TUM Expands to Berlin With Defense & AI Lab
The Technical University of Munich is turning to Berlin for defense and AI spin-offs.
Germany's two largest startup communities are joining forces. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is expanding its venture activities to Berlin, opening TUM Venture Labs for Aerospace & Defense and for Software & AI at Marienpark Berlin, the city's Resilience Technology Campus in the south of the capital.
The move is part of a strategic partnership aimed at building a leading European network for defense and security startups. According to a press release from the Technische Universität München (TUM), founders will gain access to resources at both the Munich and Berlin locations, along with a direct line to key stakeholders — from academia and federal authorities to venture capital firms, security and defense companies, and civil protection organizations.
What makes Marienpark Berlin stand out is its infrastructure: secure data centers, protected development and production spaces, and testing environments on land, water, and in the air. That kind of setup matters for deep tech companies in the defense space, where you simply can't develop many technologies in a standard lab environment.
TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann described the expansion as a deliberate strategic move to accelerate entrepreneurial activity in resilience technologies. TUM Venture Labs CEO Dr. Philipp Gerbert pointed to the campus's secured facilities as a key enabler for testing innovations under real-world conditions.
For Berlin, the partnership adds another pillar to its growing defense and deep tech ecosystem — and puts the city more firmly on the map as a location where security-focused startups can go from concept to market.
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