More than 3,000 visitors attended this year’s TUM Entrepreneurship Day to learn from each other and exchange ideas about innovation trends. Students, researchers, investors, and industry representatives met at pitches, workshops, and discussion rounds. Over 100 startups participated, and one of them received the TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award. The award honors business ideas that are based substantially on research results, have high growth potential, and can demonstrate initial financing success. It comes with a prize of €10,000, endowed by the Association of Friends of TUM.
This time, the TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award went to Reverion for developing its highly efficient biogas plants. According to the startup, the power plant’s efficiency is 80 percent. When there is a surplus of electricity on the grid—for example from wind and solar energy—the plant can switch from power generation to power consumption in the shortest possible time. It then produces hydrogen or methane and serves as an energy storage system and for stabilizing grids.
The startup, founded in 2022, emerged from a research project at the Chair of Energy Systems. It received support through the TUM Venture Lab Chemspace as well as the Xpreneurs incubator program and the Techfounders accelerator program. Today, Reverion is successfully operating on the market with more than 100 employees.
Other finalists of the TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award
The final round of the Presidential Entrepreneurship Award also featured Planet A Foods. The team has developed a process to produce a chocolate alternative without cocoa from native plants. The advantage over using cocoa beans: cultivation consumes less water, no forests need to be cleared, and transport routes are significantly shorter. The founding team studied at the Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensors and in Mechanical Engineering, and received support from the TUM Venture Lab Food Agro Biotech.
Also in the final round was Robco with its robotic systems for medium-sized companies. These are easy to install and intuitive to operate. No special knowledge is required for the software either. Because the robots are modular in design, they can be adapted for different applications. The startup also offers the robots for rent. The underlying technology is based on research at the Chair of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Real-Time Systems. The founders were supported in, among other programs, the Xpreneurs Incubator and the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM).
