City of Munich and UnternehmerTUM open Munich Urban Colab

Two years of construction and 30 million euros later, the Munich Urban Club project is ready to develop ideas for the smart city of the future. The building is available to start-ups and creative minds. Susanne Klatten is one of the sponsors.

What will the smart city of the future look like? It is green, climate-neutral and technologized. And many of the ideas that go with it could be born in Munich. That's where the Munich Urban Colab opened this Monday as a project of the city of Munich and the UnternehmerTUM startup center. The building offers 11,000 square meters of offices, co-working spaces, rooms for events, a prototype workshop, as well as a gym, café and winter garden.

The city has direct contacts there, and there will also be close cooperation with universities and research institutions. Companies such as SAP, Siemens and BMW are also partners now. "This offers Munich the opportunity to take a pioneering role in the development of smart city solutions," says Clemens Baumgärtner, the officer responsible for labor and business.

"In the Munich Urban Colab, togetherness is lived. City, research, business and citizens united," says Susanne Klatten, founder of UnternehmerTum and best known as a major BMW shareholder. For her, it's meant to be a place for "participation" by everyone involved, including Munich's citizens: "We want to show that people can use our developments."

The project cost 30 million euros to build, which, like the operating costs incurred, is borne by the non-profit UnternehmnerTum. The city is providing the associated land as a ground lease. The Munich Urban Colab is part of the New European Bauhaus initiative of the EU Commission as part of the Green Deal. EU President Ursula von der Leyen also attended the virtual opening on Monday.