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Toyota Motors, through the Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), its dedicated global foundation to help more people go more places, has offered a $2million boost for a two-year partnership with Babson College, the pioneer and global leader in entrepreneurship education. The partnership is aimed at accelerating the development of creative mobility solutions that could be deployed in communities in the United States and beyond.
The monetary boost for the partnership will help identify real-world mobility issues facing a local community and create a sustainable plan that would address that challenge.
Commenting on the partnership, Babson President, Kerry Healey, said, ”Babson is thrilled to partner with the Toyota Mobility Foundation to explore innovative solutions to urban transportation problems and new ways to increase mobility within our communities,” adding, “We look forward to bringing the full power of entrepreneurial thinking―from our faculty, students, alumni, and research centers―to this important initiative.”
Mobility innovations increasingly empower people to fulfill their potential, reduce limitations, and expand possibilities for every member of society.
Combining Babson’s entrepreneurial mindset, known for navigating the future, identifying new opportunities and finding creative solutions to problems, with the mobility know-how and expertise of TMF, Babson and TMF will form a collaborative for idea generation, practical education, venture creation, and growth to better understand and utilize human-centered design for future mobility. Through the partnership, Babson and TMF will design, launch, and scale mobility models to solve on-the-ground problems, while collaborating with select cities to ensure functionality within local communities.
Excited at the development, Akio Toyoda MBA’82, chairman of the board for the Toyota Mobility Foundation, and president and member of the board of Toyota Motor Corporation, said, “At Toyota, our vision is to lead the future mobility society, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people, and this partnership with Babson is a wonderful opportunity to innovate in the United States.”
He added, “Babson’s resourceful spirit and ability to develop talent through their entrepreneurial mindset makes the college and its students ideal partners as we continue to explore the future of mobility. I look forward to learning, discovering, and testing new ideas alongside Babson, as we seek to create an ever-better society for the next 100 years and beyond.”
Leveraging Toyota Mobility Foundation’s expertise in the broader mobility space, the partnership will build on Babson’s learning methods that have been proven to accelerate impact, including those that have been used in similar labs in the food, global healthcare, and IoT for Good industries. The curriculum will include mentoring, business model testing, capital planning, and pitching. Participants will connect directly with socially driven community leaders from both local government and civil society to tackle actual challenges and to test new solutions.
The two-year partnership will launch in Fall 2019. It will include evaluation and selection of interested local communities, implementation of courses with fieldwork, a general needs assessment, problem framework development, identification of initial opportunities, and engagement with community stakeholders. Continued work will include solution generation and selection, solution delivery and diffusion, and iterative entrepreneurial experimentation.
Babson College
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader of Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.
Toyota Mobility Foundation
The Toyota Mobility Foundation was established in August 2014 to support the development of a more mobile society. The Foundation aims to support strong mobility systems while eliminating disparities in mobility. It utilizes Toyota’s expertise in technology, safety, and the environment, working in partnership with universities, governments, non-profit organizations, research institutions and other organizations to address mobility issues around the world. Programs include resolving urban transportation problems, expanding the utilization of personal mobility, and developing solutions for next generation mobility.
