New building in Garching: Unique infrastructure for founders
The Munich Metropolitan Region is set to receive a Europe-wide Entrepreneurship Center in Garching, offering technology-oriented entrepreneurs a comprehensive range of services – from the initial idea to the growth phase. In the new building opened today on the Garching campus, Technische Universität München and its affiliated institute UnternehmerTUM, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, are consolidating their services for entrepreneurs under one roof. The high-tech MakerSpace workshop offers equipment for prototype construction and small-scale production. The professorships of the TUM Entrepreneurship Research Institute complete the alliance between practice, research, and teaching.
Founders and startups will find a unique infrastructure for the realization of their startup projects in the new 6,100 square meter Entrepreneurship Center. MakerSpace offers a high-tech machine park for realizing ideas and innovations in the form of prototypes and small series. This publicly accessible, 1,500-square-meter high-tech workshop provides startups, engineers, architects, designers, and makers with access to machines, tools, and software, as well as a creative community. This open workshop concept, unique in Europe and the first of its kind in this dimension, was realized in cooperation with the BMW Group.
New workspaces for startups
The Entrepreneurship Center also offers ample space for startup teams who don't yet have their own offices in the early stages of their company's founding. Flexible schedules allow for both secure spaces and open, collaborative "work islands" for 15 to 20 teams.
At the Start-up advice As a central contact point, founders from TU Munich find sound advice and active support in all important areas and phases of a company start-up under one roof: from developing a business model to team-building workshops, from management training to applying for public funding. In 2014, more than 970 consultations took place, and 32 startups were founded at TUM during this period. The start-up consulting service is a joint offering from TU Munich and UnternehmerTUM.
Scientists conduct direct research into the founding process
Since the TUM Entrepreneurship Research Institute With its four professorships moving into the new center, research and practice will be combined in a creative environment: On the one hand, researchers can conduct research directly on startup processes. On the other hand, their research findings can be directly incorporated into startup support. Students will benefit from new seminar rooms and workspaces.
UnternehmerTUM fund for young technology companies
In addition to the offers for students, scientists and founders from TUM, UnternehmerTUM In the new Entrepreneurship Center, established companies and technology startups also receive support and guidance in developing new products and services, as well as in successfully establishing their business and entering the market. With its own fund, UnternehmerTUM offers capital for young technology companies with international market potential. The accelerator program TechFounders prepares innovative technology startups for their first round of venture capital within three months and initiates strategic collaborations with industry partners.
Around 700 companies spun off
Since 1990, around 700 companies have spun out of TUM, now employing more than 14,000 people. Seven TUM spin-offs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Well over 1,000 scientists and students participate in TUM's qualification programs annually. According to the current Start-up Radar of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany), no major university promotes start-ups as effectively as TUM.
“New Gründerzeit in Bavaria”
Ilse Aigner, Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, and Dr. Ludwig Spaenle, Minister of State for Education and Culture, Science and the Arts, took part in the opening of the Entrepreneurship Center.
Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs, Ilse Aigner, said: "Our goal is to make Bavaria a leader in business startups. I want a new era of entrepreneurship – across Bavaria. With the opening of the new Entrepreneurship Center, we are taking a big step closer to this goal. The center is a fantastic springboard for entrepreneurs."
Science Minister Dr. Ludwig Spaenle said: "I am delighted that the new Entrepreneurship Center, located centrally in the high-tech region of Munich, will create a highly attractive and innovative environment where students and researchers can develop into productive entrepreneurs. The Free State of Bavaria was therefore happy to contribute to making the new building a reality. Further strengthening the entrepreneurial ambitions of TUM, a university of excellence from the very beginning, undoubtedly also further strengthens Bavaria as a center of science."
“Technology transfer is part of our DNA”
"For us as an entrepreneurial university, technology transfer and entrepreneurship research are part of our DNA," said TUM President Prof. Wolfgang A. Herrmann. "UnternehmerTUM GmbH was integrated into TUM's overall entrepreneurial concept from the very beginning, thus enabling an effective entrepreneurship culture. Research, teaching, and practice now have a common address, allowing all the competencies that convey entrepreneurial thinking and action to interact on a daily basis."
Susanne Klatten, shareholder of UnternehmerTUM GmbH: "With our new Entrepreneurship Center in Garching, we now have a place where founders, startups, and established companies can find support and guidance throughout the entire start-up process—from the initial idea to the growth phase. This is unique in Europe."
