Toyota Motor Europe has launched Toyota Open Labs

Toyota Motor Europe has launched Toyota Open Labs, a new open innovation platform bringing together start-ups with business units across the Toyota ecosystem to scale innovation and lead the market into the next phase of mobility. The program will power Toyota’s transformation to a mobility company by deepening its expertise across energy, circular economy, carbon-neutral technologies, smart communities, and mobility for all initiatives.

Toyota Open Labs opens with a call for start-ups working across five key categories:

Energy: Technologies and systems to facilitate the energy transition, hydrogen economy, grid balancing, energy management, smart charging, and vehicle-to-grid energy transfers Circular Economy: Technologies and systems to enable the recovery, recycling, and reuse of vehicles and batteries. Carbon Neutrality: Technologies and systems helping companies and society reduce carbon emissions, and digitalisation to enable transparent life cycle assessment

Smart Communities: New business models and solutions to develop and support smart communities through vehicle sharing, subscriptions, and mobility hubs Mobility for All: Fair-value solutions to overcome mobility barriers strengthen mobility systems and mobilize low-carbon communities, addressing the needs of an aging society and devising universal designs for all users.

Build relationships to help make a global impact

Toyota Open Labs partners include Toyota Tsusho Europe, the trading and supply-chain arm of the Toyota group, KINTO Europe, the Toyota group’s mobility brand, Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth-stage venture fund, and Toyota Mobility Foundation, a non-profit foundation by Toyota.

Start-ups selected during the open call will have an opportunity to engage with a diverse network of advisors, mentors, open new avenues of growth, enhance their business strategy, and investment opportunities, make informed product enhancements, and build relationships to help make a global impact.

Participants will have the possibility to develop a Proof of Concept with Toyota, explore routes to go to market, and partner up with the Toyota ecosystem. Each participant will receive development support and the opportunity to display their technology at a Demo Day during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

We are excited to collaborate with start-ups to help transform their exciting early-stage

Kylie Jimenez, SVP People, Tech & Corporate Affairs at Toyota Motor Europe “If you are a start-up focused on solving tomorrow’s sustainability and mobility challenges, Toyota Open Labs is the right place for you. Toyota is developing mobility systems that will sustainably reinvent how we live, work, and play on a global scale. Toyota Open Labs represents a unique opportunity to turn bold start up visions into reality through unparalleled support from our innovation ecosystem”.

George Kellerman, VP of Investments & Acquisitions at Woven by Toyota and Managing Director of Woven Capital “Solving mobility and sustainability challenges are critical issues that deserve to be on the world’s biggest stages. Europe’s vibrant innovation ecosystem in these areas presents immense potential, and we are excited to collaborate with start-ups to help transform their exciting early-stage ventures into scalable solutions.