On March 9th Ilika plc (LON:IKA) announced a $1m deal with its established blue chip partner Toyota Motor Corp (TYO:7203) in ‘a new application area’. Yesterday’s RNS reveals, via an announcement from the Toyota Research Institute (‘TRI’), that the new area is the application of artificial intelligence (‘AI’) to rapid materials discovery. TRI is investing $35m over four years with Ilika, and a handful of world-class R&D institutions, which includes Stanford and MIT, to incorporate AI into materials discovery. The goal of the program is to significantly accelerate the process further, and increase the number of materials made, thus increasing the number of new improved materials discovered. As the world’s largest automotive company, Toyota’s key initial target areas are advanced materials for battery and fuel-cell catalysts, which improve performance and reduce emissions. Toyota targets reducing its new vehicle emissions by 90% by 2050. TRI was established in 2015 and is wholly owned by Toyota North America. Ilika is the only project partner cited outside the USA.
* A blue chip endorsement of Ilika’s world-class materials R&D status. For Ilika to be selected by the Toyota Research Institute as the only non-US project partner alongside world-class institutions of the caliber of Stanford and MIT, is testament to the high quality of Ilika’s materials discovery and R&D capabilities. It also gives positive insight into the depth of Ilika’s on-going relationship with Toyota.
