Automotive News Canada - August 2017 - 13

13

* AUGUST 2017

Infiniti Lab identifies, partners with innovation
On the cusp
of rapid change,
cutting-edge
start-ups pitch
out-of-the-box
thinking, ideas
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

AT FIRST GLANCE, SOME
of the finalists in Infiniti's
Canada start-up accelerator
program have little to do with
automotive manufacturing
and sales.
Take Infiniti Lab Toronto's
inaugural winner, Rover
Parking, that allows users
to rent out unused parking
spaces; or Tap Report, a digital-workspace inspection tool.
Their products might not
immediately apply to Infiniti's
basic goal of manufacturing
and selling vehicles, but that's
just fine with Stephen Lester,
managing director of Infiniti
Canada.
Lester said the lab, which
puts several start-ups through
a one-month training and
development program, allows
Infiniti access to start-up companies that could be on the
cutting edge of technological
change, while also making the
Infiniti brand better identified
with innovation.
"The lab serves as a private-label marketing platform
for us," he said. "It's a proprietary program. It allows us
to bring partners in, which is
incredibly important for us
moving forward."

a chance to pitch their companies
to a group of venture capitalists in
downtown Toronto. Rover Parking,
which describes itself as the "Airbnb
of parking," was selected as the lab's
first winner and was guaranteed a
spot at a similar program for Infiniti
Lab in Hong Kong.
Rover co-founder Tim Wootton,
speaking during his Demo Day pitch,
said the start-up has been aided in
recent years as larger companies such
as Infiniti embrace potential partners,
and governments adjust regulations
and policies to help them grow.

CHANGE IN THINKING
"Governments are starting to lean

into disruptive technology, as opposed
to shying away from it," Wootton
said.
For Toronto, partnering with
Infiniti on the lab gives the city an
opportunity to showcase itself as a
friendly place to do business, said
Mayor John Tory. "You can't turn
back the hands of time, and you
shouldn't try," he said.
Lester said Infiniti chose Toronto
as the site of its first North American
Lab because of its culture and "robust
community." He said Infiniti would
continue to partner with the city
moving forward and would explore
expanding the program nationally "at
some point."- ANC

Rover Parking was declared the winner of the
first Infiniti Lab Toronto (Rover co-founder Tim
Wootton, centre). At the event, budding entrepreneurs pitched their business plans to large
companies and venture capitalists seeking to
get ahead of disruptive change.
(PHOTO: INFINITI CANADA)

DISRUPTIVE BRAIN-PICKING
Lester said the automotive
industry is on the cusp of an
era of rapid change driven by
advances in safety technology,
the deployment of autonomous
driving features and the emergence of car sharing. Better
understanding those technological changes by picking the
brains of the entrepreneurs
and developers behind such
technology can help Infiniti to
be ahead of the curve, he said.
"We're on the cusp of
changes that will be happening so rapidly, therefore it's
incredibly important for us to
understand from other people
and other organizations what
those changes are going to
look like," Lester said.
He said there are "three
or four" examples of Infiniti
working with start-up companies on technology that will
soon "come to light."

BROAD-BASED INTERESTS
Infiniti Lab Toronto, which
held its first Demo Day on July
18, is a partnership between
Infiniti Canada, start-up mentorship nonprofit Multiplicity,
the city of Toronto and others that aim to foster growth
among companies focused on
the Internet of Things, connectivity and "smart city" initiatives.
Infiniti Lab Canada's first
group of finalists was given

7,
7,5(6
7,
7+( 32:(5 2),19(1725<:(+$9(7+(7,5(6<281(('





0LVVLVVDXJD21 6FDUERURXJK21

9DXJKDQ21 'HOWD%& (GPRQWRQ$%

&DOJDU\$%
http://www.atlastire.com http://www.tiredistribution.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - August 2017
