Munich Network was founded in 1984 by Siemens and Philips, among others, under the name "Förderkreis Neue Technologien" (FNT). The goal was to strengthen the European microelectronics industry against the then-dominant competition from America and Japan. To this end, technology transfer offices and an endowed chair for computer science were established at the Technical University of Munich.
In 1995, Munich entrepreneurs such as Eberhard Färber, Joachim Milberg, Falk Strascheg, and Gerhard Kratzer took the initiative to reshape the association according to the venture innovation model from Silicon Valley. With the goal of developing the Munich region into a global venture tech startup center, the FNT, later given its final name, ran the "Munich Business Plan CompetitionSince 1996, Curt Winnen has been managing the network. Munich Startup recently honored him at the Networking event TecEve can interview.
“Munich Network sees its mission fulfilled”
In 2005, the association shifted its focus to serving as a matchmaker between startups and corporates in innovation processes. In recent years, numerous initiatives and institutions have emerged in Munich that have taken up and further developed the topics initiated by Munich Network. For the network, Munich Startup is one of them. The association states:
“Against this overall backdrop, Munich Network sees its mission fulfilled and creates space for new initiatives to build strong partnerships for scalable growth projects in the technology industry.”
