Toyota says it has concluded a selection process that started in December 2016 for the TOYOTA NEXT open innovation program and selected a number of partners.

The five partners are: Caulis Inc, giftee Inc, Sharenori Inc, Ateam Inc and Nightley Inc.

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Toyota says that its ‘TOYOTA NEXT’ program is designed to address the major challenges that Japan is expected to face in the future, including a low birth rate, an aging population, growing urban population density, and depopulation of rural areas. These challenges, it says, have led to an increase and diversification of customer needs, brought about by a rise in IT and technology, and the program aims to ‘address the emergent variety of needs in a flexible and agile manner’.

The program is intended to promote joint development of new services by ‘utilising new ideas, technologies, and solutions initiated and driven by a wide range of organizations, including corporations, SMEs, startups, and research institutions’.

Toyota aims to work with TOYOTA NEXT partners to develop services that ‘improve the user-friendliness of its customers’ cars, make daily travel more convenient and comfortable, and help achieve a safer and more reliable mobility society.’ The program also aims to develop ‘people-centred services’ to provide customers the experience of an exciting future to look forward to.

During the selection process, Toyota received over 500 submissions on a broad range of ideas from innovative ones aimed at consumers to those leveraging Toyota’s unique technological capabilities.

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The following five major factors were considered in the selection process:

  1. Ideas that solve issues faced by people and society
  2. Possession of sufficient technological, developmental, and service capabilities
  3. Enthusiasm to implement ideas
  4. Utilisation of assets of both companies (Toyota and the selected company)
  5. Feasibility for both companies (Toyota and the selected company)

Shuichi Murakami, a managing officer with Toyota, commented that, “We are grateful to be able to find new partners to help in developing new services. We will strive dutifully to realize these services and expect to learn much along the way.”

As the TOYOTA NEXT initiative moves forward, Toyota says it will have discussions with the selected companies on specific service content, a schedule for launch, in addition to details regarding capital arrangements and cooperation.