Lenovo Creation to Help Light Way for Olympics to Beijing

Morrisville, N.C. — PC manufacturer Lenovo will help light the way to the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing both literally and figuratively.

The company, which is based in Morrisville but has most of its operations in China, produced the winning design among 300 entries for the torch that runners from around the world will use next year.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympic picked Lenovo’s “Cloud of Promise” design that features themes relying on Chinese culture from a scroll to clouds. Paper was invented in China.
Beginning in March, runners will depart from Greece, the home of the Olympics, and carry the torch through more than 100 countries before a final runner will use it to light the ceremonial flame in Beijing.

“Whenever you can use the name of your company and the word historic in the same sentence, it’s a good day,” Bob Page, a Lenovo spokesperson told WRAL Local Tech Wire from Beijing just after an international press conference.

Media, government and Olympics officials gathered at the Beijing media center hotel for the announcement of the torch route and the selection of Lenovo’s torch design.

It’s the first time a TOP, or The Olympic Program, sponsor has won the torch design competition. Lenovo is one of 12 TOP sponsors for the games. Others include Coke, Kodak, Samsung, Omega and Johnson & Johnson.

“Not only was this unique for a technology company, it also was unique for a worldwide partner,” said Page, who is based in Morrisville but traveled to the Chinese capital for the event.

“We were able to do this because Lenovo has a big focus on design engineering,” he added. “We have the skills and talents worldwide.”

The torch is made of an aluminum-magnesium alloy, measures more than 28 inches in length and weighs just over 2 pounds. Deep red and silver in color, it features Chinese art and symbols along with a pattern of clouds.
More than 30 designers worked some 10 months on the project.

“Inspired by the shape of a traditional Chinese scroll, the imagery of the ‘Cloud of Promise’ represents the traditions of China, while the shape, texture and technology evoke the Olympic spirit,” said Yao Yingjia, executive director of Lenovo Innovation Design Center in Beijing. “We approached the design of the torch with the same process we use in designing our personal computers.

“First we explore the connection between the user and the solution we create for them, looking at factors like size, weight, features, etc.,” he explained in a statement. “Then we encourage the Lenovo design team to take a fresh approach to make the product unique and friendly to the customer. This is what we did with the torch, realizing it must be attractive to those who see it, and comfortable and light for those who carry it. In the case of the torch, our ‘customer’ is both the torchbearer and the spectator.”

Lenovo relied on its own “Innovation Triangle,” as described by Chief Executive Officer William Amelio. It includes design centers in Morrisville, Beijing and Yamato, Japan.

Entering the torch design competition was a way for Lenovo to demonstrate that its people could think creatively outside of a PC or laptop box.

“It’s a way we can demonstrate both capabilities of our technology and our people,” Page said.

A team of designers, including some in the Triangle led by design director David Hill, focused on the torch design project for months.

“The way the design process works at Lenovo is that a particular team tackles a project and then consults and obtains reviews and feedback from various resources around the world,” Page said. “The Beijing team took the lead, executed the design, and then as with any other solution we create with a PC product we took that design and solicited suggestions and subjected it to a review process by experts throughout the company.

“The people in Raleigh participated in the review of the design and gave suggestions to the Beijing team,” he added.

Lenovo is also supplying the computing equipment to be used in Beijing, just a sit did for the recent Winter Olympics in Italy. The company is also a sponsor of the torch run.