TUM Bridge-to-Innovation Grant: lab-to-market support for TUM food, nutrition, and agriculture spin-offs

TUM has an unusually strong School of Life Sciences (in Weihenstephan) with deep AgriTech / FoodTech / nutrition research. The Bridge-to-Innovation grant exists specifically to commercialise that pipeline - it's funded by a combination of TUM, Hightech-Agenda Bayern, and private donors interested in the food-and-agriculture space. Outside-sector projects apply to TUM Proof of Concept or other tracks instead.

Eligible activities centre on the gap between technical readiness and first commercial trial: scale-up of recipes/formulations, pilot-plant manufacturing runs, sensory/consumer panel testing, regulatory pre-submission consultations, food-safety certification trials, partner-customer pilots. Pure R&D doesn't qualify - that's the chair's research budget.

Application through TUM ForTe with: technology brief, 12-month work plan with milestones, budget breakdown (project + chair), commercialisation outline (target market segment + first customer hypothesis + IP situation). Reviewed by an internal Weihenstephan panel; decisions in 6-8 weeks. The €5k chair allocation is for supervision time, lab access, and equipment depreciation - not a hidden grant component.