Seeking opportunities to collaborate with New England tech innovators and entrepreneurs to quickly bring emerging mobility technologies to market, Honda has formed a new partnership with Boston tech accelerator MassChallenge.
At an event with MassChallenge on Tuesday, Honda invited Boston's tech talent to forge relationships with Honda Developer Studio and Honda Xcelerator, two open innovation initiatives it established over the past 18 months in Silicon Valley.
Honda leaders will host office hours at MassChallenge on a regular basis to meet with local startups and entrepreneurs.
"Boston has a deep bench of tech talent supported by prestigious universities and bolstered by a healthy VC presence," Nick Sugimoto, Senior Program Director, Honda Silicon Valley Lab, said in a press release. "There is a tremendous level of passion and creativity beyond Silicon Valley that we want to tap into."
Honda Developer Studio enables app developers to work directly with Honda engineers to create apps that are road-ready more quickly. Honda Xcelerator provides tech innovators with funding for rapid prototyping, a collaborative workspace and pairing with Honda mentors.
Honda is particularly interested in emerging connected car and vehicle intelligence technologies, along with novel human-machine interfaces.
"The transportation sector has been a challenging market for startup organizations to break into," said Scott Bailey, Managing Director of MassChallenge Boston, in a statement. "We are excited to be driving innovation in the space by helping high-impact, high-growth entrepreneurs get to market and scale their businesses more efficiently."
In addition to Boston, Honda recently engaged the Israeli tech community for the first time in partnership with OurCrowd, one of the world's leading equity crowdfunding platforms.
