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E 783 — Laser Fusion Spin-Off: How TU Darmstadt Built It · Deep Tech Germany – AI, Robotics & Frontier Innovation by Startuprad.io™

• 0:00
  Joe Menninger: Focused Energy is one of Europe's most visible deep tech spin-offs, but the more important story is not only the financing round. The real question is what had to exist before a company like this could emerge: scientific credibility, startup-friendly IP, a university willing to move fast, a transfer organization that works with researchers before the company exists, industry partners, investor readiness, and a system that helps scientists become company builders. Today we are asking not only why Focused Energy matters, but something bigger: can German and European universities build repeatable systems that turn frontier research into globally relevant deep tech companies? That is the real story behind Focused Energy, TU Darmstadt—the Technical University of Darmstadt—and HIGHEST. Welcome to Startuprad.io, the English-language startup and technology intelligence platform covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with a strong focus on deep tech, venture capital, startup funding, scale-ups and the future of European innovation. I'm Joe Menninger, founder and host of Startuprad.io.
• 1:24
  Joe Menninger: Today's conversation sits at the intersection of frontier science, university innovation, deep tech company building and European technology sovereignty. Our guest is Prof. Dr. Thomas Walther, Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs at TU Darmstadt. He is especially interesting for this conversation because he can look at the topic from several angles. He is not only responsible for innovation and international affairs at one of Germany's leading technical universities; he is also a scientist himself. Professor Walther earned his doctorate in physics at the University of Zurich, spent several years at Texas A&M University as a researcher and assistant professor, and has been professor of experimental physics at TU Darmstadt since 2002. He has also taken on substantial institutional leadership roles, including positions in the Department of Physics and the Forum for Interdisciplinary Research. That background matters because deep tech transfer is not simply about having a good idea and starting a company.
• 2:39
  Joe Menninger: It requires scientific credibility, an understanding of international research systems, institutional decision-making, and the ability to translate between researchers, founders, university leadership, investors, industry partners and policymakers. That is why Professor Walther is such a relevant voice for this interview. TU Darmstadt has a long engineering tradition, including a pioneering role in electrical engineering. But today's conversation is not primarily a history lesson. The real focus is contemporary.
• 3:15
  Joe Menninger: It is about how a modern technical university identifies transferable research, supports scientific founders, structures intellectual property, connects teams with industry and investors, and builds a professional path from laboratory research to globally relevant companies. We will use one specific example: Focused Energy. It is a fusion company that emerged from TU Darmstadt's ecosystem and has become one of Germany's most prominent deep tech examples. Its recent financing round drew major attention, but the financing round is the trigger for this interview, not the core story. The core story is the spin-off methodology behind it. How does the university know when a scientific idea can become a company? How early should researchers be supported? What makes intellectual property investable? Why is deep tech different from conventional startup support? What is the role of HIGHEST? How does a company builder work? How do industry partners and investors enter the process? Most importantly, is Focused Energy an exceptional one-off case, or a proof point that TU Darmstadt and HIGHEST are building a repeatable deep tech transfer model? The question matters far beyond Darmstadt. Germany and Europe have world-class research.
• 4:47
  Joe Menninger: That is not the main problem. The harder question is whether we can systematically translate scientific excellence into scalable international companies that attract capital, build teams, work with industry and compete globally. That is why this interview belongs in the same Startuprad.io editorial lane as our conversations with leaders such as Steven Chu, Stanford professor, Nobel laureate and former U.S. Secretary of Energy under President Obama; Robert Langer of MIT, co-founder of Moderna; and Professor Detlev Riesner, co-founder of QIAGEN. The common theme is not status; it is impact. How does science become technology? How does technology become a company? How does a company become part of Europe's industrial and economic future? Professor Walther, sorry for the long introduction. Welcome to Startuprad.io.
• 5:42
  Thomas Walther: I feel very honored to be here. Thank you very much for having me.
• 5:47
  Joe Menninger: My pleasure. Before we get deep into TU Darmstadt, you have been at Texas A&M. What is your favorite memory from there? Do you still do Texas-style barbecue at home?
• 6:05
  Thomas Walther: I absolutely love Texas barbecue. I have very fond memories of Texas A&M. I had extremely nice and supportive colleagues. I really enjoyed my time there. Overall, it was 7 years, and I often think back to that time. I still have friendships from those years. Great people, great state.
• 6:34
  Thomas Walther: I truly enjoyed my time there.
• 6:41
  Joe Menninger: Let us dive into what we want to talk about today. Focused Energy recently became one of the most visible deep tech spin-offs from Germany. They became a unicorn. Beyond the financing round, what had to happen inside TU Darmstadt's ecosystem before a company like this could exist?
• 7:08
  Thomas Walther: First, I have to say that the beginnings of Focused Energy were before my time as vice president. The decisive step, I think, was a newly elected executive board, especially with President Brühl at the helm. Right from the start, she understood how important support for spin-offs, startups and ideas of this kind is to making things happen, and to getting this strategic emphasis on the third mission going. Especially in the case of Focused Energy, the essential part was flexibility: being willing to find solutions for emerging problems or the company's special needs. Markus Roth is one of Focused Energy's co-founders and one of our professors in the physics department. On the first or second day Professor Brühl was in office, he came to her and said, 'I have this idea. I want to work on it, and I want to reduce my time at the university.' This was not very common at the time, but Ms. Brühl—
• 8:35
  Thomas Walther: —made it possible. That flexibility, that understanding of the crucial role of universities as drivers of transformation, and that change in mindset were extremely important in making these initial steps possible.
• 8:54
  Joe Menninger: For our audience who are not familiar with Focused Energy: they are a unicorn-valued startup working on fusion energy, and they want to convert a former nuclear power plant site into a fusion energy plant. That is the short version. We can already tease that we have a founder of Focused Energy lined up for another interview coming in December. Taking a detour: you are a professor of experimental physics. Did you get to blow up a lot of stuff?
• 9:43
  Thomas Walther: My main focus is not blowing things up, but if you work in experimental physics, things break once in a while. Fortunately, that usually does not involve a big explosion. We are not chemists, after all. We do break stuff sometimes. It is unfortunate and, most of the time, pretty expensive. But it is a lot of fun.
• 10:09
  Joe Menninger: It is also part of the process. Let us get back to Focused Energy. I just had to get that question out of my mind. Looking back at its early phase, what made Focused Energy a serious spin-off candidate rather than just an exciting scientific idea?
• 10:29
  Thomas Walther: Solving the energy problem of the world, of mankind, is an important task. Fusion in general, and laser fusion in particular, promises to solve this problem. It is an intriguing idea. You have to take these ideas especially seriously because Markus Roth, one of the company's co-founders, is an incredible scientist. He has worked for a long time on this subject and in the general areas of plasma physics, high-power lasers, applications, target development and related fields. He has taken part in laser fusion experiments all over the world that led to some of the progress we have seen today.
• 11:22
  Thomas Walther: He has a lot of scientific expertise in the area. When he comes and tells you, 'I can solve this problem,' you have to take it seriously because his ideas have a solid scientific base. They do not come out of the blue; they are based on years of experience in the field. You can trust his ideas, and you definitely have to listen to him. That is why it was such an intriguing idea and something to take seriously.
• 12:05
  Joe Menninger: You have already touched on my next question. What were the early indicators that Focused Energy combined 3 things: the credibility you have discussed, a relevant problem—the world's energy—and the potential to become a scalable company? I think the last is of most interest to our audience here.
• 12:31
  Thomas Walther: Absolutely. I have talked about Markus's reputation in the scientific community. His ideas are presented at conferences, so he is open to discussion with his peers and to finding problems or challenges he has to solve. In science, it is important to lay out your ideas, discuss them and learn how to improve things. That is one part. Then there is the intriguing problem: solving mankind's energy problem once and for all. That is a huge step. And the third question—you are absolutely correct—
• 13:24
  Thomas Walther: —is the crucial part: how do you scale it up? Markus's experience is very important here, because he knows what he can do. He is involved in all the necessary steps: targets, lasers, optics and so on. When you talk to him—you have already teased your interview with him in December—you will find that he knows what he is talking about. He has well-thought-out ideas. Not everything may already be thought through to the very end, but he certainly has a clear path to scaling things up. In that regard, all 3 ingredients are there.
• 14:20
  Joe Menninger: We should say that this is something new and experimental. Professor Riesner said something great in his interview: 'If there is a market, it is not innovation anymore.' I think he has a point. This is at the edge of science. There will be setbacks and unplanned delays, but they are part of the process. You are working with TU Darmstadt. I think something like 20,000 to 50,000 people will listen to this interview.
• 15:00
  Joe Menninger: We can tell them that you have a very nice polo shirt with HIGHEST on it, and we are going into your spin-off methodology. What has changed at TU Darmstadt in recent years that makes technology transfer more systematic and less dependent on coincidences?
• 15:24
  Thomas Walther: We have learned a lot through discussions with Focused Energy and all our startups. We have roughly—not quite—300 over the last 10 to 15 years. We have made systematic, thoughtful changes to structures, responsibilities, personnel and the services we offer. HIGHEST is essentially our tech incubator for startups. These changes also came about because President Brühl pointed out that we need a clear strategic vision to make innovation and startups an important goal for the university.
• 16:21
  Thomas Walther: My predecessor was the first Vice President for Innovation. Before that, innovation was part of research. It had emphasis, but not this degree of emphasis and impact. Moving it to one specific person and combining it with international affairs also shows how innovation and internationalization go hand in hand. That was an important change in mindset, focus and strategy. Once the executive board's mindset changes, the next step is to change the mindset of the whole TU Darmstadt community. We developed our own strategy for the third mission and gave it a special name: xchange.
• 17:24
  Thomas Walther: That shows how unique and important it is to us. The next step is to offer more services, and that is where HIGHEST comes in. We offer mentoring, coaching and consulting for students and researchers who say, 'We have an idea and need help. Where could this go? Is it worth pursuing?' HIGHEST helps with early consulting, finding the business model, and the steps toward the first funding, which is usually public funding. There are many support structures in place. We have succeeded in spreading the word, so essentially the whole TU Darmstadt community knows where to go when they have—or think they have—an idea and want a sense of where it might lead.
• 18:50
  Joe Menninger: Public funding may be a little slow and less plentiful than private funding, but the big advantage is that you can get it very early through German policy tools. It is also non-dilutive: they give you money without asking for a stake in the company, which makes it interesting for early-stage founders. For your colleagues at other universities listening: how do you identify transferable technology inside the university, perhaps before the researchers themselves think of founding a company?
• 19:32
  Thomas Walther: Communication is vital. You have to get the message out that there is a service—HIGHEST in this case—ready to talk and listen to you. We have various schemes and events to help. Innovation Day is a fair for TU Darmstadt's ideas, innovations and startups. It happens once a year and attracts about 1,500 to 1,700 people: investors, companies, startups and students discussing the newest ideas. We also award a spin-off label to our best spin-offs.
• 20:34
  Thomas Walther: We have an xchange prize. These measures build reputation and awareness of innovation. HIGHEST is well known within the university, and we now also have the Startup Factory Futury, which we may discuss later. Researchers and professors are aware of these services, and quite a few already approach HIGHEST directly to ask whether their ideas could work. We have also established Innovation Scouts. Their task is to screen publications and talk directly to our researchers.
• 21:33
  Thomas Walther: They approach researchers and ask, 'What are you doing right now?' Through those conversations, they try to identify potential for new technologies and startup ideas and perhaps develop it. It is a two-way street: communicating that these services and people are available, and having people approach scientists directly. With students, there is still room for improvement. In engineering, many students have ideas and the mindset of wanting to invent something and perhaps found a company. In other programs, such as physics, that is not necessarily the obvious choice. We are trying to involve students through entrepreneurship classes, to show them that founding a company might be a viable career path. We also have an annual Idea Competition in 2 categories: students and researchers.
• 23:08
  Thomas Walther: The best ideas get a prize. This is another way to get the message out that we are a startup-friendly university.
• 23:22
  Joe Menninger: I think it is important for people deciding where to study to know who studied there and whether it is a startup-friendly university. Interestingly, I found out a few weeks ago that a co-founder of Kingston, the computer memory company, is a TU Darmstadt graduate.
• 23:51
  Thomas Walther: Wow. I did not know that, actually.
• 23:55
  Joe Menninger: He earned a degree in 1970, which may have been a little before your time. He had relatives in Germany, went there, studied at TU Darmstadt, and then went to the United States, where he co-founded Kingston, I believe. We have an article about him on our website. Sorry, I am taking detours all the time.
• 24:24
  Joe Menninger: Let us go back to HIGHEST. You said there is a process: bringing people with interesting ideas who want to found companies into a system that helps them form those companies. What is HIGHEST's role? By the way, you have an interesting Innovation Day every year. I think it is in late November or early December. I have attended a few times.
• 24:58
  Thomas Walther: It is actually usually at the end of October.
• 25:02
  Joe Menninger: Usually the end of October. I remember one in December that was very good. You came out of the event and went to the Christmas market.
• 25:10
  Thomas Walther: Perfect timing, then.
• 25:12
  Joe Menninger: Absolutely perfect. For your peers at universities who are struggling: how would we set up a company? We can call it HIGHEST, but what does this company do? How does it help someone move from 'I have an idea' to 'I can make this into a viable company'? Where do you support them, and where do you not? What have you deliberately left out?
• 25:43
  Thomas Walther: We are there to help and coach in virtually all aspects. That includes technology assessment: how good is the technology, and what could be a viable business model? We identify funding opportunities. Most researchers know how to get funding from DFG, the German Research Foundation, but not where to fund early business ideas. We help write applications and provide pitch training, mentoring, IP advice and connections to business angels. Sometimes people simply need encouragement, and we provide that too. When necessary, we even mediate within teams. We also coach them on whether their team is complete.
• 27:01
  Thomas Walther: Often it is 2 engineering students. They know their technology and the science behind their invention, but not much about marketing or finance. We coach them on finding people who complement the team. We are all human, and sometimes things do not work on a personal level. We have experienced coaches who can help resolve these frictions. That is very helpful.
• 27:44
  Joe Menninger: I believe Focused Energy's unicorn status had an impact on the university as a whole. I am particularly interested in how the perception of entrepreneurship has changed among students, doctoral candidates and researchers during your time there. I believe everybody at TU Darmstadt likely knows about Focused Energy now. What was the path to that, and how did you go about it?
• 28:22
  Thomas Walther: Focused Energy's success in becoming a unicorn has boosted awareness of startups and spin-offs even more. Overall, the perception of entrepreneurship is an ongoing process. There are always people who have not heard of HIGHEST. We pride ourselves on many people knowing about it, but that is exactly why we hold Innovation Day, the Idea Competition and other activities. We are trying to establish entrepreneurship courses as electives in every study program, so students can get firsthand experience. The Idea Competition is important because it has separate pathways for students and researchers. We also offer specific support for female founders. As a technical university, we have fewer female students and even fewer female founders.
• 29:44
  Thomas Walther: We have special programs to address that. We also have a very active student association that gets students directly involved in entrepreneurship, ideas and pitching. Together, these different measures help raise awareness of entrepreneurship.
• 30:19
  Joe Menninger: What does it mean in practice to treat technology transfer as a strategic mission of the university rather than an administrative task? I know you developed a particular model for bringing university IP into startups.
• 30:42
  Thomas Walther: When I hear 'ancillary administrative task,' I think of something that always follows one line: you do not go left or right. The important thing is flexibility. Each startup has its own needs and particular technical challenges. Our deep tech startups rely on complex, expensive technology and instruments, so they need continued access to the research groups they came from—for example, to use their instruments. We have to find ways to make this happen. And you are right: IP is a very important factor.
• 31:48
  Thomas Walther: To make a deep tech startup work, it needs the IP, at least in most cases. You want a model that is easy to handle, clearly structured, comprehensible to everybody, and ultimately a win-win for the university and the founders. Our model is IP for Shares.
• 32:24
  Joe Menninger: I find that interesting because it is often a point of tension for prospective founders: how do I get the IP to use in my startup when I do not own it? Many deep tech companies are built on that IP, but I feel it is still a bottleneck. What did you change to make IP transfer more startup-friendly and investable, and what triggered that decision?
• 33:12
  Thomas Walther: The person in charge of HIGHEST, our CEO, has founded multiple startups himself. He knows firsthand how important IP is and how crucial timing is. Whatever you do in IP transfer, you want to be fast, because technology does not usually move linearly; it jumps. If you have a good idea, the chances are fairly high that someone else around the world had a similar idea at the same time. Speed matters. The first thing we wanted was to speed up the whole process.
• 34:03
  Thomas Walther: Whatever we do with IP, we want it to be faster. The 2 common models are licensing and selling the IP to the startup. Either takes money out of the company's liquidity. Before I became vice president, we introduced IP for Shares. The university receives virtual shares in exchange for the transferred IP. No funds have to be transferred to the university at that point, so the startup keeps the money. The cap table stays clean because these are only virtual shares.
• 35:06
  Thomas Walther: There is no dilution for the founders as well. This is a good way to be fast without costing money initially. It is subject to negotiation when money starts flowing. For example, an exit can be one of the points at which money is transferred. Payment is shifted much further into the future. I should add that we offer all 3 models: IP for Shares, licensing and selling. A startup might choose any of them, and we have had startups choose each of these possibilities.
• 36:10
  Thomas Walther: For instance, a startup recently had an investor who did not know IP for Shares and found it strange, so they chose to buy the IP. The key is flexibility and speed. We try to create win-win situations for the startup and the university. I think we are pretty good at this now. It seems all our startups are happy with the way we handle IP.
• 36:45
  Joe Menninger: It can be a slow and complicated process. My understanding is that Focused Energy was the first case in which you applied IP for Shares. How did that happen? What was the model designed to solve?
• 37:10
  Thomas Walther: We wanted to be fast. In the beginning, Focused Energy was—I would not say speculation—but a very high-risk, high-gain situation. They wanted to get the company off the ground, and they did not want to spend money. That is why IP for Shares was the model designed for Focused Energy.
• 37:53
  Joe Menninger: Let us talk more about startups. There is a lot of startup consulting and advice on where to get public money. Why is ordinary startup consulting not enough for the science-based deep tech founders you want to encourage?
• 38:29
  Thomas Walther: Deep tech founders are usually very good at their technology. They know everything about their systems. But they may not know how to present it to an industry partner or investor because they lose themselves in the details. They can give a perfect talk at a scientific conference, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it does not convince an investor or business partner. This is why consulting and pitch training are so important. Some people are naturals: they know how to emotionally address the investor. Others do not know how to do that.
• 39:43
  Thomas Walther: Teams are often very diverse. Some have all 3 ingredients—finance, marketing and technology—while others do not. Our university is international, with about 30% international students. They are usually very happy to found a company, and more likely to do so than a German student. But a whole new set of problems can arise, such as their permit to stay here. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is individual and requires flexibility in consulting.
• 40:49
  Thomas Walther: You really have to be flexible in what you offer and what individual founders need.
• 40:58
  Joe Menninger: You also have a company builder. Can you take us through a theoretical, brief company-building exercise?
• 41:14
  Thomas Walther: Sure. The Company Builder is in its second round, so it is still relatively young. It is run by HIGHEST GmbH, which we founded alongside HIGHEST. The Company Builder has essentially 2 parts. The first is an extensive mentoring program. The mentors are not people from HIGHEST. They have years of experience founding successful startups or working in international companies. They have business backgrounds and know business models and pitching.
• 42:11
  Thomas Walther: They might say, 'Your idea is great, but have you considered this application in this market?' They coach teams in that direction. The second part is bringing them together with investors. The mentors and investors are not identical; we do not want conflicts of interest. The idea is to get them ready for money faster: bridging the gap between a great idea, founding the company and reaching the first customer. The Company Builder is designed to make that faster.
• 43:06
  Joe Menninger: In a moment, we move from the university's internal side of deep tech transfer to the external reality: industry partners, investors, market expectations, and the question every German university has to answer. Can excellent research become globally relevant companies without losing momentum, ownership or value creation along the way? This is where the conversation becomes bigger than Focused Energy. We will be right back after a short break. Hey, guys, thanks for sticking around. This is an unusually long interview for Startuprad.io, but we decided to keep going. Thank you. Let us talk about industry, investors and market reality. At what point should a deep tech team be exposed to industry partners and investors? Is there such a thing as too early?
• 44:03
  Thomas Walther: I do not think there is really a 'too early.' Teams should know what the innovation is about and the possible direction in terms of business model and market. Once they do, as soon as possible is right. We need NDAs in place so the parties can trust that knowledge received through these conversations will not be misused. Industry partners can consider whether they could be the first customers, whether the business model works, and how far away market readiness is. A scientist might say, 'This is ready to use.' In physics, speaking from my own experience, if a physicist makes something work, he says, 'This is ready for market.' Engineers then say, 'No, we need at least 2 or 3 years to make it into a viable product.' That is an important lesson for startups.
• 45:30
  Thomas Walther: Is my product or idea really market-ready? Contact with investors and industry partners should happen as early as possible. All these contacts and meetings are lessons for startups. They provide valuable input: what do we need to change in our pitch, in the market we target, and so on? That is important.
• 46:10
  Joe Menninger: What role do industry partners play in translating scientific technology into market-relevant products and companies?
• 46:24
  Thomas Walther: They provide valuable input and ask founders questions: can your product do this or that? Is it suitable for this application? They have a better view of the market as a whole, business models and scale-up pathways. What would be a good way to scale? Milestone planning is important too. They can play a crucial role.
• 47:02
  Joe Menninger: We have already mentioned Futury. How does it bridge the gap between the university phase and the post-university, market-driven phase, especially at the handoff between HIGHEST and Futury?
• 47:20
  Thomas Walther: Let me give some background first. Futury is our startup factory in the Rhine-Main area, established in October 2025 within the federal program. It is a joint endeavor between the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and the Rhine-Main Universities: the University of Frankfurt, the University of Mainz and TU Darmstadt. Futury helps us bridge the gap into the post-university phase, leaving a purely research-oriented mindset behind and moving toward a business-driven environment focused on markets, customers, investors and, at the end of the startup journey, scaling. The idea is to cover the entire journey, split into 3 phases: Innovate, Create and Scale. Innovate is the universities' part. That is where HIGHEST sits for TU Darmstadt, with similar arrangements at the other universities.
• 48:43
  Thomas Walther: In Innovate, formats such as the Company Builder form the interface between universities and Futury. In Create, Futury picks up the startups and guides them further, again with experienced mentors, industry networking and preparation for investment. The next phase is Scale, where startups hopefully become grown-ups. The best case is that they go through all 3 stages. To make that happen, Futury set up a fund alongside Futury itself, which can provide funding up to a [unclear]. We are in a convenient position to provide some seed money for startups.
• 49:44
  Thomas Walther: Our goal as TU Darmstadt within the Futury ecosystem is to create 52 new startups per year by the end of the 5-year period, when Futury's funding is over.
• 50:02
  Joe Menninger: You want to start a startup, on average, every week of the year?
• 50:07
  Thomas Walther: Correct. That is the goal. The important part of Futury is that, together with the universities, we cover the entire journey: from the earliest university idea to initial coaching, funding and founding, then industry partners and networking opportunities, and ultimately scaling and growth.
• 50:38
  Joe Menninger: Let us move to part 6 of our interview. I will try to tease out of you whether Focused Energy is repeatable.
• 50:48
  Thomas Walther: I certainly hope so.
• 50:52
  Joe Menninger: Okay, this part of the interview is done. We are good. Is Focused Energy an exception, or evidence that Darmstadt can systematically produce more internationally relevant deep tech companies? What do you think?
• 51:07
  Thomas Walther: In a way, both. Why is it an exception? We covered this in the beginning: solving mankind's energy problem is a huge challenge. As we discussed, it will take time before Focused Energy's ideas become a product—a laser fusion power plant. If I remember correctly, Focused Energy is planning for around 2037 to have its first laser-fusion-based power plant. That is a long time. A lot of money is needed to cover the necessary steps, and in some cases further research is still needed. In that regard, it is exceptional.
• 52:13
  Thomas Walther: It is a huge problem requiring huge amounts of money and still some research. On the other hand, we have a pipeline of promising deep tech startups with the opportunity to grow into something very big, including more unicorns. Predicting unicorns is difficult. But our researchers at TU Darmstadt are incredibly creative and ingenious, so I am pretty sure similar success can be repeated.
• 52:59
  Joe Menninger: That is interesting. Which parts of the Focused Energy story are unique to fusion, and which are repeatable for other deep tech spin-offs? What methodology have you learned from spinning off Focused Energy?
• 53:35
  Thomas Walther: Fusion is a special case because it requires a lot of money and time. But each of our deep tech startups, including the promising ones I mentioned, is different. You need flexibility. That is the key. You have to support different startups and ideas in completely different areas. Each needs an individual solution. What matters is being willing to find that solution.
• 54:35
  Thomas Walther: Flexibility is probably the most important lesson we learned. Another important point, which we touched on, is that every deep tech startup has a scientific base. That base has to be solid. If it is not, it will never scale; it is bound to fail. Our researchers and founders must remain willing to discuss their work with peers, find possible flaws and develop solutions. That is really important.
• 55:34
  Joe Menninger: Flexibility in German public institutions is a great idea. I really hope you can make it work. You have mentioned promising startups in the current cohort. What did you learn from Focused Energy and this next cohort that can help the next generation of deep tech founders?
• 56:06
  Thomas Walther: Believe in your ideas. Be confident in your ability to overcome obstacles and challenges, and work hard to make your dreams a reality. Also—and Markus Roth is particularly good at this—assemble the right team. These deep tech startups only work if the team is good.
• 56:36
  Joe Menninger: You cannot do it alone, especially with a topic as big as fusion energy. Let us go to the last part I prepared: the European Deep Tech Transfer Challenge. We have established that German and European universities produce excellent science. For example, a German research institute came up with MP3. Why has translating that into globally scaled companies often been harder than the science itself?
• 57:16
  Thomas Walther: That is an excellent question. Europe and Germany do an excellent job in terms of scientific publications per scientist. But when you look at the companies originating from those results, we lag behind globally, especially compared with the U.S. and some other countries. One explanation—but certainly not the only one—is the availability of venture capital. Deep tech is expensive, and you need enough venture capital. What I think is even more critical is concentrating on opportunities rather than risks. Society needs that shift in mindset. We need to embrace new technologies.
• 58:30
  Thomas Walther: Embrace opportunities and run with them, rather than thinking only about risks. Obviously, you have to try to minimize risk. I am not saying everyone should found a company without a clear idea and burn money. But you must be willing to take risks sometimes; otherwise, you will never change anything. Bureaucracy is an overarching theme, especially in Germany and across Europe. If you want to found a company in Germany, registration sometimes takes months. In Singapore, it is a matter of minutes.
• 59:24
  Thomas Walther: That needs to change. Innovation, entrepreneurship and startups must be seen as important economic and societal benefits. There is already some change in mindset: innovation has become more important, and the number of companies being founded is increasing. That is a very good development, but we really need to reduce bureaucracy.
• 1:00:06
  Joe Menninger: You have talked about venture capital. Is that really the biggest bottleneck, or is it the early institutional process before companies are even fundable? We discussed IP for Shares, for example.
• 1:00:24
  Thomas Walther: You are certainly right, and you have a good point. Venture capital is not all of it. In the beginning, we need to be faster. IP transfer needs to be fast, and potential founders need efficient, good coaching. There is no question about that. But in the end, if you really want to scale, you need venture capital.
• 1:00:52
  Thomas Walther: You are right: it is not the only thing.
• 1:00:55
  Joe Menninger: Many people have been with us for more than an hour, and we have been recording for more than an hour. What do German and European universities need to change if more cutting-edge scientific achievements are to become scalable international companies? TU Darmstadt is not the only one doing this. ETH and Cambridge, for example, are also doing a very good job.
• 1:01:21
  Thomas Walther: In my opinion, there are essentially 3 things: be flexible; be cooperative; and be positive, creative and fearless. To illustrate: each startup is different, so be open to solutions in every case. Generate a mindset of empowerment rather than finding reasons not to act. That is the flexible part. Cooperative means working together, joining forces and being supportive. Do not look at another university in the same town as competition.
• 1:02:03
  Thomas Walther: Work together and share resources. That is important. For the fearless, creative and positive part: take on challenges, and consider competition an inspiration rather than a threat.
• 1:02:28
  Joe Menninger: One of my last questions was inspired by HappyRobot, a unicorn founded in San Francisco, although the team did a lot of work at TU Munich and UnternehmerTUM. They received EXIST funding, worked there, then went to San Francisco to start the company. How do you prevent deep tech companies from becoming international too early in a way that moves too much value creation abroad?
• 1:03:01
  Thomas Walther: Why do they move to the U.S.? There is a huge market, but California's spirit is also hard to beat. People are upfront, positive and willing to take risks. We need to create similar opportunities in Europe: reduce bureaucracy, perhaps offer tax breaks in startups' early stages, and provide frameworks for quick decisions, fast response times and challenge-based funding. The U.S. usually decides quickly. Here, if you want to try something special, it can take ages to get the green light. We need less bureaucracy and faster decisions in the public realm, so founders can do what they do best—be creative—rather than spend too much time on bureaucracy. Some bureaucracy is good.
• 1:04:30
  Thomas Walther: We do not want the Wild West here. But this needs to change. In my opinion, there are too many rules, including too many that do not make sense.
• 1:04:47
  Joe Menninger: What role should universities play in Europe's technology sovereignty?
• 1:04:54
  Thomas Walther: They can, must and, I am sure, will play a crucial role. Universities have the advantage that, by their nature, they do not have to produce products or make a profit from the very beginning. They can do science, and excellent science generates innovation. Universities are at the forefront of scientific and technological breakthroughs. They can ignite innovative thinking and initiate societal change, including through educating students and the younger generation. That is what universities are good at. Most are open to the best and brightest minds from all over the world. As I mentioned, TU Darmstadt is very international.
• 1:06:05
  Thomas Walther: They are breeding grounds for disruptive ideas and technology. I am convinced they must and will play a very active role in this transformation.
• 1:06:23
  Joe Menninger: Our last closing question, after our last closing question. After 1 hour and 10 minutes here on record, thank you very much. If we look 10 years ahead, what should a leading technical university be able to do that it could not do 10 years ago?
• 1:06:44
  Thomas Walther: This may be a somewhat German answer. TU Darmstadt became Germany's first autonomous university in 2005. That means we can decide many things ourselves without involving the ministry. This comes with a lot of freedom, but also great responsibility. In my view, we have done an excellent job balancing freedom and responsibility and have always been thoughtful in our decisions. Universities, especially technical universities, can benefit from the flexibility of autonomous status. On my wish list, I would like this model to be transferred to more universities. A lot has happened since 2005, and many universities have gained more freedom. But this is important because it enabled us to act autonomously, independently and in ways tailored to our needs.
• 1:08:15
  Thomas Walther: Reaching autonomy in 2005 was crucial. Funding must also be sufficient to give students, PhD students and postdocs the best possible framework.
• 1:08:35
  Joe Menninger: I agree. Professor Walther, thank you for joining us on Startuprad.io. The key takeaway is that deep tech spin-offs do not happen because excellent science exists alone. They happen when science is surrounded by the right system: one that identifies transferable research early, supports researchers before a company exists, makes intellectual property investable, brings in industry, capital and market reality, and treats technology transfer as a strategic university mission rather than an administrative side function. Focused Energy may be exceptional, but the more important question is whether it is accidental. What we have heard is that TU Darmstadt and HIGHEST are trying to increase the probability that frontier science becomes internationally relevant deep tech companies, repeatedly. For founders, investors, university leaders and policymakers across Europe, that is the real issue. We do not lack scientific excellence.
• 1:09:50
  Joe Menninger: The decisive question is whether we can build the institutions, incentives, IP structures and capital pathways to turn that excellence into global companies. If you found this conversation valuable, follow us in your podcast app, subscribe on YouTube, and share it with someone working in deep tech, university transfer, venture capital or European innovation policy. I would especially like to ask: where do you think Europe's biggest deep tech transfer bottleneck is—IP, capital, culture, speed or market access? Leave a comment wherever you are watching or listening. This is Startuprad.io, where professionals get the signal. Thank you very much for listening.
• 1:10:38
  Thomas Walther: Thank you.