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Only a few days left: Innovative business ideas and startup projects can be submitted for the Strascheg Ideas Award through October 18, 2026. Munich University of Applied Sciences and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship will award a total of 30,000 euros in prize money across three categories.

On November 17, 2026, the annual Strascheg Awards ceremony will take place—the largest ideas competition in southern Germany— organized by the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) and Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM). During the awards ceremony, attendees will present their own Audience Award and can look forward to exciting startup pitches and networking opportunities. Register now!

How does excellent STEM research turn into a successful startup? This is exactly what the new European project “SFF Deep Teach Valleys: STEM2Venture Pathway” (SFF-DT) wants to facilitate: The project launched in September 2026 with a kickoff meeting in Athens and aims to bridge the gap between academic research and the market and to transform research findings into sustainable startups and spin-offs. The Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE), as a co-founder of the Start for Future (SFF) initiative and one of nine project partners, is actively involved in the initiative. SFF connects universities, entrepreneurship centers, and other stakeholders from across Europe to promote university-based startups and drive innovation across national borders.

On October 5, 2026, Prof. Dr. Sonja Munz was formally appointed as the new president of Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM). As a professor, dean of the Faculty of Tourism, and most recently vice president for research, she knows the university from various perspectives and has helped shape its development for many years. She also has a long-standing collaboration with the SCE.

“We have had the privilege of carrying out numerous entrepreneurial projects with Dr. Munz over the past 10 years and look forward to the next wave of entrepreneurship at Munich University of Applied Sciences.”
– Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer, Executive Director of the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship

Just in time for Bits & Pretzles, the Startup Verband is releasing the German Startup Monitor 2026! We’ve summarized the key takeaways for you: Germany is experiencing a startup boom: so far in 2026, more than 3,000 startups have been founded and 8 billion euros in capital has been invested, setting two new records. Munich remains a major startup hub, but for us, what’s most exciting—besides WHERE startups are emerging—is HOW they’re being created:

On Tuesday, September 22, 2026, our SCE Friends & Fellows Community gathered once again for an exclusive networking event. A highlight of the evening was the keynote address by Pascal Bronner, an associate at ZIRNGIBL Rechtsanwälte mbB and a doctoral candidate at TUM. In his presentation titled “AI in Business—Between Innovation and Responsibility,” he provided participants with valuable insights into the latest developments in artificial intelligence. He vividly illustrated the tension between technological progress, strategic opportunities, and the legal framework in a business context.

Once again this year, SCE will be participating as an Ecosystem Partner at the beyond economy festival. On October 28, 2026, the festival will bring together companies, startups, researchers, decision-makers, and thought leaders. Under the motto “Shaping tomorrow’s economy together,” the focus—in addition to topics such as AI and innovation—will be on shaping a sustainable economy that balances profit, people, and the planet.

Felix Füssel, co-founder and co-CEO of the SCE alumni startup Silvernova, talks in an interview with Munich Startup aboutbuilding his legal tech company: an AI associate that supports small and medium-sized law firms with complex cases. Click here for the full interview, featuring many fascinating insights.

SYSTEMEU is launching its Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) Open Call, with €7.55 million in funding available for interregional innovation projects focused on the digital transformation of healthcare, energy, and mobility. The Open Call begins on September 15, 2026 , and applications will remain open until November 16, 2026; five to eight projects will be selected to develop, test, and validate innovative solutions in real-world environments across the five SYSTEMEU regions.

The call is open to independent legal entities based in one of the five SYSTEMEU regions, including companies, startups, research organizations, universities, public authorities, and other organizations from Bavaria (Germany), Northwest Romania, Castilla y León (Spain), Tuzla Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Portugal’s Norte Region. Its objective is to accelerate cross-border collaboration, share knowledge and technological capabilities, and bring promising innovations closer to deployment and commercialization.

Katharina Hesseler, co-founder of the SCE alumni startup Omegga, talks to Saskia Doll of Munich Startup about her startup: an AI- and spectroscopy-based technology that determines the sex of hatching eggs even before the seventh day of incubation. Worldwide, around seven billion male chicks are killed each year immediately after hatching—Omegga aims to change that with its solution. Click here for the full interview, which offers many fascinating insights.

The Strascheg Ideas Award is back for another round! For our ideas competition, which offers a total prize pool of 30,000€, we are looking for innovative business ideas and promising startup projects. Students, professors, staff, and alumni of HM can submit their ideas online in various categories until October 18, 2026. Additionally, there is a separate category for external teams with initial market proof. Apply now: www.sce.de/strascheg-award

That’s great. We’re thrilled to welcome the law firm ZIRNGIBL as a new partner in our SCE Friends & Fellows Community!

ZIRNGIBL Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft mbB will provide legal support to selected SCE startups in the future, including in the areas of labor law, intellectual property, and competition law. This will give our founders not only entrepreneurial support but also the legal certainty they need to bring their ideas to life in the best possible way.

Are you facing a specific challenge in your startup and looking for quick, practical feedback? With “Coaching on the Fly,” the Start for Future (SFF) Alliance is now offering founders, teams, and startups free, personalized coaching sessions through the OpenHubs platform.

Under the motto "The future belongs to the bold", the 25th European Health Congress Munich once again brings together innovation, politics, and practice. The congress is one of the leading industry events in the German healthcare sector, gathering decision-makers from politics, self-governance, the healthcare industry, science, and the start-up scene in Munich.

The Wavelab Incubator at the University of Music and Performing Arts supports startups at the intersection of music, the arts, and media. Similar to our SCE Incubation program, each participating team receives tailored support that is customized to its specific needs and challenges. Through targeted mentoring, a strong network, and engagement with the cultural and tech communities, as wellaspotentialinvestors and future customers, Wavelab supports the teams in successfully developing their ideas.

Are you short on time but eager to actively seek out entrepreneurial, innovative solutions to current challenges? Then SEA:start—an intensive workshop for students and young professionals—is just right for you. In four modules that build on one another, you’ll explore the topic of “social entrepreneurship” in an interactive way, receive a toolkit for starting a business, and develop your own social startup idea as part of an interdisciplinary team!

Would you like to get a taste of the international startup scene, collaborate with talented individuals from Bavaria and Israel, and work on real-world innovation projects at leading companies? Then the Bavaria Israel Partnership Accelerator (BIPA) is the perfect program for you.

From October 12 to December 17, 2026, BIPA will bring together students and young professionals from Bavaria and Israel in interdisciplinary teams to solve technological and entrepreneurial challenges in fields such as AI, smart mobility, medtech, Industry 4.0, and IT security. You won’t be working on a fictional case study, but on real-world challenges faced by international companies and public institutions—guided by experienced mentors from the business world and the startup ecosystem.

An exclusive space for the women shaping Europe’s next wave of innovation: On October 13, 2026, FFX Munich—a special event for female founders, female investors, and senior female leaders—will take place in Munich. The Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) is supporting the event as a partner and is offering its community a 10% discount on tickets!