Mobility Unlimited Challenge Commences $4 Million Competition to Promote Innovative Mobility Solutions

November 2017 - The Toyota Mobility Foundation and Nesta’s Challenge Prize Center have partnered to host the Mobility Unlimited Challenge, an international competition to improve mobility through innovative technologies. The 4 million dollar challenge invites applications from passionate teams with an interest in improving social and workplace inclusion for people with mobility impairments. Projects can vary from using artificial intelligence to help monitor and inform users on health data, to improved battery technology, or any other form of assistive technology with the intent of improving mobility. Ryan Klem, Director of Programs for Toyota Mobility Foundation wrote in a press release, "This is the beginning of our Challenge, a three-year journey concluding in Tokyo in 2020. A journey where the greatest minds in technology, design, and engineering, from every corner of the world, will compete to make the environment and society more accessible for people with lower-limb paralysis. We know we don’t have solutions yet: this Challenge is about working with the people who can help develop them."

 

The deadline for the first phase of the competition, the Discovery Award, is February 7, 2018. Ten winners will receive $50,000 in April 2018 to develop their applications and enter the final funding phase of the campaign due that August. All applicants are welcome to apply to the Finalist Challenge, and five finalist teams will be announced in January 2019. These teams will receive $500,000 each for their final development grant, with the winning team receiving one million dollars in September 2020. 

 

For more information on deadlines and where to apply, please visit Mobility Unlimited’s website: https://mobilityunlimited.org/