Business Development Intern, Robotics - Opportunity Discovery and Technology Adoption

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team in Robotics, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, and Energy & Materials.

This is a summer 2024 paid 12-week internship opportunity. Please note that this internship will be a hybrid in-office role.

The Team

The mission of the Opportunity Discovery and Technology Adoption (ODTA) team is to pursue activities essential to transferring TRI research out to society!

Technology adoption is part of the TRI culture, so all teams are encouraged to build relationships and work with partners to connect their research to customer problems. The ODTA team operates as a center of excellence to provide leadership, guidance, best practices, research insights, and training for those teams who need support in technology adoption, with a specific focus on robotics and ML. Additionally, given that technology adoption is a complex, unsolved challenge globally, we consider it an area of inquiry that we are actively researching, emphasizing learning by doing. Our team is ultimately assessed on our ability to increase technology adoption rates across the TRI research portfolio.

The ODTA team combines skills and roles, including product managers, business analysts/business development, engineering architect, and Toyota secondees from Japan. The team works closely with other engineering teams (Data, Software, Infrastructure, etc.) and program management, communications, and research managers.

The Internship

We are looking for a Business Development intern to work on market opportunity analysis to determine the potential impact and opportunity of a TRI technology maturing and on a trajectory to adoption. Together we will formulate a report including: competitive analysis, customer value propositions, determining potential business impact, market size analysis, business case, and a go-to-market strategy. For technology adoption success, we must understand the landscape in which we hope to launch this technology. Therefore, the outputs of this project will enable the team to prioritize which efforts we pursue, scope investment, and determine timelines and agreements for scaling with partners. Ultimately through this project, there is the opportunity to significantly influence how we get TRI technology into customers' hands, whether that be Toyota's customers or teams within Toyota. 

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in an MBA.
• Prior work experience in science, engineering, or technology roles.
• Bonus - Product Management or start-up experience.
• Demonstrated interest in business development for early-stage technologies.

Please add a link to Google Scholar and include a full list of publications when submitting your CV to this position.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles; however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Note that TRI offers a generous benefits package including vacation and sick time. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people with unique backgrounds, education and life experiences. We are dedicated to fostering an innovative and collaborative environment by living the values that are an essential part of our culture. We believe diversity makes us stronger and are proud to provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all, without regard to an applicant’s race, color, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, religion, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state or local laws.