Each month, TEAM TN features its partners that make this work possible. Today, we’re highlighting Bridgestone Mobility Solutions. We spoke with Mark Metoki, Executive Director of Sustainability Enabling Solutions and Strategic Planning.
Why is advanced mobility important to Bridgestone?
Bridgestone is on a journey to make mobility safer, cleaner, more accessible and more efficient. We may have started more than 90 years ago as a tire and rubber company, but we’ve continued to evolve beyond through an innovative mindset and a mission to serve society and our customers.
Today, we do this in a variety of ways as a sustainable solutions company that produces high-quality products, provides enabling services, and delivers data-driven insights through digital solutions. The pace of change has been rapid across the mobility ecosystem, making it a priority for us to invest and innovate in advanced mobility.
As we continue to see an increase in electrification, the advancement of autonomous technologies, the rapid rise of fleets, the expansion of connected vehicle solutions, and more, Bridgestone is committed to partnering with leaders across the industry to help shape the future of mobility for generations to come.
Why did Bridgestone sign on to TEAM TN?
Co-creation is a huge part of how we work. We can’t pretend that we can solve every industry challenge and meet all of our goals by working in a bubble by ourselves. It’s critical that we partner with other industry leaders to combine our areas of expertise to drive true breakthrough innovation and value. TEAM TN is based on the idea of collaboration and co-creation, and we’re proud to be a part of it. We want to help foster a sustainable mobility ecosystem, and that starts right here in the state that is home to our Americas headquarters and a large portion of our U.S-based manufacturing footprint.
What does Bridgestone hope to gain through the initiative?
We have ambitious targets on our journey related to help create safer, cleaner and more efficient mobility, and we’re excited to work with others who share a similar passion in these areas and want to move the needle. By combining our collective experience and expertise, we hope to drive further research and technology development in key areas of advanced mobility, as well as expand the pipeline of talent development and innovation across our state and local communities.
What makes TN the right state for this kind of initiative?
Tennessee has all the ingredients necessary to make a significant impact in the world of mobility. It has a vast network of automotive industry leaders who continue to make investments in their facilities across the state, a deep roster of thriving academic institutions developing next-generation talent, and rapidly growing technology and entrepreneurial communities that are hungry to deliver change. There is a lot of excitement and activity here in Tennessee that will help shape the future of mobility, and we’re excited to be part of it.