Toyota aims to create a more inclusive society via Tokyo 2020
With two years to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (August 25-September 6, 2020), Toyota is supporting Para sports and inclusivity through mobility at multiple levels
As a worldwide partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota Motor Corporation is supporting Para sports and contributing to creating a more inclusive society at the grassroots level, as well as through cooperation with The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee) and the broader business community in Japan. During the upcoming Paralympic Games, Toyota will encourage further interest in Para sports around the world while providing “Mobility for All” solutions.
Speaking on Toyota’s focus on the Paralympics, Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation, said, “Through my meetings with Sir Philip Craven when he was President of the International Paralympic Committee in 2015, and with many Para athletes since, I have become even more committed to the idea that Toyota should provide mobility solutions for all people. With this in mind, we are taking steps as a mobility company, not just by making ‘ever-better cars’, but also by aiming to address various mobility needs above and beyond cars.”
He continued, “I am convinced this journey will help us appreciate differences as individuality, and lead us to free ourselves from the sort of fixed thinking that can hold back large organizations like ours, and from prejudice and discrimination in society at large. I see Toyota’s involvement with the Paralympic movement as taking a decisive step toward our goal of “One Toyota” and as a humble step to help achieve Sir Philip’s motto, “One World, One Dream, One People.”
“Toyota’s aim of ‘Mobility for All’ is not just for those with impairments, but has broader implications for all people, and therefore has special meaning,” said Sir Philip Craven, a member of Toyota Motor Corporation’s board of directors since June 2018. “The first time Akio Toyoda visited the IPC headquarters a few years back, he recorded ‘ Fight for the Future. One World, One Dream, One People, One Toyota.’ in our guestbook, and that left a strong impression on me. I came to believe that fighting together with Toyota may truly lead to a better future where all people will be able to have the freedom to move.”
Toyota is supporting the Paralympic movement through internal activities involving its employees, and by working in partnership with Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the All Japan Business Committee. 1. Grassroots activities towards an inclusive society by Toyota employees
In 2017, Toyota began grassroots activities around the world related to expanding interest in Para sports, including:
a Activities to expand interest in Para sports
When signing the agreement to become worldwide partner of the IPC, Toyota also signed an agreement to become a partner to approximately 180 local National Paralympic Committees (NPCs). Working closely with each NPC, Toyota aims to increase and develop interest in Para sports globally.
1.Technology support for Para athletes:
- Toyota is challenging itself to develop equipment for Para athletes with the technological capabilities and engineering knowhow learned from making cars in America, Japan, and Germany.
- For the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, Toyota worked with other equipment developers and athletes, including alpine skier Taiki Morii, on the development of a new chair ski, and cross-country skier and biathlete Andrea Eskau, on the development of a ski-sled with Toyota Motor Sports GmBH.
- Looking ahead to Tokyo 2020, Toyota R&D employees are forming project teams to take on the challenge of improving equipment used by athletes in the summer para sports.