In May 2025, LEAD released its 2024 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, highlighting how a strong focus on R&D and quality management drives its ESG success. By integrating sustainability into early-stage product and process design and reducing defects and waste, LEAD lowers its environmental impact—using less energy, water, and materials throughout the product lifecycle.

These efforts delivered measurable ESG improvements for LEAD in 2024.

LEAD’s R&D Outcomes in 2024 ESG Performance

Spotlight on LEAD’s Innovation Performance Metric in ESG Performance in 2024

Source: “LEAD’s 2024 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report” by LEAD, May 2025

With R&D recognized as key to ESG and long-term industrial leadership, LEAD focused in 2024 on turning strategy into action. It strengthened its innovation system by boosting investment, advancing talent development, and upgrading digital infrastructure, making R&D more systematic, scalable, and globally integrated.

Increased R&D Investment: 14.4%

In 2024, LEAD invested 1.68 billion RMB (232 million USD) in R&D—14.14% of its annual operating revenue, up from 10.05% in 2022. This sharp increase highlights a clear strategic pivot toward deeper technological innovation.

LEAD’s R&D Investment as a Percentage of Operating Revenue (2022–2024)

Source: LEAD’s 2024 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, May 2025

This underscores LEAD’s long-term commitment to embedding innovation across its operations, particularly as it expands into complex fields such as prismatic, pouch, and cylindrical lithium batteries, photovoltaics, and hydrogen intelligent equipment. These advancements are key to reducing energy use, extending equipment lifespan, and accelerating the clean energy transition through low-carbon, high-efficiency manufacturing solutions.

Growing R&D Human Capital: 30.03% of Workforce

Complementing this investment is a steady expansion of R&D personnel. In 2024, R&D personnel made up 30.03% of the total workforce, a notable increase from 25.71% in 2023.

This growth reflects the hiring trends, which stem from a deliberate effort to cultivate a research-driven culture and are supported by structured knowledge sharing and global collaboration.

LEAD has built a digital R&D platform that enables modular, cross-functional design and introduced a dedicated knowledge management system to accelerate learning and innovation reuse. These tools also foster employee skill development and support long-term career growth.

Together, these initiatives mark a broader convergence of innovation and ESG priorities through digitalization. LEAD’s enhanced digital infrastructure promotes smarter resource use, minimizes waste in the R&D process, and enables a more inclusive, future-ready workforce.

Wide Collaboration with Academia: Partnering with 5 Leading Universities

A strong R&D system doesn’t operate in isolation. In 2024, LEAD formalized its academic partnerships by launching the Management Measures for Industry-University-Research Cooperation, a policy framework to guide structured, long-term innovation efforts and build long-term partnerships with top-tier institutions in China, including

• Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• Huazhong University of Science and Technology
• Southeast University
• Jiangsu University, and
• Jiangnan University

These collaborations go well beyond academic exchange. They integrate academic research strengths with LEAD’s production expertise and market insight, expanding technical depth and addressing complex challenges in manufacturing efficiency and product precision.

These collaborations go well beyond academic exchanges. More importantly, they are designed to integrate research strengths in society with LEAD’s production experience and market insight. It creates an expanding technical depth and solves complex challenges that hinder manufacturing efficiency and product precision.

They integrate academic research strengths with LEAD’s production expertise and market insight, expanding technical depth and addressing complex challenges in manufacturing efficiency and product precision.

Innovative Intellectual Property: 527 New Patents

At LEAD, innovation drives both manufacturing excellence and client efficiency. In 2024, LEAD secured 527 new patents across key areas of intelligent manufacturing—reflecting not just scale, but growing maturity in turning R&D into proprietary, market-relevant technologies.

This momentum was further reinforced by achieving Level 3 Innovation and Technology Management Certification, aligned with the international ISO 56005 standard. This certification validates LEAD’s robust systems for identifying, evaluating, and protecting technical knowledge—an essential capability in high-tech, competitive industries.

More than strengthening market position, these achievements reflect a unified R&D strategy that advances both innovation and ESG goals. By combining patent growth, talent development, digital infrastructure, and academic partnerships, LEAD is aligning technological progress with long-term environmental and social value.

LEAD’s Quality Management on ESG Performance

Innovation drives sustainable progress. But quality management ensures it is reliable, consistent, and responsible. Building on its R&D strengths, LEAD has established a tightly integrated quality assurance system for intelligent equipment. This system enhances ESG performance by promoting resource efficiency, product durability, and greater supply chain accountability.

LEAD’s Quality Management: Reinforcing ESG Performance

Rigorous Inspection Procedures

At LEAD, our quality assurance system is a rigorous procedure that minimizes risks from the very beginning of the manufacturing process:

LEAD’s Inspection Procedure in Production

Source: “LEAD’s 2024 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report” by LEAD, May 2025

LEAD’s inspection system ensures that only qualified materials enter production while also fostering a culture of quality and accountability across the supply chain. This approach directly supports key ESG goals, including environmental protection, waste reduction, and ethical sourcing.

Embedded Safety Systems

Safety management is not just a technical requirement at LEAD—it’s a cornerstone of corporate responsibility and social sustainability. From product design to field operation, LEAD embeds safety into every stage of the manufacturing process, reinforcing its ESG values and regulatory compliance.

• Compliance with Domestic and International Standards:

LEAD aligns with key safety standards, including CE, UL, and national directives on machinery safety and electromagnetic compatibility. This reduces legal and reputational risks while ensuring safe, reliable performance across global markets.

• Advanced Safety Design Integration:

LEAD incorporates multi-dimensional safety protocols—such as gas concentration monitoring, pressure testing, and temperature control—into its systems. These features improve operational reliability, mitigate environmental risks, and protect frontline employees during testing, calibration, and production.

Together, these measures create safer workplaces, boost employee morale, reduce downtime, and directly enhance ESG performance.

Honest Model for Group, Subsidiary, and Department Level

LEAD has institutionalized its commitment to quality through the “360 Quality Integrity Model”—a framework that extends beyond technical standards to embed trust, responsibility, and accountability throughout the group, subsidiaries, and departments.

LEAD’s 360 Quality Integrity Model

Source: “LEAD’s 2024 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report” by LEAD, May 2025

This model directly reinforces the “Governance” pillar of ESG by enhancing ethical oversight and traceability in operational decision-making. It also strengthens the “Social” dimension by fostering a workplace culture where employees are empowered to speak up, take ownership, and drive continuous improvement.

When integrity is expected and rewarded across all levels, maintaining high-quality standards becomes second nature, leading to faster issue resolution, greater transparency, and deeper trust with customers, regulators, and stakeholders.

Conclusion

As global industries shift toward smarter, cleaner, and more accountable manufacturing, LEAD exemplifies how technological innovation and strong quality governance can drive meaningful ESG progress.

Through increased R&D investment, digitalization, and a firm commitment to safety, ethics, and integrity across the entire lifecycle of intelligent equipment, LEAD is building a model where growth and responsibility advance together.

Reference

• http://m.yzsmkjd.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2024-Environmental-Social-and-Governance-ESG-Report.pdf