Anyone who thinks of the Bundeswehr thinks of camouflage, discipline and order. I asked myself: How does a start-up lesson at the Bundeswehr University in Munich really work?
Editor Fiona Mathewson visiting the Bundeswehr University in Munich. Lisa Kempke (start-up scene), University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich
Anyone who thinks of the Bundeswehr has camouflage, discipline and order in mind. To a large extent, this is even the case at the University of the Armed Forces: the students walk through the halls in uniform, everything is well structured – typically the Armed Forces. But there are also places where the opposite is the case. You can also talk in between. Trade in the uniform for jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers. As in the rooms of the start-up center of the Bundeswehr University in Munich. It’s been around since 2019 and has the hip name “Founders @unibw”.
I asked myself: How does a start-up lesson at the Bundeswehr University in Munich actually work? Here the students learn typical startup knowledge such as business plans, funding and networks. The first thing I wanted to do was look at a course on Design Thinking.
The ID check
However, the first thing I see when I reach the university is a sentry box. Inside sit soldiers who watch who enters and leaves the military compound. The entire campus of the university is also fenced off. Behind them are young people in camouflage uniforms. It’s a bit unusual from a civilian perspective. So that I can set foot on the premises, the soldiers at the entrance check my ID – and they do so very carefully. They notice that my ID card is only valid for a few more days.
The grounds of the Bundeswehr University are fenced in and strictly guarded. start-up scene
Anyone who aspires to be a soldier can pursue a variety of career paths. If you sign up for several years, attending the Bundeswehr University is a must – and an integral part of an officer’s career. There are also civil students at the university, but the proportion is comparatively small.
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A few hundred meters as the crow flies from the entrance gate, Christopher Kearney lectures on the subject of design thinking. The contrast between the entrance area with the protective fence and the start-up center could not be greater. The professor addresses the students on first-name terms, the students address their professor on first-name terms, who attracts attention with his bright orange cap on his head.
Christopher Kearney is a lecturer at the Bundeswehr University in Munich and teaches design thinking, among other things.
In his courses, Kearney thinks along with the students about the problems that need to be solved within the Bundeswehr – but also outside of it. And then lets them build prototypes. For example, a new radio attachment system on the soldier’s uniform to make it easier to attach and detach. “When you’re on a march, you’re carrying an M36 in one hand and you have to fumble around with the other hand to get your radio out of your pocket, it just sucks,” explains one student of the idea.
Anyone starting a business at the Bundeswehr University in Munich has access to laboratories and equipment.
What surprised me in the Design Thinking class: Here, a course on a startup topic is not that different from other universities. I hardly have to think about the fact that I am on a military site that is heavily guarded. Except when course participants talk about ideas that affect their everyday life as a soldier. Because officer candidates of all kinds sit here: navy, army, air force.
Anyone who wants can let off steam. For example in a workshop like this one on the grounds of the Bundeswehr University in Munich. start-up scene
Defense is no longer a dirty subject
Startup and defense is no longer a sleazy topic in general discourse. The war in Ukraine prompted NATO to set up a billion-dollar fund. International VC Sequoia Capital is investing millions in a defense tech startup for the first time. Project A, a well-known Berlin VC, is committed to Florian Seibel’s drone startup Quantum Systems, which is supposed to help the Ukrainian military in the fight against the Russian invasion.
There are founders who have made a name for themselves in the startup world and can look back on a Bundeswehr past. In addition to Florian Seibel from the drone startup Quantum Systems, for example Fabian Schmitt, who now builds AI software for autonomous aircraft with his startup Hattec – or Sascha Soyk from Govradar, who wants to use his tool to accelerate procurement for the German Armed Forces.
Perhaps one of the participants in Professor Christopher Kearney’s course will dare to found a startup one day. For example after completing your military career – or already during it? Anyway, I’m curious.
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