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Your Opportunity to Change the Industry With Us.

Join our journey to redefine mobility.

Let’s forge a partnership that drives your company towards global recognition while contributing to a greener and more connected world.

Embrace the power of collaboration with Toyota, and together, we’ll create a brighter, more innovative future.

This is your opportunity to make history with us.

How it Works

Toyota Open Labs is designed to efficiently connect innovative companies with the right resources and experts within the Toyota ecosystem. Our goal is to accelerate the development and implementation of breakthrough solutions to drive the future of mobility and contribute positively to society.

Gathering Needs

The program begins by gathering innovation needs from across Toyota’s many divisions, from research to manufacturing to sales and beyond. These challenges span our six focus areas of carbon capture and reduction, circular economy, EV energy ecosystem, hydrogen ecosystem, mobility for all and smart communities.

Call for Startups

With clear business needs defined, we continuously welcome applications from startups, scaleups, and innovative SMEs, while also conducting direct scouting activities to identify cutting-edge technologies and business models that can help address those challenges. Our team carefully reviews each application and proactively reaches out to the most promising candidates and scouted companies to explore potential collaborations.

Selection and Matching

Selected innovative companies are then matched with the relevant Toyota business units and experts to further explore the potential for collaboration. While this process may require time, we consider it fundamental to ensure a strong alignment between our business needs and the startups’ solutions.

Proof of Concept Development

Once a strong mutual interest is established, Toyota Open Labs facilitates opportunities to develop Proof of Concepts (POCs), pilot projects, and commercial agreements. A key benefit for innovative businesses is the potential to scale their solution across multiple areas of Toyota’s global organization for maximum impact and business growth.

Ongoing Mentoring and Support

Throughout the process, participants receive support and mentoring from Toyota experts in areas like engineering, product development, manufacturing, supply chain and business planning. Promising collaborations are showcased at internal and external demo day events to facilitate further connections and investment opportunities.

Collaboration Models

Toyota Open Labs offers several ways to engage with startups, scaleups and innovative SMEs depending on the business need and technology fit. Potential collaboration models include:

Co-development

Toyota and the selected innovative company work together to advance and customize a solution, with Toyota providing resources like facilities, expertise and equipment.

Proof of Concept

Toyota and the selected innovative company test and validate a solution at an accelerated pace in a real-world environment to assess viability and value.

Pilot Projects

Focused implementations to further prove out a solution and identify improvements before a full rollout.

Commercial Agreements

Selected innovative companies become a vendor to Toyota, integrating their solution into the company’s products, processes or services.

Strategic Partnership

Long-term collaboration agreement which may include joint development, licensing of IP, and go-to-market support from Toyota.

Investment

Potential funding from Toyota’s Woven Capital venture arm for selected innovative companies with strategic fit and compelling financial prospects.

Interested in Participating?

Review our Frequently Asked Questions and complete our online form for your chance to join our next cohort of startups, scaleups and innovative SMEs.

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FAQs

Toyota Open Labs is an open innovation platform that unites startups, scaleups and innovative SMEs with business units across Toyota ecosystem, to scale innovation and lead the market into the next phase of mobility. The programme will power Toyota’s transformation to a mobility company by deepening its expertise across energy, hydrogen ecosystem, the circular economy, carbon-neutral technologies, smart communities and mobility-for-all initiatives. Supporting business units include Toyota Motor Europe, Toyota Tsusho Europe, KINTO Europe, Woven Capital and Toyota Mobility Foundation.

We look forward to receiving proposals from ambitious innovators who meet the the following requirements:

  • Your company must be legally established, or will be legally established before the start of any collaboration with a Toyota entity, or will be legally established before the start of the Programme.
  • You can commit the necessary resources for an effective collaboration, e.g. identifying a point of contact in your organization, technical assets, human capital.
  • Your company is present or has plans to be in the market of any of the 27 European Member states, the Horizon 2020 Associated Countries and the United Kingdom.
  • Participants from your team have high-level English language skills, as the collaboration  will take place in English.
  • Your startup is aligned with Toyota’s values and adheres to EU legal regulations (e.g. GDPR etc.).

Toyota Open Labs seeks innovative companies that support these goals across six 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.
  • Hydrogen Ecosystem: Solutions supporting the development and expansion of a hydrogen economy.
  • 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, along with digitalisation to enable transparent life cycle assessments.
  • 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 mobilise low-carbon communities, addressing the needs of an ageing society and devising universal designs for all users.

Toyota’s participating business units (Toyota Motor Europe, Toyota Tsusho Europe, KINTO Europe, Woven Capital, and Toyota Mobility Foundation) will collaborate with participating innovative companies and provide strategic counsel throughout the collaboration , with exposure to insights from the world’s largest automaker and leaders from global markets. Each participant will receive development funding, as well as the opportunity to showcase its technology  during events organized by Toyota Open Labs both internal to the Toyota community and public.

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