The LMU Innovation Incubator

The LMU Innovation Incubator is a four-month startup program run by LMU's Entrepreneurship & Transfer organizational unit, open to students, researchers, and academic teams from across LMU – regardless of discipline or field.

The program supports aspiring and early-stage founders with concrete startup intentions in systematically developing scientific insights, research results, and innovative ideas, and turning them into social and economic value. Through a structured process, teams test their assumptions, sharpen their target groups and problem statements, and thereby build a solid foundation for understanding the real potential of their business idea and successfully pursuing later startup ventures.

Program at a glance

Who ist the program for	Teams (min. 2 people) of advanced students, researchers, PhD candidates, staff, and alumni, with at least one LMU affiliation within the team.
Duration & start	4 months, part-time, starting in October and April
Cost	Free of charge, including free co-working space
Topics	Strategy, team building, leadership Entrepreneurial mindset & resilience Market & target group exploration Business model and financial model Financing & funding strategy Pitching & communication
Content	Masterclasses on innovation & entrepreneurship Practice-oriented workshops Individual coaching Access to mentors from academia, industry, and the startup ecosystem Support in securing public funding before, during, and after the program
Format & language	In person @ IEC / Giselastraße 10 English
Requirements	Early stage (pre-seed, concept, or prototype) Innovative, original idea (research-based ideas welcome) Clear use case, product, or service IP and participation transparency Agreement to the participation terms and program guidelines Public pitch at program completion / Demo Day Active participation throughout the entire program Important: In the case of external funding, willingness to coordinate confidentially on IP and project details is required.
Admission	Application required; notification before program start by email.

Further Information

The Process

Teams work using established methods from innovation and entrepreneurship:

Validating ideas and assumptions
Analyzing target groups and application fields
Developing use cases and business models
Deriving concrete implementation paths

Lab 1 — Strategic direction, purpose, team, leadership
Lab 2 — Product development & market, pitch training, AI for your startup
Lab 3 — Business model & financial model, financing & funding
Lab 4 — Pitch training, resilience & mindset, milestone planning
Closing event: Demo Day / Pitch Event (public)

Munich University Society (mug) Award

Since 2024, the Munich University Society (mug) has supported the Incubator teams with the Award for Research Transfer and Impact Entrepreneurship. The funding is paid out to the most promising teams during the program.

Current application deadline: 31 July 2026

Apply now