Initiative for Industrial Innovators

Initiative for Industrial Innovators has successfully completed its pilot phase, demonstrating remarkable impact through collaborative funding from the European Investment Fund, GETTYLAB, and UnternehmerTUM. This strategic partnership utilized a unified investment vehicle to provide critical early-stage capital to emerging technologies and industrial innovations. The initiative's achievements include distributing Prototyping Grants to nearly 100 promising startup concepts and allocating Pre-Seed Capital to more than 20 nascent companies, establishing a foundation for technological advancement and industrial transformation across Europe.

The initiative exemplifies how targeted early-stage investment can catalyze innovation within specialized ecosystems. UnternehmerTUM, as Germany's leading center for technology-focused entrepreneurship, provided the infrastructure and expertise necessary for identifying high-potential industrial startups. This collaboration between institutional and private capital sources created a unique funding mechanism that bridges the critical gap between academic research and commercial viability—a period often referred to as the "valley of death" for deep tech and industrial innovations requiring substantial capital before generating revenue.

Following this successful pilot, the partnership is evolving with GETTYLAB and UnternehmerTUM continuing their commitment through separate dedicated investment vehicles. UnternehmerTUM will maintain its investment activities through its comprehensive funding platform (funding.unternehmertum.de), which connects promising startups with appropriate capital sources across various development stages. Meanwhile, GETTYLAB is advancing its investment strategy through 'FAST — by GETTYLAB' (f-st.com), focusing on accelerating scientific and technological breakthroughs with commercial applications in industrial sectors.

The initiative's impact extends beyond mere financial support, as it has helped establish a sustainable innovation pipeline for industrial technologies in Europe. By providing both capital and strategic guidance, the program addresses Europe's historical challenges in commercializing research and scaling industrial innovations. The continued investment activities of both organizations signal confidence in the UnternehmerTUM ecosystem's ability to generate valuable startups addressing critical industrial challenges. This model of collaborative investment between public institutions, private capital, and entrepreneurship centers represents a blueprint for fostering innovation ecosystems capable of competing globally in advanced industrial technologies.