15 years of iTUBS – What has happened so far
The Innovationsgesellschaft Technische Universität Braunschweig mbH (iTUBS) was founded 15 years ago.
A good reason to take a look at its past, present and future.
by Burkhardt Nelius / Managing Director 2010 – 2020
The foundation
The year is 2005, September 15, 2005 to be precise, a Thursday.
Various personalities have come together to sign the deed of incorporation and the partnership agreement of iTUBS.
But one thing at a time.
How did it come about in the first place?
Some university locations already had transfer companies at the time, which had set themselves the task of promoting the dissemination of scientific research results to industry.
So it was the idea and the desire to set up a transfer company for the TU Braunschweig as well.
At that time, the observer was presented with a rather colorful bouquet of concepts, procedures and legal structures.
After the desire had matured in the Executive Board of the TU Braunschweig to strive for such an institution for its own location, those involved around the then Vice President and from 2005 President of the University, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Hesselbach, began extensive research. The aim was to find the most optimal legal form and organization.
There was a lively exchange with existing companies and, of course, with politicians, who ultimately had to approve the project.
This discovery phase lasted for many months and finally led to the “historic” date in September 2005.
It was clear quite early on that the TU would not implement this project on its own and the Braunschweigischer Hochschulbund (BHB), the non-profit association of friends and sponsors of the TU Braunschweig, naturally offered itself as a partner.
On September 15, 2005, the following gentlemen met at Pockelsstr.
14 in Braunschweig, the following gentlemen came together to sign the founding documents with the notary Dr. Jörg-Rainer Hens, who was present and notarized the deeds:
Heinz-Jörg Fuhrmann and its President, Dr. Gunter Dunkel, were signed by their Treasurer, Peter Behrbohm, and for the TU Braunschweig by its President, Professor Dr. Jürgen Hesselbach.
Also present were one of the first managing directors, Professor Dr.-Ing. Jörn-Uwe Varchmin and, by virtue of his office as Vice President for Technology Transfer, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Professor Dr. Stephanus Büttgenbach.
September 15, 2005 | From left: Mr. Hesselbach, Mr. Varchmin, Mr. Hens, Mr. Büttgenbach and Mr. Behrbohm (small picture of 2nd Managing Director Dr. Bernd Albrecht)
The purpose of the company was formulated as the promotion of technology and knowledge transfer between the Technische Universität Braunschweig and industry in all its facets.
iTUBS mbH moved into its business premises at Geysostr.
7 in Braunschweig, the office of the BHB.
The first TechnologyTransferCenters
At the beginning of 2006, various so-called Technology Transfer Centers (TTZ), now founded by professors at the TU, began to carry out R&D projects with commercial enterprises.
Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to determine the exact number of TTZs involved at that time.
In the first year of iTUBS’ existence, 14 projects were carried out with industry.
Development of the number of our TTZs and turnover (2006 – 2020)
The development of iTUBS management
August 2008 saw the first change in management.
Jörg Saathoff, Head of the Technology Transfer Office at TU Braunschweig, was appointed sole Managing Director.
There were further personnel changes in 2010.
From mid-March, two new managing directors were appointed to jointly manage the fortunes of iTUBS.
Dr. Michael Goldapp (Managing Partner of LINEAS GmbH) was to be primarily responsible for scientific and technical management, while I (an authorized bank representative in early retirement) was to be responsible for HR, finance and other legal areas.
In this and the following years, there were various changes in the organization and presentation of iTUBS, such as the introduction of individual cost centers for each project, a revised website, a new logo, etc. We also began to increase awareness of iTUBS within the TU and beyond. We also began to raise the profile of iTUBS both within and outside the TU.
Last but not least, this led to a regular increase in TTZ and turnover.
Managing Director and Chairman of the Supervisory Board from 2005 until today
Continuity
In 2012, the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board passed to Professor Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Reimers in October, who held it until March 2020 due to the current situation (TU). This long term of office proved to be absolutely positive for the joint development of iTUBS and guaranteed its continuous further development.
This was followed over the next few years by various personnel changes within the core company and a large number of changes and improvements, such as the current liquidity overviews for TTZ, an up-to-date pool of forms on the website and similar.
The business model was also continuously put to the test and adapted where necessary, but we will come to that in the next article.
Of course, there have also been occasional setbacks or projects that have not been economically successful, such as the e-car sharing project.
But such experiences have also made iTUBS what it is today.
On 15.09.2015 we celebrated the 10th birthday of our iTUBS with various guests at the Gastwerk and in August 2018 we held our first summer party.
Something that is unfortunately unthinkable under today’s circumstances.
iTUBS today
On February 29, 2020, as planned, I handed over the baton as Managing Director to my successor, Eduard Klein, in the presence of our Supervisory Board Chairman, Prof. Dr.-Ing. I am now devoting most of my time to my well-earned retirement. Mr. Klein has been the sole Managing Director of iTUBS mbH since 1 March 2020.
From left: Mr. Nelius, Mr. Klein and Mr. Reimers
In April 2020, the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board also changed from Professor Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Reimers to Knut Maywald (Chairman of the Management Board of Öffentliche Versicherung).
We are infinitely grateful to Professor Reimers for his active and benevolent support in recent years and wish him and his wife a relaxing retirement.
That was the past of our iTUBS.
You can find out how iTUBS is currently developing in the next article on 15.11.2020.
