Toyota Startup Awards Demo Day shines spotlight on innovations of the five winning companies
- At the Demo Day, the winners of the Toyota Startup Awards had the opportunity to pitch in front of more than 90 attendees, including Sir Philip Craven, Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) key executives, private investors, ISDI representatives and honoured guest organisations.
- This online event marked the end of a 10-month journey in which the five inclusive mobility startups went through a selection process with around 200 companies from over 45 countries before earning their place in the Toyota Startup Accelerator program to help boosting their businesses.
- Toyota is committed to keep engaging with the startup community to promote diversity and inclusion and nurture sustainable innovation, as part of its global sustainability strategy that draws inspiration from the Sustainable Development Goals.
Brussels, Belgium, December 18, 2020 – Toyota Motor Europe (TME) teamed up with ISDI Accelerator to organise the Toyota Startup Awards designed to find innovative solutions from startups who excel in the field of inclusive mobility. This 10-month journey saw the five winning companies thrive during the Toyota Accelerator program led by ISDI Accelerator, which has now been drawn to a close with the online Demo Day.
Special Guest, Sir Philip Craven
Before the pitch by the startup companies, the more than 90 guests, including TME key executives, private investors and ISDI representatives had the honour to listen to some inspirational words by Sir Philip Craven, former President of the International Paralympic Committee and Member of the Board of Directors, Toyota Motor Corporation.
Applauding the dedicated and strong-willed startup companies, he said:
Mobility for All means ‘for everybody’, without marginalising a single person. Toyota wants to provide inclusive mobility solutions for every member of our society.
We, humans, are sociable - we want to go out. I personally empathise with these startups that are fighting every day to make this happen, whilst sticking to their principles and with a desire to improve people’s lives. At Toyota, we can learn so much from them if we want to give all people the freedom of movement. I want to encourage these startups to never give up, keep firing and go out to change the world.
Accelerator program – boosting the business
At the Demo Day, Prosfit (Bulgaria), Seamless Vision (Israel), SociAbility (UK), Wheeliz (France) and ABLE Human Motion (Barcelona) showcased how their business models have evolved over the past months, by giving evidence of how the Accelerator program has been beneficial to their companies.
The program was an amazing opportunity for us to step back, learn, grow and define a clear vision and roadmap to achieve our ambitions. We had the chance to meet with dedicated experts on issues we needed to tackle, and to be accompanied by both a general mentor and a Toyota mentor in order to have a real follow up and work in an agile and dynamic way.
The Toyota Startup Accelerator has shown us that big and small companies, such as Toyota and ProsFit, can team up based on shared visions and values, and together positively change the world. All successful teams also need good coaches and trainers, a role that ISDI has played well, preparing all of us for the real challenges ahead.
The time spent at the Toyota Startup Accelerator has been an amazing adventure. We have been coupled with two mentors which were beyond our wildest dreams. Toyota and the ISDI team have been remarkable and made it feel like they are a part of our team and we are grateful for the long lasting relationships which will continue beyond the framework of the program.
The Toyota Startup Accelerator, and especially the guidance from the mentors and Toyota guides, has been key to achieving critical company milestones during the last months, in which we have assessed the main company needs, set the roadmap for the coming years and built a compelling commercial plan. Alongside Toyota we want to promote social inclusion through increased mobility.
We're so grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of the Toyota Startup Accelerator program, run by ISDI. Throughout this journey, we've delivered a new product to market, grown our team, refreshed our branding and refined our business model – leaving us in the best possible position to make a splash in 2021!
Only the beginning
Toyota believes that when people are free to move, anything is possible. Whilst the Toyota Startup Awards may have come to an end with the Demo Day, Toyota’s journey doesn’t stop here. As Toyota is transforming from an automotive to a mobility company, Toyota’s mission is to ‘produce happiness for all’ through its commitment to sustainability that has always been at the very heart of everything it does.
The sustainability strategy builds on the promotion of diversity and inclusion and the desire to nurture sustainable innovation, whilst putting people first. Toyota believes that business and sustainability are mutually compatible goals. Initiatives such as the Toyota Startup Awards are testimony to Toyota’s sustainability strategy that draws inspiration from and aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals.
About ISDI Accelerator
ISDI Accelerator was born in 2014 with the objective of channelling the entrepreneurial interest of the ISDI students and to boost and professionalize the startup market in Europe. Their first startup acceleration program, IMPACT, marked a milestone in the continent thanks to the collaboration between public entities, corporations, educational entities, investors and, of course, startups. Since then they have developed dozens of incubation and acceleration programs, they have created, trained and accelerated hundreds of startups, and thousands of companies have already applied to their programs. ISDI Accelerator is part of ISDI Digital Business School.