Creating long-term value is inextricably linked to the health of our planet and our people. This is why sustainability is on the key topics at UnternehmerTUM. In this section, you will also find important publications and articles in this field.
Our world is facing severe challenges - climate change is seriously affecting our planet, industries are facing a rate of disruption never seen before, and society is grappling with increasing inequality, social injustice, and political turmoil. At UnternehmerTUM, we believe innovation and entrepreneurship are key to solving these challenges and to shaping the world we want to live in.
By supporting exceptional talent, start-ups, and established companies on their innovation journey, we want to foster sustainable innovations and provide ground-breaking solutions to tackle these challenges and create a perspective for a future worth living in.
Sustainability is a key topic at UnternehmerTUM. We strive to educate and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to tackle the grand challenges of our time. And we initiate high-impact collaboration projects between industry, start-ups, and universities to develop sustainable solutions.
Prof. Dr. Helmut Schönenberger, CEO of UnternehmerTUM
With about 240 employees and 30 different programs and initiatives, reaching thousands of students, entrepreneurs, and companies every year, we have a huge responsibility. In 2020, we have started to systematically approach the topic of sustainability across all programs and initiatives as well as our own operations to develop a holistic UnternehmerTUM Sustainability Plan. We are just at the beginning of our journey, but will keep you updated on the results and our progress.
Below, you can find selected programs contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as well as our collection of stories, interviews, and publications. Are you ready to make a change?
Definition of sustainability: The term sustainability describes those principles of action that bring the careful use of natural resources into harmony with human needs, e.g. living, eating, clothing. The aim is to actively protect and preserve natural ecosystems and their creatures and to ensure their ability to regenerate. Sustainability aims to limit consumption to what is necessary and thus forms a counter-design to the consumer society.
Stories related to Sustainability
May 21, 2025
Nachhaltige Mobilität im Profisport – Co-Innovation für den SAP Garden
Was passiert, wenn UnternehmerTUM, SAP, Red Bull München, Start-ups und junge Talente ihre Köpfe zusammenstecken? Es entsteht mehr als nur eine Idee – es entsteht eine Lösung mit echtem Impact. Für Fa...
May 15, 2025
„Unternehmen merken langsam, dass ein 'Weiter so' nicht funktioniert“ - Interview mit Dr. Katharina Reuter
Dr. Katharina Reuter ist Geschäftsführerin des Bundesverbands Nachhaltige Wirtschaft e.V. (BNW). Bereits seit ihrer Jugend setzt sie sich für Umweltschutz ein und legte damit schon früh den Grundstein...
Startup Story Dec 4, 2024
Phlair ermöglicht eine Kohlenstoff-negative Zukunft
Der durchschnittliche Deutsche erzeugt jeden Tag 30 Kilogramm CO2. Um den Klimawandel zu bewältigen, müssen wir uns unweigerlich damit beschäftigen, wie wir diese Zahl auf Netto-Null bekommen. Dabei w...
Startup Story May 21, 2024
Gülle, das Gold der Landwirtschaft?!
Sebastian Schäffer hat sich nach seinem Schulabschluss für ein Chemiestudium entschieden. Sein Antrieb: Er will etwas in der Welt verändern. Seit einem Jahr arbeitet er mit dreiKommilitonen an der Ide...
Apr 25, 2023
Battery Recycling for the Electric Future: Video Interview with Circular Start-up tozero
Batteries are omnipresent, and a future without them is unimaginable. Tomorrow's mobility, work life, and communication depend on energy storage systems containing rare earth elements. At the same tim...
Apr 6, 2023
How Industries Transform Their Net-Zero Goals from a Buzzword to a Reality
Last winter was characterized by sparsely snow-covered ski slopes in the Alps, with more green than white, and the weather was even spring-like. On New Year's Day, the temperature in Switzerland rose ...
Apr 5, 2023
Plastic Recycling on a New Level: Video Interview with Circular Start-up cirplus
Plastic has a bad reputation — it pollutes the environment, is based on fossil resources, and the ratio of recycled vs. wasted material is still very low. This start-up wants to turn things around: ci...
Mar 31, 2023
Why the Circular Economy is Vital for Our Industry and How Start-ups Can Help - By Prof. Dr. Helmut Schönenberger, CEO UnternehmerTUM
The linear economy model, where resources are extracted, used, and then discarded as waste, is not sustainable. The world needs a new approach, one that is based on preserving and enhancing natural ca...
Mar 29, 2023
Landscape 2023: Start-ups Drive the Circular Economy
For the first time, our new initiative CIRCULAR REPUBLIC has published a start-up landscape for the circular economy sector, showing: the circular economy is increasingly becoming the core of the bus...
Mar 16, 2023
"In the Context of Circular Business Models, Collaboration is Key" - Interview with the Founding Team of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC
In January, UnternehmerTUM launched the new initiative CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, which supports companies in developing circular economy innovations into the core of their business model. Business, the start...
Mar 2, 2023
"Within Our Sustainability Strategy, the Circularity Concept Plays a Central Role" - Interview with Christian Haub and Dr. Saskia Juretzek of Tengelmann Twenty-One KG
Family members have run Tengelmann for over 155 years, now in its fifth generation. The family has been committed to environmental protection for more than 50 years. We spoke with CEO Christian W. E. ...
Feb 17, 2023
"Circular Economy is Absolutely Exciting from an Entrepreneurial Point of View" - Interview with Carl Warkentin, Entrepreneur and Founder Circular Platforms at CIRCULAR REPUBLIC
As founder of the sustainable fashion label Monaco Ducks, Carl Warkentin knows what it means to make your business circular. With his co-founder Julian Hermsdorf, he built one of the first genuinely s...
Dec 15, 2022
Impulse: Four Good Reasons Why the Circular Economy Must Become the DNA of Our Value Creation
Impulse by Dr. Claas Oehlmann, Inken Sittler und Annika Stuckenhoff, BDI-Initiative Circular Economy
Dec 14, 2022
"We Can Deliver What Policymakers are Desperately Seeking in the Face of the Energy Crisis" - Interview with Start-up Reverion
"Transitioning to a future without fossil fuels" is the ambitious goal of the young TUM start-up Reverion. To this end, the now 27-member team, which is currently participating in our TechFounders pro...
Dec 12, 2022
"Sustainability is No Longer a Niche Topic" - Interview with Julia Roblick, Program Manager at RESPOND
The RESPOND accelerator program by UnternehmerTUM and the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt supports start-ups around the world in accelerating sustainable business models, driving innovation and managin...
Apr 26, 2022
"Talking about the idea helps enormously" - Interview with the founding team of RE-SHIRT
The continued use of a circular product as the norm: that is the mission of RE-SHIRT. Through its innovative reversible textile printing technology, the company aims to drive long-term change towards ...
Feb 9, 2022
"Architecture is a tool to improve lives" - Interview with Anna Heringer
Architecture for a better life - that is Anna Heringer's mission. The architect and honorary professor established the METI School in Rudrapur, Bangladesh, as part of her diploma thesis and won the Ag...
Aug 23, 2021
Case Studies of Collaboration: Start-ups and Established Companies Accelerating towards Sustainability
Through our network at UnternehmerTUM, we bring start-ups and corporates together, creating win-win matches. Our accelerator TechFounders is a fantastic example of how they complement each other. Most...
Sep 11, 2020
Ecological and Economical: A Venture Capitalist Perspective on Sustainable Start-ups
Start-ups play a key role in making our society and economy more sustainable. We asked Johannes von Borries, Managing Partner at Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC Partners), about the inves...
Jul 28, 2020
Start-up Innovations in Climate Tech: Reshaping the Most Critical Sectors
A global need for innovations that tackle climate change - and start-ups’ answers to it: Take a look at young companies from Europe, with a focus on the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) in ...
Jul 16, 2020
Redefining Growth in the 21st Century - A Paradigm Shift for our Economic System (U Talk)
Shifting towards a sustainable economy: In this enlightening U Talk, you'll hear about ways to address the world's greatest global challenges through a paradigm shift and how sustainable innovations a...
Jul 14, 2020
Global Challenges - How Do We Respond? (U Talk)
Empowering entrepreneurs for good and responsible leaders: In this dialogue, you'll hear about what is needed to foster entrepreneurship that contributes to a more sustainable and responsible economy....
May 5, 2020
Today's start-ups focus on sustainability - Europe-wide online survey „Sustainability in Startups“
The topic of climate protection is finding a most fertile context in the start-up scene. This raises hopes for a real social change, because it is precisely here that effective products and services a...
May 4, 2020
Four steps towards circular economy: trailblazing start-ups and what organizations can learn
With the climate crisis - and how companies contribute to it - becoming more present in discussions, the discourse around a circular economy has gained momentum.
Services related to Sustainability
Innovation for Companies Feb 28, 2020
UnternehmerTUM Business Creators
We enable your business to unleash its untapped potential.
Start-up Programs Feb 23, 2020
KIC Accelerator-Programme
Do you have a business idea for sustainable technologies or the sectors of food, health, or mobility? In the KIC accelerators, you'll put it into practice.
Innovation for Companies Sep 20, 2023
CIRCULAR REPUBLIC
We set the pace for the circular economy because we ENABLE. ACT. INSPIRE. We support corporates to leverage the potential of circular business models to meet ecological and social responsibilities whi...