In the Financial Times ranking “Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs,” UnternehmerTUM ranks at the top among 125 European startup hubs. Directly behind the entrepreneurship center of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are Hexa in Brussels and the British SETsquared, which is associated with six universities.
The Financial Times particularly recognizes UnternehmerTUM’s strong network of large corporations, mid-sized companies, investors, international research institutions, and government. Another strength is that TUM students can participate in UnternehmerTUM courses as part of their degree programs.
More than 70 technology-oriented companies are founded at TUM each year. TUM and UnternehmerTUM support startups with programs tailored to individual stages of development—from conception to IPO. The TUM Venture Labs provide founding teams from each major technology field with an entire ecosystem in direct connection to research. Up to 30 teams can use the TUM Incubator to prepare for launching their company. Additionally, UnternehmerTUM invests in technology companies through its own venture capital fund and offers a high-tech workshop for prototype development through the MakerSpace.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Helmut Schönenberger, co-founder and CEO of UnternehmerTUM, emphasizes:
“Our unique selling point is that everything is highly integrated.”
At the same time, Schönenberger says it is essential to remain adaptable at all times and keep pace with technological change.
For the ranking, the newspaper surveyed graduates of startup hubs as well as investors, entrepreneurs, and researchers in collaboration with data company Statista. The successes of individual startups were also factored into the evaluation.
The complete ranking is available on the Financial Times website.
