Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times: Asian Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact during COVID-19

ASIA BUSINESS COUNCIL HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 5 0 Lenovo (Mainland China) Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times report also suggested online educational platforms and flexible enrollment as strat- egies that can reduce the risk that students will drop out of school permanently. 10 Lenovo believes the SmarterEd platform could be a model for other emerging economies across the globe and potentially nations like the United States, where teacher shortages are arising because of the public health crisis and concerns around teaching in person. Educational Technologies to Enable Virtual Learning While Lenovo’s philanthropic response to the pandemic has been admirable, the company’s business response to the crisis has also been notable. COVID-19 has been a commercial opportunity for Lenovo, as education, business, and social life around the world has increasingly come to revolve around the digital devices that Lenovo and other technology companies provide. As an indicator, Lenovo’s overall revenues rose by 7 percent to $27.9 billion in the six months ended September 30, 2020. 11 Although Lenovo had already been focused on educational technologies in the past five years, the pandemic acted as an inflection point. The shift from classroom to online learning became an impetus for the company to put its emerging solutions into practice. While Lenovo has approximately 800 employees globally working in various education-focused teams, it is a team led by Rich Henderson, Director of Global Education Solutions, based in North Carolina, that is responsible for “looking beyond the device” to come up with educational solutions. SmarterEd is a student-teacher matching platform that helps resolve the shortage of teachers in India