- Some Europe & Middle East CIOs anticipate up to 178% ROI on AI investments, with further efficiencies expected as Agentic AI scales
- Half of organizations (57%) are approaching or in late-stage AI adoption – though only 27% have a comprehensive governance framework in place
- 16% of organizations use Agentic AI significantly today, while half (54%) are exploring or piloting use cases
- Hybrid AI emerges as preferred deployment model, favoured by three out of five organizations (58%)
January, 2026 — Enterprises have moved decisively from AI pilots to scaled implementations, driven by proven benefits and expectations of significant financial returns, according to the Lenovo Europe & Middle East CIO Playbook 2026 with research insights by IDC. Nearly half (46%) of AI proof-of-concepts have already progressed into production, with organizations projecting average returns of $2.78 for every dollar invested.
Released today, the 2026 Lenovo CIO Playbook: The Race for Enterprise AI, draws on insights from 800 IT and business decision makers in Europe and the Middle East. It captures a regional inflection point and reinforces the value proposition for enterprise AI as both real and immediate, calling on CIOs to act now to avoid lagging competitors. The research marks a clear shift from AI experimentation to measurable value creation, with nearly all (93%) of those surveyed planning to increase AI investments in the next 12 months at an average spending growth rate of 10%, and 94% anticipating positive returns.
Enterprise AI Adoption in Europe and the Middle East:
AI is now recognized as a core engine of business reinvention and competitive advantage. However, AI adoption in the markets is progressing at different speeds, reflecting varying levels of digital maturity, regulatory readiness, and investment capacity, and there is a clear overconfidence problem among CIOs. While 57% of organizations in Europe and the Middle East are approaching or already in late-stage AI adoption, only 27% have a comprehensive AI governance framework. Further limitations in data quality, in-house expertise, integration complexity, and organizational alignment are causing a mismatch between ambition and readiness.
With Agentic AI overtaking Generative AI as the top priority for CIOs in 2026, these factors will prevent many organizations from fully capitalizing on AI’s potential, leaving significant returns unrealized. 65% of organizations are focused on scaling Agentic AI across their operations within 12 months, but only 16% report significant usage today, with the majority still piloting or actively exploring use cases.
More advanced markets such as Scandinavia, Italy, and the UK are moving beyond pilots, with a majority of organizations already systematically adopting AI and increasing focus on hybrid and edge deployments to support scale. In contrast, parts of Southern and Eastern Europe remain earlier in their AI journeys, with a higher proportion of organizations still in planning or early development stages. Meanwhile, the Middle East is emerging as a fast-moving growth market, showing strong adoption momentum and a sharp year-on-year increase in interest in advanced and agentic AI.
Across the region, hybrid deployment models dominate as organizations balance innovation with data sovereignty and operational control, while interest in agentic AI is accelerating. This signals a broader shift from experimentation toward more autonomous, production-ready AI use cases, even as readiness levels continue to vary by market.
“We’re now seeing clear returns from the AI pilots and proof-of-concepts organizations have invested in, with AI delivering measurable impact across the region,” said Matt Dobrodziej, President of Europe, Lenovo. “But many are not fully equipped with the skills, governance and readiness needed to scale AI to its full potential. As priorities shift toward Agentic AI, and compliance with regulation such as the EU AI Act becomes imperative, trust and scale must be built in from the start. Those who don’t, risk leaving tangible returns on the table.”
Hybrid AI Now Preferred Enterprise Architecture:
The research shows that real-world business and financial considerations are accelerating the shift toward hybrid AI. Factors such as data privacy, advanced security requirements, and the need to customize and optimize infrastructure are driving adoption of this model, which blends public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises compute. Nearly three out of five (58%) organizations now prefer hybrid as their primary AI deployment model.
Scalable, high-performing AI infrastructure is a critical enabler of enterprise AI success. Respondents in the region highlighted the importance of compute that is both cost- and energy-efficient. This factor ranked second overall, with many identifying it as key to moving AI from pilots into reliable production.
With AI PCs and edge endpoints central to an effective Hybrid AI strategy and securely running AI workloads locally, deploying AI-capable devices has emerged as the top IT investment priority for 2026.
“CIOs across the region are entering a decisive phase of AI adoption where agentic AI and enterprise-scale inferencing are moving from experimentation to core business priorities,” said Dobrodziej. “To unlock real value, organizations need strong foundations, including secure, energy-efficient infrastructure, flexible hybrid architectures, and AI-capable devices and edge endpoints that bring inference closer to where data is created, and work happens. When combined with the right governance and services, this end-to-end approach enables enterprises to innovate confidently, responsibly, and at scale.”
Lenovo recently introduced Lenovo Agentic AI, a full-lifecycle enterprise solution for creating, deploying, and managing AI agents, alongside Lenovo xIQ, a suite of AI-native platforms designed to simplify and operationalize AI across the enterprise. Built on the Lenovo Hybrid AI Advantage™, these offerings combine hybrid infrastructure, platforms, and services to address governance, integration, and performance from day one. Supported by the Lenovo AI Library of proven use cases, CIOs can reduce risk, accelerate time-to-value, and scale AI initiatives with greater confidence as they move beyond experimentation.
To further enable real-world deployment, Lenovo ThinkSystem and ThinkEdge inferencing servers help enterprises turn trained models into production-ready, low-latency AI applications across data center, cloud, and edge environments. By enabling faster, more efficient inference at scale, Lenovo helps CIOs bridge the gap between AI ambition and day-to-day business impact.
Building on this end-to-end AI foundation, Lenovo’s Smarter AI for All vision is focused on bringing AI to more people and businesses at scale, from enterprise infrastructure to AI PCs that deliver intelligent, personalized experiences directly to users. As outlined at Lenovo Tech World at CES 2026, Lenovo is advancing this vision across its AI PC and smartphone portfolio, with Lenovo and Motorola Qira representing one example of how personal AI can enhance productivity by understanding context across devices and helping users get things done.
About the CIO Playbook Study:
This is the third year of surveying CIOs in Europe and the Middle East, with Lenovo commissioning IDC which conducted research between 16th September 2025 and 17th October 2025. This year’s report draws on insights from 800 IT and business decision makers in Europe and the Middle East. Industries represented include: BFSI, Retail, Manufacturing, Telco/CSP, Healthcare, Government, Education and others.
About Lenovo:
Lenovo is a US$69 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #196 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY).
