Ben-Gurion University.

At Tech World @ CES, Lenovo shared its bold vision of Hybrid AI and unveiled Lenovo and Motorola Qira a personal AI super agent that works seamlessly across Lenovo and Motorola devices, including PCs, smartphones, tablets, and wearables, to deliver context-aware assistance. This unified AI, called a Personal Ambient Intelligence System, appears as Lenovo Qira on Lenovo products and Motorola Qira on Motorola products and embodies Lenovo’s commitment to offering one personal AI across multiple devices.