With Professor Jens Müller and Professor Tobias Reimann, the advisory board of Technologie und Gründerzentrum Ilmenau GmbH (TGZI) welcomed two new members from TU Ilmenau at its constituent meeting on July 13 in the presence of the center's shareholders, the Ilm district and the city of Ilmenau.
The TGZI forms a location community of technology-oriented start-ups which, together with partners such as the Ilmkubator Gründerservice of the TU Ilmenau and the Gründerforum Ilmenau e.V., supports, promotes and accompanies founders from the idea generation to the successful company. Because of the importance of the TGZI for regional economic and technology policy, the advisory board of the center consists of at least one representative of the Ilm district, the city of Ilmenau, the TU Ilmenau, a business enterprise and a tax consultancy.
"A network of good partners is essential for the work of the TGZI in order to support and accompany founders in the best possible way. This already starts in the advisory board of the company," says Mayor Daniel Schultheiß. In order to achieve this even better in the future, the advisory board has appointed two new members from science and industry, Prof. Müller, Vice President for International Affairs and Transfer and Head of Group Electronics Technology, and Prof. Reimann, Head of Group Industrial Electronics and Managing Director of ISLE Steuerungstechnik- und Leistungselektronik GmbH, in order to receive impulses from these areas and, conversely, to be able to have an effect in the areas.
With his appointment, Prof. Müller succeeds long-time advisory board member Prof. Klaus Augsburg, who retired at the beginning of the year. "Prof. Müller stands for transfer in action," says the chairman of the advisory board and representative of the business community, Olaf Mollenhauer. Prof. Müller himself would like to build bridges in the advisory board to strengthen the exchange between business and science: "As vice president and new member of the Gründerforum Ilmenau e.V., an association of committed entrepreneurs, scientists and students who, together with the TGZI, support the founders, I have a view of both sides and can thus further the interests of the respective sides." At the same time, Prof. Müller will also contribute the expertise he gained in industry after studying electrical engineering and completing his doctorate at the TU Ilmenau to the advisory board's work. "I'm looking forward to also being active in the TGZ advisory board in a networking and advisory capacity and contributing to the development of the region."
In the view of Mayor Daniel Schultheiß, Prof. Reimann also combines in his person many characteristics for which the TGZI stands: "He is a successful entrepreneur in Ilmenau who started with ISLE Steuerungstechnik- und Leistungselektronik GmbH at the TGZI more than 25 years ago, and at the same time he is an endowed professor at the university. He knows business and science very well and the associated challenge of turning an invention into an innovation."
Prof. Reimann himself is looking forward to contributing experience and impulses from his broad professional environment in which he travels to the TGZI advisory board: "As a university professor for industrial electronics, it is very close to my heart to get the feedback from industry into university education, especially into the master's courses, so that there the grounding through practice is there from the start and we can convey lively and application-oriented teaching." As a start-up mentor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, he also provides targeted support for students who want to start up their own business, particularly in the engineering sciences, holds lectures on the subject and establishes networks in the region. When asked to join the TGZI Advisory Board, Prof. Reimann did not have to think twice: "It is very important to me that young people find a motivating start-up environment and are encouraged to found their own company, but also to support them along the way.
The other representatives on the TGZI Advisory Board include
- Dr. Thomas Scheller, business promoter of the Ilm district
- Sebastian Poppner, business promoter of the city of Ilmenau
- Olaf Mollenhauer, founder of Kompass GmbH
- Cornelia Schmidt, tax consultancy
The advisory board is supplemented by two permanent guests, regional manager Christian Schmidt and the second economic promoter of the city of Ilmenau, Tino Wagner.