Infiniti Motor Company,  the luxury vehicle division of Nissan, has unveiled an Infiniti Lab initiative to connect world-class entrepreneurs with local startups, corporate partners and Infiniti leaders. The initiative aims to accelerate the innovation cycle and find new ways of doing business that challenge industry norms. 

The program is the first to bring advanced stage international startups to Hong Kong, encouraging cross-border collaboration while enriching the local ecosystem. It is said to have accelerated 46 startups from around the world, helping entrepreneurs harness innovation to set new growth trajectories. This year's cohort of eight startups takes that number to 54.

Infiniti lab will host an on-going collaboration program with the ‘Open Innovation Workshop’ that features partners including but not limited to Hysan Development Company, Li & Fung, MTR Corporation, Shanghai Tang, Swire Properties and The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotel. Infiniti will host monthly workshops and hackathons at the new Infiniti Lab space and grant exclusive access to expert mentors and industry partners across multiple verticals to help entrepreneurs achieve success.

According to the company, the Infiniti Lab space will provide the ideal point of convergence for prime players across the innovation ecosystem to rapidly turn great ideas into proof-of-concepts and business-ready pilots.

Dane Fisher, general manager, Global Transformation & Brand at Infiniti said, "By continuing to collaborate and exchange ideas with the startup community, we continue to hone our mindset and uncover new growth opportunities. Our collaboration with startups has unlocked internal innovation and intrapreneurship, helping to transform corporate culture at Infiniti in ways not possible before. To stay ahead in the digital transformation race, we must look outwards beyond our own key business functions and partner our people with startups and progressive thinkers to build an ecosystem where open innovation can truly happen. The new Infiniti Lab was created to accelerate innovation cycles for Infiniti, our partners and for startups."