TUM Sustainability Day 2026

Shaping sustainability together

At the opening event, TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann and Prof. Werner Lang, Vice President for Sustainable Transformation, emphasized the importance of cross-institutional and international cooperation. Elizabeth Tolu Ojo, guest speaker and Dean of the African Leadership University in Rwanda, also emphasized this importance from the perspective of the Global South and the African continent in particular.

President Hofmann said: “Confronting the climate crisis and related sustainability challenges may seem like a daunting task. But it is also an opportunity—an opportunity for innovation, cooperation, and leadership. And it is a task no institution can tackle alone. We can only succeed, if the world’s universities stand united. Not only by pursuing excellence – but by carrying joint responsibility to shape a sustainable future.”

Werner Lang also emphasized: “Isolation is not an option, fear is not an option. We can only overcome these challenges by working together. TUM Sustainability Day is therefore a day of communication and cooperation.”

In her keynote speech, Elizabeth Tolu Ojo addressed the fact that a lack of diversity and structural barriers continue to restrict access to leadership roles and that only inclusive, globally balanced teams can effectively solve sustainability problems.

Over 120 themed stands and more than 60 workshops, discussion panels and keynotes demonstrated the diversity of the topic of sustainability throughout the day. No matter if the focus was on sustainable raw material extraction, innovative building materials, a climate‑adapted campus, or climate‑friendly urban design — people were discussing, asking questions, explaining, and experimenting everywhere.

The motivation and inventiveness of students were at the heart of the Global Sustainability Challenge. The aim of the competition, which is run by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability together with strong partners — including TUM — is to inspire students at an early stage to develop their own ideas for sustainable solutions. At the same time, the program teaches the entrepreneurial skills needed to scale these approaches effectively. Over a competition phase lasting several months, the participants received individual support in workshops, showcases and mentoring programs.

In the final, 40 student teams pitched their ideas for a more sustainable future to an international jury of representatives from science and the venture sector. Six teams had particular reason to celebrate, as they were awarded first through third place in two categories. The CoolFish team from the Université de Lorraine took first place in the Sustainable Energy category with a concept for a solar-powered cooling system. This aims to enable communities in rural coastal regions to keep their catch fresh in the long term and thus alleviate food shortages.

PlaNX Sense, a team from the TUM School of Engineering and Design, won in the Adaptation and Resilience category. They are developing a platform that uses AI to predict bark beetle outbreaks seven days in advance with the help of satellite data, meteorological data and the analysis of pheromone traps.

Linked to the TUM Sustainability Day, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, TUM and partner institutions from all continents are continuing their joint work in the Living Lab Summit this year. The aim of this collaboration is to use universities as living labs for sustainable urban development in order to accelerate the transfer of knowledge into practice. At the summit, the partners had the opportunity to share findings, develop joint strategies and record the content, significance and continuity of their work in a joint declaration.

At the closing event, ESA astronaut and TUM alumna Samantha Cristoforetti and social entrepreneur Sara Nuru highlighted further facets of sustainability as part of the TUM Speakers Series. Sara Nuru spoke about her experience as the founder of a social business - a coffee company - and her organization that gives women in Ethiopia access to microloans. She motivated the students to dare to do things: “Making mistakes is part of life. So we miss out on opportunities if we don't overcome our fear of making mistakes. We have the potential to do things right and even do them better than the generations before us.”

Finally, Samantha Cristoforetti turned her attention to Europe's role in the future of astronautical space travel. Cristoforetti can look back on extensive experience in this area: she spent almost 400 days on board the International Space Station (ISS), including some time as the first female commander, and is an astronaut in the ESA astronaut corps. With this expertise, she spoke about the need for Europe to become more self-reliant in space in times of geopolitical uncertainty, but also expressed hope that space will always be a subject of international cooperation.

During her visit, Samantha Cristoforetti was also honored for a special anniversary: On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of her graduation as an aerospace engineer at TUM, President Thomas F. Hofmann paid tribute to her: “She is an alumna who maintains the connection to her alma mater and an inspiration for our students and other alumni.”

Looking back on her time at TUM, Samantha Cristoforetti said: “Studying at TUM was a great experience for me, not only in terms of engineering and my education. It was basically the launch pad from which my whole life has taken its course.”