Tolga Kurtoglu

Tolga Kurtoglu is Chief Technology Officer at Lenovo and formerly HP’s Chief Technology Officer and Global Head of HP Labs. In his current role, Tolga leads Lenovo’s Research team, spearhead its innovation ecosystem, ensure alignment between the Emerging Technology Group’s technological vision and overall business objectives, and serves as a member on the Lenovo Executive Committee, the leadership team at Lenovo.

Tolga is a technology executive with a long track record of success spanning R&D, business strategy and technology commercialization. Tolga led HP Labs, one of the world’s most preeminent and seasoned industrial research laboratories, where he drove a renewed commitment to cutting-edge research and innovation. He also led the company’s technology strategy and engagement with the technical and scientific communities. He co-led HP's incubation efforts, creating edge computing, cybersecurity, and life sciences ventures.

He is the former CEO of Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a renowned scientific research and open innovation company that brings leading scientists, engineers and designers together to explore emerging areas of science and technology. During his tenure at PARC, Tolga led the transformation of PARC from a research organization to a world-class open innovation business. He founded PARC Refinery, a venture studio pushing the boundaries of Enterprise AI, IoT, and clean tech.

Prior, he was the Head of Global Research at Xerox, where he oversaw the company’s research centers and distributed advanced technology and engineering teams. Prior to this, Tolga was a researcher at NASA Ames Research Center, and a mechanical design engineer and group lead at Dell. Kurtoglu has numerous patents and publications in the fields of automation and machine intelligence, fault tolerant system design, and 3D/digital manufacturing.

Tolga brings over 20 years of tech industry experience. He has transitioned more than 40 innovations to the market through various commercialization strategies, including spin-offs and partnerships with major corporations. As a Board Member at Omidyar Network, he advocates for ethical GenAI and provides advice to AI startups. He holds numerous patents and has published multiple papers in the fields of automation and machine intelligence, computational design, systems engineering, and 3D/digital manufacturing.

Tolga holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon; and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, from the Univ. of Texas-Austin.