PUBLISHED ONMarch 08, 2018 8:32 AM
- Digital campaign will ask people with lower-limb paralysis to share their thoughts and views using the hashtag #mymobilityunlimited
- Insights from the crowdsourcing campaign will help inspire entrants for the $4million Challenge intended to push innovation and transform the lives of people with lower-limb paralysis
- Inspired by Toyota's worldwide partnership with the International Paralympic Committee, the Toyota Mobility Foundation is "starting their impossible" through the Mobility Unlimited Challenge
TOKYO, Mar 8, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - Today the Mobility Unlimited Challenge is announcing a crowdsourcing initiative, aimed at helping inspire entrants in their quest to develop life-changing technology for people with lower-limb paralysis. The #MyMobilityUnlimited campaign will invite people around the world to share their life experiences with lower-limb paralysis and the solutions they would like to see to the challenges they face every day.
The Toyota Mobility Foundation, in partnership with Nesta's Challenge Prize Centre, launched the $4 million dollar global challenge in November 2017, with the aim of changing the lives of people with lower-limb paralysis. The Mobility Unlimited Challenge is seeking teams around the world to create game-changing technology that will help radically improve the mobility and independence of people with paralysis. This Challenge will culminate in the unveiling of the winners in Tokyo in 2020.
The Challenge is encouraging a user-centered approach and will invite people with lower-limb paralysis, across the world, to take part in a global conversation about the types of mobility technology innovations they would like to see, using the hashtag #MyMobilityUnlimited. These suggestions will then be used to inspire entrants to create genuinely life-changing technologies which directly address the issues faced by users on a day-to-day basis.
The Challenge is supported by a number of public figures from around the world, including Mallory Weggemann, NBC reporter for the Winter Paralympics in South Korea; Ade Adepitan, British wheelchair basketball player and television presenter; Sama Bullock, Brazilian wheelchair tennis player and model; and Martyn Sibley, journalist and broadcaster; all of whom have lower-limb paralysis and star in this video. Many have created their own personal videos and tweets, in which they share their hopes and ideas for the Challenge, and they are asking others to follow suit.
The challenge is also backed by a number of global ambassadors include: Aki Taguchi, Director, Paralympian Association of Japan; August de los Reyes, Head of Design at Pinterest; Preethi Srinivasan, Indian athlete and campaigner; Dr Rory A Cooper, director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories at the University of Pittsburgh; Sandra Khumalo, South African rower; Sophie Morgan, British TV presenter; Tatyana McFadden, US track & field athlete; and Yinka Shonibare MBE, Turner-Prize nominated British/Nigerian artist. Hi-Res images of international ambassadors available.
The Challenge will drive and reward the development of personal mobility devices incorporating intelligent systems. The mobility solutions of the future could include anything from exoskeletons, to artificial intelligence and machine learning, from cloud computing to batteries. Watch the Mobility Unlimited launch film here to understand our vision.
In order to open the challenge up to as many people as possible, ten Discovery Award prizes of $50,000 will be presented to support small, early stage innovators. A panel of expert judges will then pick five finalists who will each receive $500,000 to take their concepts from an intelligent insight to a prototype. The Challenge winner will receive $1,000,000 to make the device available to users--with the winning concept unveiled in Tokyo in 2020. Interested innovators can apply online by 15 August at mobilityunlimited.org.
Around the world, millions of people have lower-limb paralysis (the most common causes being strokes, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis). While there are no statistics on paralysis worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates there are 250,000-500,000 new cases of spinal cord injury globally every year.
For more information please visit mobilityunlimited.org.
About Toyota
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today, Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in 29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170 countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.
Contact:
Public Affairs Division Global Communications Department Toyota Motor Corporation Tel: +81-3-3817-9926
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