It has been two years in the building, but the Munich Urban Colab, a smart city innovation laboratory, has now opened its doors.

In the heart of Munich, this smart city initiative was spearheaded by Unternehmer TUM, a European centre for business creation, and the city of Munich. Here, start-ups, established companies, creatives across disciplines and sectors, and cultural workers work side by side on sustainable technology for a liveable city of the future, and in collaboration with the city administration and citizens.

“In the Munich Urban Colab, togetherness is lived,” said Susanne Klatten, chair of the supervisory board of Unternehmer TUM. “City, research, business and citizens united. The architecture of the building deliberately radiates transparency. We invite all Munich residents to visit us, to have a drink in the café, to take a look at the workshops. We are building prototypes in the middle of the city. We want to show that people can use our developments. And invite people to participate. Liveable, sustainable cities need concepts in which citizens can participate.”

One out of every two people lives in a city, and that number is growing. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to address issues of urban living, mobility and public space.

The Munich Urban Colab provides a central location for the innovation and start-up scene and creative industries. The building was designed to attract start-ups, brilliant minds, innovative companies and scientific research projects from all around the world and bring them together to find answers to urban problems. The building’s users will benefit from Unternehmer TUM’s experience in initiating start-ups along with providing access to the city administration, direct exchange with technology and business experts and venture capital firms, and have dialogue with citizens.

Every day, the state capital of Munich faces the challenge of making life in this vibrant city worthwhile for everyone. To achieve this, the most diverse perspectives of an urban society of companies and citizens across generations and life experiences must be taken into account.

The city administration is present as a contact partner at the Colab with its own offices and co-working spaces. At the same time, the city administration also brings its own challenges and projects to the Munich Urban Colab and makes use of this network to develop technological as well as environmentally and socially compatible concepts with innovative approaches.

This includes the Munich City Lab of the Department of Labour & Economic Affairs with its innovative business development, a branch of the Innovation Lab, and the IT Department’s WerkStadt. In addition, the Mobility Lab of SWM/MVG is dedicated to future urban mobility issues.

“With the Munich Urban Colab, we’ve not only created an impressive location,” said Clemens Baumgärtner, Munich’s head of labour and economic affairs. “The new forms of interdisciplinary cooperation with the active participation of the city of Munich are unique. I’m delighted that we’re working with Unternehmer TUM to implement this unique approach to innovative business development. This offers Munich the opportunity to take a pioneering role in the development of smart cities.”

The agile possibilities provided by the Colab are open to the entire city administration. Projects with other departments are already in the planning. This creates an exchange between the city administration and the activities of the Munich Urban Colab.

“With its special university and corporate landscape, Munich is ideally suited to an innovation location such as the Munich Urban Colab,” said Dieter Reiter, Munich’s mayor. “Munich is a technology-oriented city with a lively start-up scene and offers an urban charm that’s second to none. We’re creating the very best conditions here for developing sustainable solutions for the city of the future and to the benefit of our citizens.”

The building provides a setting for interdisciplinary collaboration: Within its site area of 3600m², more than 11,000m² of usable space were created, consisting of offices, co-working spaces, event and seminar rooms and the high-tech prototype workshop MakerSpace. A café, two winter gardens and a sports and fitness room provide balance for all the work being done.

The construction costs of approximately €30m as well as the operating costs have been borne by Unternehmer TUM, while the land has been provided by the state capital on an emphyteutic lease. The Munich Urban Colab offers transparency and significant free space, ideal conditions for supporting the emergence of innovations. The bright and open spatial structure invites lively communication.

Future topics relevant for smart cities, such as construction, climate protection, sustainability and mobility, are being addressed in the Colab through programmes and initiatives by Unternehmer TUM, the state capital and the Technical University of Munich. These include the Digital Hub Mobility, Smarter Together, BeFive and AppliedAI. The state capital offers users direct access to the entire city family, the municipal utilities and MVG, as well as other associated companies.

Research is also being carried out on the topic of the city of the future in collaboration with the Munich University of Applied Sciences.

In general, the Munich Urban Colab aims to open up to universities, colleges and stakeholders working on smart city technology. It provides rooms equipped with the latest media technology for events for three to 300 people. Members can choose between fixed and flexible workspaces or rent entire offices. The first partner companies on site include BMW, Infineon, SAP and Siemens.

To meet its goals, the Munich Urban Colab has joined the EU Commission’s New European Bauhaus initiative, an ecological, economic and cultural project that aims to bring together design, sustainability, accessibility and investment. The New European Bauhaus seeks practical answers to the question of how contemporary life can be aligned with nature. As such, it also aims to contribute to the European Green Deal whose goal is to make the European Union climate-neutral by 2050.

EU president Ursula von der Leyen, who attended the opening virtually, said the Munich Urban Colab would play a major role in implementing the goals and visions of the Bauhaus initiative.