10 European Finalists Selected at Toyota Startup Accelerator Day
- In its second year, the Toyota Startup Accelerator seeks innovations in Mobility for All and Sustainability
- 10 finalists selected in this year’s programme from more than 100 applications across Europe
- In the next stage, five winning startups will receive funds to develop a proof of concept
Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has selected the 10 most innovative startups from more than 100 applications from 42 countries as finalists in the Toyota Startup Accelerator, run in collaboration with the Digital Business School (ISDI) .
The Accelerator, which is in its second year, focuses on the fields of Inclusive Mobility, Carbon Neutral, Circular Economy and Life Cycle Footprint Assessment. A jury of TME and ISDI Accelerator executives and experts, together with industry specialists, selected entries that have high business growth potential and investment readiness. The accelerator now moves into the bootcamp phase in which the finalists will hone their business plans with TME experts’ support.
At the end of the bootcamp, up to five winners will progress to the final stage: a six-week acceleration. They will receive funds to develop their projects into a proof of concept and will pitch them at a Demo Day in May 2022. TME may offer the opportunity for further cooperation.
Monica Perez Lobo, Head of Sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) at TME, commented: “The competition between all these talented innovators was tough and close. We look forward to engaging with the finalists to further develop their disruptive projects to progress Mobility for All and Sustainability.”
The 10 startups selected for the bootcamp are:
| 1 | Sideways (Spain) builds fleets of self-driving vehicles for indoor spaces to make indoor transportation radically more efficient. |
| 2 | Biel Glasses (Spain) develops smart glasses that improve mobility for visually impaired people by recognising and signalling obstacles, changes in surface, and traffic lights |
| 3 | Revolve Wheel (Germany) created the world’s first active wheelchair that fits the cabin luggage size standards. |
| 4 | HySiLabs (France) developed an innovative solution to facilitate hydrogen transportation by charging and releasing hydrogen in a unique liquid carrier called HydroSil. |
| 5 | PurCity (Denmark) aims to improve air quality by turning buildings into large-scale CO2 air capture facilities |
| 6 | CargaTuCoche (Spain) proposes a platform for residential electric mobility charging infrastructure that allows charging points to be shared with others. |
| 7 | Breeze Technologies (Germany) is a technology leader in air quality sensors, data and analytics. Its solution leverages the internet of things and artificial intelligence to help cities and businesses create better clean air action plans. |
| 8 | Microwave Solutions GmbH (Switzerland) accelerates circular carbon economies by recycling plastics, rubbers and carbonaceous materials into critical and advanced materials such as graphene. |
| 9 | DePoly SA (Switzerland) promotes circular economy for plastics via simple and sustainable recycling which only involves environmentally friendly chemicals. |
| 10 | Tresoil (Romania) aims to convert plastic waste into hydrogen to support the growing hydrogen economy in Europe. |
ISDI Accelerator
ISDI Accelerator was born in 2014 with the objective of channelling the entrepreneurial interest of the ISDI (Digital Business School) students and to boost and professionalise the startup market in Europe. Their first startup acceleration programme, IMPACT, marked a milestone on 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 programmes, they have created, trained and accelerated hundreds of startups, and thousands of companies have already applied to its programmes.
All this has led ISDI Accelerator to be recognised as one of the most important accelerators in Europe. One of its programmes, IMPACT Connected Car, was named the best startup acceleration project of 2019 by the European Commission. ISDI Accelerator has been supported by its parent company ISDI, as well as hundreds of mentors, teachers and experts, best investors in Europe, its corporate and institutional partners and colleagues from other acceleration programmes.
Notes to editors:
Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA (TME) oversees the wholesale sales and marketing of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, parts and accessories, and Toyota’s European manufacturing and engineering operations. Toyota directly employs around 25,000 people in Europe and has invested over EUR 10 billion since 1990. Toyota’s operations in Europe are supported by a network of 29 National Marketing and Sales Companies across 53 countries, a total of around 3,000 sales outlets, and nine manufacturing plants. In 2020, Toyota sold 993,113 Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Europe.
Toyota believes that when people are free to move, anything is possible. In the pursuit of “Ever Better Mobility for All”, Toyota aims to create more inclusive and sustainable mobility, a society in which everyone can challenge their impossible. With the aim of contributing to global environmental sustainability, Toyota has developed the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 to address key global environmental issues. For more information, visit www.toyota-europe.com.
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