Garching b. Munich — Heiko Huber (photo) takes over the manage­ment of the Unter­neh­mer­TUM acce­le­ra­tor Tech­Foun­ders. As Mana­ging Direc­tor, his job is to network estab­lished compa­nies such as Miele, ADAC, Festo and Knorr-Bremse with inno­va­tive tech start-ups and initiate collaborations.
Huber brings exten­sive expe­ri­ence at the inter­face of start-ups and indus­try: Most recently, he was respon­si­ble for start-up invest­ments and employee spin-offs at Siemens’ venture unit “Next47″. Previously, he worked for McKin­sey and Daim­ler, among others, and co-foun­ded a successful start-up hims­elf with eGym.

“Heiko Huber is exactly the right person to take Tech­Foun­ders forward,” says Dr. Helmut Schö­nen­ber­ger, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Unter­neh­mer­TUM, which includes the Tech­Foun­ders acce­le­ra­tor program. “His great strength is that he under­stands the needs of both start­ups and corpo­ra­ti­ons. He helps young compa­nies grow because he knows from his own expe­ri­ence what they need. Moreo­ver, because he has worked in corpo­ra­ti­ons hims­elf, he under­stands perfectly how to set up successful colla­bo­ra­ti­ons between estab­lished compa­nies and startups.”

“I am very exci­ted to be on board with Tech­Foun­ders. When young compa­nies with inno­va­tive solu­ti­ons coope­rate with estab­lished cham­pi­ons, both sides win. We iden­tify the most exci­ting start-ups for our indus­try part­ners world­wide and initiate pilot projects that help deve­lop inno­va­tive products and digi­tize tradi­tio­nal busi­ness models. The foun­ding teams bene­fit twice over. In addi­tion to the paid pilot project, they receive indi­vi­dual coaching and access to our unique network of mentors and inves­tors,” says Heiko Huber.

About Unter­neh­mer­TUM — Center for Inno­va­tion and Start-up at the TU Munich
Unter­neh­mer­TUM offers foun­ders an all-round service from the initial idea to going public. A team of expe­ri­en­ced entre­pre­neurs, scien­tists, mana­gers and inves­tors supports start-ups in deve­lo­ping their products and services. The 200 employees provide active support in buil­ding up the company, ente­ring the market and obtai­ning finan­cing — inclu­ding venture capital.

XPRENEURS supports high-tech teams at an early stage to deve­lop their busi­ness model. The Tech­Foun­ders acce­le­ra­tor program coaches tech­no­logy foun­ders to a first venture capi­tal round within 20 weeks and initia­tes colla­bo­ra­ti­ons with estab­lished compa­nies. For indus­try part­ners, Unter­neh­mer­TUM is a unique plat­form for colla­bo­ra­ting with start­ups and buil­ding their inter­nal inno­va­tion power and culture.
In Europe’s largest high-tech work­shop open to the public, Maker­Space, compa­nies, start-ups and crea­ti­ves can produce proto­ty­pes and small series on 1,500 square meters using state-of-the-art machi­nes such as large 3‑D prin­ters. Unter­neh­mer­TUM is the Digi­tal Hub Mobi­lity within the frame­work of the Digi­tal Hub Initia­tive of the Fede­ral Government.

Foun­ded in 2002 by entre­pre­neur Susanne Klat­ten, Unter­neh­mer­TUM is the leading start-up center in Germany, with more than 50 high-growth tech­no­logy start-ups each year and its unique range of services.