Entrepreneurial Realities

Meet Marcus Lobbes, visionary director of the Dortmund Academie of Theater and Digitalisation. Marcus will be the curator at the Richard Wagner Bayreuth Festival for the first ever AI powered production of the Ring des Nibelungen, bringing artificial intelligence into the world's most prestigious Wagner opera Festival.In this episode of Entrepreneurial Realities, discover how Marcus merges artistic genius and technological boldness to reinvent what it means to create, perform, and experience art.

Lucia, our new host, talks with Dr. Andreas Weiss, CTO of Qkera, about turning his PhD research into next-gen battery materials to advance future energy storage. From lab experiments to scaling a startup, Andreas shares the surprises, challenges, and lessons learned along the way.

Prof. Maria Roche from Harvard Business School talks with Antoine Leboyer about her research showing how limited resources can push startups to be more creative and experimental. Maria also shares her own story to becoming a professor at Harvard — and what she’s learned about what truly drives innovation.

This week, Dariia Rekun, Pipeline manager at the SW/AI Venture Lab interviews Jonathan Luther-Bergquist, partner at Inflection XYZ, for a deep dive into venture capital with a focus on deep tech and defense – two areas gaining significant importance in Europe.Explore Inflection's thesis-driven approach centered on sovereignty and compute, understanding how controlling these resources is vital for future national and individual independence.Learn about "new defense" and its distinction from traditional industry, highlighting its importance through rapid iteration cycles and the application of commercially available technology.Listen as Jonathan shares invaluable advice for aspiring defense tech founders, including leveraging European Defense Tech Hub hackathons to connect with military end-users and build impactful products.Gain insights into how venture capital selects companies with massive upside and be inspired to "just do things" to tackle critical challenges

We are diving into a remarkable story of innovation born at the Technical University of Munich — OneTutor — an AI-powered tutoring platform that’s reshaping how students learn, without replacing the human role of educators.I sat down with the founders — Philipp Cisistian, Jann Winter and Professor Alexander Pretschner, who built OneTutor from the ground up, combining cutting-edge AI with real pedagogical insight. Learn about this startup which began as a local experiment and is now in use at over 20 institutions across Germany as well as being piloted in the United States.

In September 2023, Israel's Sefaria, Munich's AppliedAI Institute and the Venture Lab joined forces to explore how AI could enhance Torah study. After months of embedding, prototyping, gathering feedback, and fine-tuning, Sefaria is preparing to roll out new AI-powered features in the second half of the year—making them available to the million-plus users who rely on their platform.This marks a significant milestone for any organization, but especially for Sefaria, which is deeply committed to truthfulness, transparency, and intellectual rigour. It’s also a moment that resonates with all AI startups working at the TUM Software/AI Venture Lab, where responsible innovation is a shared value.So do join us as we discuss with Hadara Steinberg, AI Researcher and Product Manager and Lev Israel, Sefaria' CTO as they share the insights, challenges, and learnings from building an AI platform at the intersection of tradition and cutting-edge technology.... and reach out if you want to join the pilot.

Please meet Paul Graham, Vice President of Customer Centric Innovation at Mastercard Europe. In today’s episode, Paul will share his insights on Mastercard’s collaborations with startups, highlighting the innovative strides in the payment sector. With a wealth of experience, he’ll discuss Mastercard’s strategies for nurturing startup relationships and delve into the evolving landscape of financial technologies and offer valuable recommendations for startups aiming to succeed in this dynamic field. Tune in to gain expert perspectives on making the most out of these collaborations, essential listening for entrepreneurs and innovators from Munich and beyond, eager to make their mark in the business world.

Three TUM Venture Labs. One shared mission. In this episode, we dive into the Life Science Cluster at TUM Venture Labs – and explore how they are redefining their role within the biotech ecosystem with Maria Sievert, MD of the Healthcare Venture Lab, Sabine Oldemeyer, OD of the ChemSPACE Venture Lab and Roman Werner, MD of the AgriFood & Biotech Venture lab. Discover how close collaboration across multiple TUM Venture Labs creates a unique support system for life science innovators – from the first idea to a successful startup.We also discuss what defines a true life science entrepreneur, why this field is both incredibly exciting and highly complex, and what structures and offerings are needed to thrive in such an environment.Whether it is biotechnology, medtech, or digital health – this episode highlights how bold visions turn into real impact through deep expertise, interdisciplinary networks, and entrepreneurial drive.

We are joined today by three AI luminaries from the Technical University of Munich: Professors Daniel Cremers, Stephan Günnemann, and Reinhard Heckel.These distinguished scholars aren't just leading prestigious academic chairs at TUM—they're actively shaping the business landscape through their entrepreneurial ventures.Join us for a fascinating conversation as they share their unique perspectives on AI DeepTech entrepreneurship, bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world innovation.

Please meet Simon Sagmeister. Simon is the lead in the TUM Autonomous Motorsport project. Simon and his exceptional team have consistently dominated the Autonomous Challenge, outperforming 20 elite universities from across the globe.Discover the unique constraints and cutting-edge solutions behind developing high-performance autonomous racing software. Simon reveals how his team pushes the boundaries of AI and software engineering to achieve victory on the track.A must-listen for automotive enthusiasts, software developers, and anyone fascinated by the future of autonomous technology.