With its institutional strategy ‘TUM. The Entrepreneurial University’, the Technische Universität München won the elite status in the Excellence Initiative competition initiated by the German Federal and State Governments in 2006 with a comprehensive series of programs. These initiatives, among them the IGSSE, focused on cutting-edge research encourage up-and-coming young scientists, establish an enlightened gender and diversity policy, and foster a culture of entrepreneurship.

Building on the success of the 2006 program, TUM developed a strategy for the 2012 renewal proposal which is inspired by the concept of ‘talents in diversity’. The aim is to attract elite international scientists who will strengthen TUM’s status as a technical research and teaching hub focused on the major challenges facing society as we move forward: Health & Nutrition • Energy & Natural Resources • Environment & Climate • Information & Communications • Mobility & Infrastructure. Marking a paradigm shift in the German higher education sector, TUM’s Integrative Research Centers and Faculty Tenure Track career system are key vehicles in the move toward these goals.

By setting up the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (2006/2012), followed by the TUM Graduate School (2009), TUM has created a structured environment for doctoral candidates.

Meanwhile, participation in several innovative research projects (Clusters of Excellence) has established TUM as one of Europe’s top universities in engineering, the natural sciences, the life sciences and medicine.

View map  on the final funding decisions of the German Excellence Initiative 2012-2017.