He Gang
Chief Executive Officer, Huawei Consumer Business Group
Sustainable Development Committee Director, Huawei Consumer Business Group
We are living in a time of transformation and innovation. Technologies are reshaping the world and improving our day-to-day lives in many different ways. However, issues like the information gap, global warming, and plastic pollution pose significant risks to social sustainability. As a technology company, Huawei firmly believes that technological progress holds the key to addressing these challenges. Huawei aims to help society move towards a more sustainable future through ongoing innovation and responsible actions.
Offering everyone the chance to access and participate fully in the digital world
Huawei continues to explore information accessibility and promotes the development of accessibility technologies through innovation. Huawei offers key accessibility capabilities, such as ScreenReader, magnification gestures, and seamless connectivity with hearing-aid devices to aid people with visual and hearing impairments. HarmonyOS NEXT uses AI foundation models to boost accessibility. For example, the voice enhancement feature leverages AI capabilities to enhance the clarity of voices. In the future, Huawei will share the algorithm and model to enable technological progress to benefit more people.
At the HUAWEI DEVELOPER CONFERENCE (HDC) 2024, Huawei continued its tradition of setting up an accessibility experience exhibition area for the fourth year in a row, enabling more people to benefit from technological advancements. Last year, industry experts recognized Huawei's continued investment in improving accessibility by honoring Mate 60 Pro+, powered by HarmonyOS 4.0, with a five-star rating for smartphone information accessibility. Huawei will keep improving accessibility and experience to enable everyone to have equal opportunities to access and use information.
Driving sustainable development through technological innovation
Huawei has always been committed to protecting nature using technology. Through technological innovation, the company performs closed-loop management throughout the entire lifecycle of products to minimize their impact on the environment. Huawei utilizes 14 types of renewable materials, including paper, gold, copper, glass, and plastic to manufacture products. For example, among Huawei wearables, the HUAWEI WATCH GT 5 uses 100% renewable nylon for the braided part of its Blue composite strap, while the HUAWEI WATCH D2 uses 100% renewable gold and electroplated copper for its button FPC. For products coming to the end of their lifecycles, Huawei tries to repair the mainboards, screens, and other components, instead of simply scrapping the products. In this way, Huawei has extended the lifespan of more than 10 million devices.
Huawei is looking to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations by switching to renewable and clean energy. In 2023, Huawei used more than 720 million kWh of electricity from renewable energy sources, which represents a year-on-year increase of 84.2%, as well as nearly 2.87 billion kWh of electricity from clean energy sources, which accounts for more than 50% of the company's total electricity consumption. Huawei works with partners to promote green and low-carbon transformation along the supply chain. By optimizing logistics packaging, Huawei improves product transportation efficiency. It has also introduced new energy vehicles and freighters, which has reduced carbon emissions from transporting Huawei products by more than 3,150 metric tons per year.
Building a sustainable ecosystem that fosters harmony and mutual success
We proactively work with stakeholders to build a sustainable industry ecosystem. We strive to deliver a high-quality and premium consumer experience. The "I'm an Experience Officer" activities attracted more than 350,000 users. In addition, we encourage our employees to pursue personal development. In 2023, we provided over 1.5 million hours of training, attracting a total of more than 200,000 individual enrollments. Huawei Device Co., Ltd. ("Huawei Device" for short) has created more than 86,000 jobs around the world, boosting local employment and economic growth.
As a technology company, our core responsibility is to create value for society through our products and services. Since the debut of the BeiDou satellite SMS messaging feature on Mate 50 devices in 2022, we have enhanced the comprehensive satellite communication capabilities over the past two years. The feature can be used not only to send messages and make calls, but also to share images, enabling people to stay connected even in areas without network coverage. In the past year, Huawei products' earthquake warning function successfully alerted users to 63 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or above, totaling 97 million person-times. We will continue to strive to create more value for society through technological progress.
Moving towards a better and more sustainable future
Collaborative efforts go a long way. The sustainable development of the industry chain cannot be achieved without support from customers, consumers, industry organizations, suppliers, and other partners. We look forward to working with all parties to achieve our shared goals of using innovative technologies to promote the harmonious development of the economy, environment, and society, and to build a better world for all.
about sustainability
Information Accessibility
Huawei hopes that everyone can experience the benefits of technology.
Education and Health
Huawei products and services are designed to help people improve their digital skills and manage their personal health.
Environmental Protection
Huawei prioritizes the protection of our world and its natural resources above all else.
Corporate Responsibility
Huawei repays consumer, supplier, and community trust with responsibility.
Information Accessibility Helps People with Disabilities
Everybody has their own challenges that they must face in life. It takes courage to stand up and fight when those challenges feel insurmountable.
While there is no denying we must all find that courage within ourselves, we don't have to fight alone. Technology is one such tool that we can share to empower others, especially people with disabilities.
"I can't see the world, but I want the world to see me"
Former sailor athlete Cao Shengkang currently travels around the world with just a white cane, a backpack, and a pair of sunglasses. So far, he has visited 38 countries and 5 continents, including Mount Kilimanjaro.
A native of China's Anhui Province, Cao was hit by a speeding tractor which permanently damaged his eyes at the age of 8. Within just a few years, his eyesight continued to deteriorate until he was left completely blind.
"I felt like I lost the whole world." As he got older though, his drive to "see" the world led him far from home, with little more than his guide cane. It was at the top of steps of the Potala Palace, with the support of other climbers, that he found his calling.
"Smiles on people's faces can shed lights on the path forward for ourselves and others". Even though he could not see the world, he said, the world could see him. At the top of the mountain, he could stop and breathe in the fragrance of the mountain flowers. He also wanted to share his achievement with friends and family, and thanks to the Screen Reader feature that comes with Huawei phones. By connecting the phone to his smart glasses, he was able to discreetly listen to the phone's narration of what was on screen, making him just another bystander enjoying the view and documenting new memories.
"I live to feel the thundering of my heart"
Ho Li was born in the 90s and lives with hearing impairment. He has been an avid boxer since the age of 19. He trains for at least 4 hours a day, in the hopes of realizing his dream of becoming a boxing champion. During training, he selects the Boxing Mode on his Huawei watch, which collects his exercise data and offers smart recommendations accordingly. Thanks to his ceaseless training, he has achieved good results in various competitions.
"Although I'm deaf, I can feel my heart pounding when I'm boxing. I've been enjoying every day of my life", said Ho. Some say that you have to give up your dreams to survive. Luckily, this is not an issue for Ho, as he remains passionate in life and in his journey to pursue his dreams. He works as a food delivery driver to earn a living. Technology helps him a lot with his work.
The AI Subtitles feature on the Huawei phone converts voice messages to text. Live captioning can also be generated for living streaming.
What's more, this feature is also available during phone calls, converting the voice of the person on the other end of the call to text, and converting the text inputted by Ho into voice for the other person.
"Music just makes me happy. I can hear the slightest changes in pitch"
Bubbly Cai Qionghui is a professional piano tuner. Her ability to hear the slightest changes in pitch while adjusting the tension of piano strings makes her perfect for the job, even if her visual impairment prevents her from seeing the instrument itself.
"Pianos have 8,800 to 10,000 parts. Many have asked me how I could possible maintain a piano if I can't even see how all those parts fit together." But she has never let these doubts hold her back. After years of hard work, Cai is well recognized in her field, with a constantly growing list of steady customers.
She visits her customers with the help of her guide dog Aladdin, the Screen Reader feature, and voice assistant on her Huawei phone. While Aladdin keeps her safe on the road, her phone makes sure she is never led astray, always has an umbrella when it rains, and always knows where the closest mom-and-pop shop is for dinner.
At home, the phone's Tap to Connect feature also helps her instantly indulge in her passion for music, networking her vast musical library with speakers around her apartment.
"I intended to help the world better understand people with disabilities"
Peng Linqian is an up and coming entrepreneur who wants to help the world better understand people with disabilities, like herself.
The founder of a social work organization in Chongqing, Peng focuses on the educational needs of hearing-impaired teenagers. One of the project's many initiatives is an art festival to encourage children with disabilities to paint and unleash their imagination. Her "Big Thumb" Bilingual Classroom also provides professional resources for families with hearing-impaired children and was awarded first prize in the Sichuan-Chongqing Women and Children Public Welfare Project Competition.
Technology has played a huge part in Peng achieving her dreams. Her online public welfare lectures are subtitled using AI, bringing her conversations with her guests to more and more of the hearing impaired around the world.
Action is the key to success. Huawei has been taking action to invest continuously in information accessibility, which is a critical part of the company's sustainable development initiatives. Huawei hopes to create more accessibility services for people living with disabilities to improve their lives.
An Intimate Discussion on Accessibility at 2022 Huawei Developer Conference
Zheng Rui joined a group of other Huawei users today at Songshan Lake, Dongguan to attend the 2022 Huawei Developer Conference. These users were different than other attendees though – they are all software developers, who happen to have significant physical impairments.
Together, they met with Huawei Consumer Business Group's COO Kevin Ho to discuss how accessibility features in Huawei's consumer products are being developed to help people like them. Kevin said, "We work hard to make sure we prioritize 'less visible' features in our products, not just the flashy numbers on our products' stats sheets."
Connecting people with technology
Zheng Rui was born in 1989 and quickly diagnosed with Morning Glory Syndrome (MGS), a birth defect that changes the shape of the optic nerve. Zheng is completely blind in his right eye because of MGS and can only see shadows with his left eye. Despite this, Zheng's grew up sightseeing with his family as a child, and even managed to pass the Chinese college entrance examination with a 30x magnifying glass as his aide. In 2007 he was admitted to Shenzhen University's architectural design program, and he has lived in the southern Chinese city ever since.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1 billion people around the world live with some form of disability. In China, 17 million people are impacted by visual impairments and 27 million people with hearing impairments, and 70 million people diagnosed with dyslexia.
As one of China's "physically impaired", Zheng Rui has spent years advocating for his peers in Shenzhen. He now serves as the Vice Chair of the Shenzhen Association for People with Visual Impairment and an official ambassador of accessibility services for the city of Shenzhen. He said, "Everybody lives with some difficulties or challenges, even if they present themselves in different ways." Last year, Zheng also volunteered to work at the Accessibility Exhibition Zone at Huawei Developer Conference 2021 to help show how the company is using smartphones to address such problems.
Zheng admits though, that he had some concerns about how he could read story books for his child. Luckily, Huawei phones come with the text recognition feature that helps him understand what the story is about.
Zheng tried the feature with one of his kid's favorite storybooks used to teach classical Chinese idioms, and use his own words to retell the story for his kid. "Because of my visual impairment, I can't just sit down with my kid and read them a book. This tool actually worked though, which enabled me to help him study more."
Tech for many and tech for the few
Another attendee who wore a plaid shirt and jeans, Zou Shiyong, stood out from his fellow software developers because of his faithful guide dog Liuliu.
Zou Shiyong was born in the 90s in a small mountain village. He was always fond of sports and electronic gadgets. When he graduated from the Wuhan School for the Blind, he stayed on to start teaching computer programming. After 9 years of teaching though, he decided to spread his wings and moved on to work for Huawei as an accessibility testing engineer. Today, his companion Liuliu together with a mobile navigation app and an advanced digital headset help him commute to work and navigate the bustling metropolis that is Shenzhen. At work, he helps test the accessibility features of Huawei phones to identify potential problems and come up with solutions.
His past experience proves to be highly valuable at Huawei. He encountered some difficulties at the early days of his new job, like many other new comers. However, he did not give up and keeps improving his capabilities.
Since he joined Huawei, Zou says the company has made massive improvements in its accessibility features. He is personally most proud of their reduction of screen reading latency by 1 full second. During his pre-release tests of HarmonyOS 3 in July, Zou noticed that the system suffered from frame freezes when using the screen reader function. Upon further analysis, he found that the function was conflicting with a touch recognition feature, resulting in certain gestures being misread. He and his colleagues were then able to optimize the feature and eliminate this conflict.
He said, "I am proud that Huawei has invested so much into this. By following their principle of "Tech for All", we have been allowed to focus on delivering outstanding user experiences for even very small, specialized groups of users."
Bright plans for the future
Kevin Ho also shared his own stories working on accessibility services at the meeting in Songshan Lake.
He added that even though the average consumer doesn't often think about, or even notice, many accessibility features, these services are important to Huawei because of the size of the impact they can have on even just a few users. He also discussed how it is important to Huawei that accessibility features are not just developed for the people that will use them, but also that they are developed by the people that will use them.
From a larger perspective, he explained, it is important to also increase the visibility of these features and the challenges they address. Everyone, at some point, is likely to suffer from at least a temporary disability at some point in their lives. A person recovering from a sudden illness could benefit hugely from the voice activated device controls Huawei's AI assistant Celia can provide. And everyone can benefit from other accessibility features on our phones as our eyesight and hearing degrade as we get older.
Kevin said Huawei sees information accessibility as an important part of the company's sustainable development initiatives. Huawei has committed to improving accessibility experiences by combining advancements in AI, software, and hardware through the HarmonyOS ecosystem. In addition, he said, Huawei has decided to offer open accessibility services and framework capabilities to its HarmonyOS ecosystem partners. This will equip other developers with the tools they need to make their own products and innovations more accessible to all.