12
February
2020
|
11:49
Europe/Amsterdam

Toyota Motor Europe announces shortlist of eight startups from around 200 applications to the first ever Toyota Startup Awards

(Update 13/02/20: Following the cancellation of the 4YFN event by the organiser GSMA, Toyota is looking into an alternative setting to announce and award the winners of the Toyota Startup Awards)

  • The first Open Call of the Toyota Startup Awards, focused on ‘Mobility for All’, received around 200 applications from startups in over 45 countries
  • With the support of ISDI Accelerator, eight startups have been selected to pitch at Toyota’s stand at the 4YFN event in Barcelona between 24 and 26 February 2020
  • A maximum of three winners will see their project awarded access to the Toyota Startup Accelerator program, which includes training, mentoring and funding
  • In addition to the startup product showcases, Toyota has put together an inspiring agenda catered to the event attendees, with speakers including US and European Toyota executives and a Paralympic athlete

Brussels, February 12, 2020 - The first ever open call of the Toyota Startup Awards with focus on Socially Inclusive Mobility, Accessibility and Disruptive Mobility resulted in Toyota Motor Europe (TME) receiving 195 startup applications from over 45 countries. A jury composed of experts from TME and Business school ISDI, through ISDI Accelerator, has selected a shortlist of eight startup companies to enter the ultimate pitch competition at Toyota’s stand at the 4YFN event in Barcelona, between 24 and 26 February 2020.

High performance startups

On top of the quantity, TME also notes the high quality of applicants. 52% of all the projects that applied can prove customer growth, 38% of them are generating revenues and 23.5% have each raised €1M or more in private funding already. Geographically, Spain and UK are the countries with the highest amount of applications, with 15% and 12% respectively. Disruptive Mobility (48%) is the vertical with the highest amount of applications, followed by Socially Inclusive Mobility (24%).

Overview eight selected startups

 

   

1

                 

4blind (Russia): Research, development, creation and production of innovative engineering solutions for bringing blind and deafblind people to the world. Meeting the needs through expanding their opportunities and eliminating the barriers that people with disabilities face in communication, education, employment, transportation and independent living.

 

2

ABLE Human Motion (Spain) enhances mobility and independence of people with physical impairments through lightweight, easy-to-use and affordable technology.

3

Loro (US) is a socially assistive robot that gives people with mobility and communication challenges the ability to control, communicate, and connect with the world.

 

4

MotorSkins (Germany) is assisting human locomotion with autonomous soft - exoskeletons enhancing people’s autonomy through a comfortable solution in the form of a self-powered exosuit, without carrying external power sources.

 

5

ProsFit (Bulgaria) has developed and commercialised a solution to provide accessible, affordable and comfortable prosthetics to millions of people who would otherwise find mobility extremely challenging. This enables the delivery of high-quality service provision and community-based rehabilitation in remote areas of low and middle-income countries.

6

Seamless Vision (Israel) is building a robot helping the visually impaired navigate autonomously in urban areas. It guides users throughout the urban landscape, helps them to explore new places and always brings them back home safely. The technology combines multiple sensory systems with deep learning modules that constructs a human-like perception of its surroundings to enable a complete urban autonomous navigation.

7

SociAbility (UK) empowers disabled people to explore their communities with confidence, ease and peace of mind by collecting and sharing detailed, reliable and accurate accessibility information for hospitality and retail venues.

8

Wheeliz (France) is the 1st website dedicated to peer to peer wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) rental. It enables wheelchair users to rent a car directly to any WAV owner.

 

Toyota Stand (Hall 2 B100)

At Toyota’s stand, the selected startups will have an opportunity to present their solutions in front of an audience of event visitors, investors and Toyota executives. A maximum of three winners from this pitch competition will take home a ticket to join the Toyota Accelerator Program powered by ISDI, which will offer training, mentoring, funding, as well as potential future collaboration with TME.

The winners of the Toyota Startup Awards will be announced by TME on the Banco Sabadell stage (Hall 1) on Tuesday 25 February 2020 at 12:30.

Besides the startup pitches, Toyota’s 3-day program includes

  • Main stage keynote speech by Agustin Martin, CEO at Toyota Connected Europe and Jim Adler, Managing Director and Board Member of Toyota AI Ventures
  • Several Toyota Executives presentations (Toyota’s vision of future mobility, e-palette)
  • “Start Your Impossible” stories by a wheelchair motocross athlete and a Paralympic Athlete
  • And many other inspirational talks from guest speakers in the entrepreneurial world

Details Toyota Stand

  • 4YFN event – Hall 2 B100
  • Fira Montjuïc, Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, 08004 Barcelona
  • Between 24 and 26 February 2020
  • Contact for media interviews: Carol Coolsaet (carol.coolsaet@toyota-europe.com)

ISDI Press details

Alexandra Carrasco Szulc

Communications Manager - ISDI Accelerator

Tel: +34 690 695 963

E-mail: acarrasco@isdi.education