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Deep Tech Entrepreneurship
In collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, the Deep Tech Entrepreneurship Bootcamp empowers our MBA Fellows to transform cutting-edge research into impactful ventures. In interdisciplinary teams, they tackle the critical stages of launching a deep tech venture.
From Lab to Launch
The Deep Tech Entrepreneurship Bootcamp supports the transition of cutting-edge scientific research into impactful ventures. From identifying high-potential markets to building powerful business models and pitching to stakeholders: This hands-on bootcamp addresses key challenges of launching a deep tech venture.
The participants collaborate in interdisciplinary teams, engage with experienced entrepreneurs, and gain practical tools to take their ideas from concept to commercialization. Around real-world breakthrough technologies, they
- explore the foundations of deep tech entrepreneurship with expert-led sessions on market exploration, intellectual property, and financing,
- build and iterate business models with direct feedback from seasoned instructors, and
- discover their founder identity and align their ambitions with venture goals.
The programme is a joint initiative of Collège des Ingénieurs and Max Planck Institute. It brings together MBA Fellows from Collège des Ingénieurs, PhD researchers from Max Planck Institute, and Master’s students from École Normale Supérieure (Paris).
Curious about how STEM PhDs transition into entrepreneurship? Our latest study shows that a notable 12% of CDI alumni with PhD have founded tech startups, with 59% launching within 5 years after the CDI programme.
» That was more than just further training—it was a necessary firework. I can warmly recommend this format to anyone willing to found a company, and especially to scientists. «
Batch 1, 2025
The Deep Tech Journey: 6 Modules • 2 Months
1
🗓️ October 29, 2025
📍online
→ Introduction & set-up of the course
→ Get to know your team members and professors
→ Q&A session
2
🗓️ December 17, 2025
📍Collège des Ingénieurs
→ Welcome & bootcamp overview
→ Deep Tech Entrepreneurship: Introduction & foundations
→ Project presentations & team formation
3
🗓️ December 18, 2025
📍Max Planck Institute
→ Founder identity: What are your goals & ambitions in entrepreneurship?
→ Where to play? Discovering most valuable market opportunities for Deep Tech
→ Deep Tech pitches & market opportunity ideation
4
🗓️ December 19, 2025
📍Max Planck Institute
→ Developing compelling value propositions & business models
→ Lunch Talk by CDI Alumni entrepreneurs
→ Introduction to IP management
→ Securing venture financing
5
🗓️ December 20, 2025
📍Collège des Ingénieurs
→ How to conduct informative customer interviews, understand customer data and develop customer profiles
→ Pitching a venture project
6
🗓️ February 2, 2026
📍 online
→ Final presentations & feedback
→ Reflections, discussion, and course closing
4 early founders' projects
from Max-Planck research
Scalable Brain Organoids for Research
MPI for Molecular Biomedicine
Nanodiamonds for Quantum & Biosensing
MPI for Polymer Research
Autonomous AI Lab for Materials Discovery
MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization
Smarter AMR Data & Early Detection
MPI for Multidisciplinary Sciences
Taught by two renowned professors
Professor Dietmar Harhoff is Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition as well as chairman of the expert committee for research and innovation that advises the German government. He also established the LMU Entrepreneurship Center and is in close contact with founders and startups.
Professor Marc Gruber is the former Vice President for Innovation at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, and a full professor at the College of Management of Technology at EPFL, where he holds the chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization.