Collaboration on Climate Change, Health, and Entrepreneurship

TUM and Tsinghua Expand Flagship Partnership

TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann expressed his great pleasure at the expansion of the flagship partnership concluded in 2020: “At TUM, together with our partners at Tsinghua University, we share the goal of educating the next generation of leading scientists, societal and political leaders, and entrepreneurial talent – individuals who think unconventionally and bring new technologies into the world to effectively address global challenges. As leading universities, we bear the responsibility of linking innovation and sustainability.”

Prof. Luming Li emphasized: “The collaboration between Tsinghua University and the Technical University of Munich as world-leading research universities not only represents an exchange at the university level, but is also of great importance at the national and global levels. Universities have a responsibility to address the future global challenges facing humanity – tasks that no single country or institution can tackle alone.”

In the upcoming term of the partnership, TUM and Tsinghua are setting new thematic priorities. A central focus is the expansion of the Tsinghua–TUM Joint Center for Global Transitions, which addresses climate change, health, and CO₂ neutrality. The center is intended to serve as an interdisciplinary platform for research and societal dialogue – both digitally and at potential locations in Beijing, Shenzhen, or Munich.

In addition, both universities are planning targeted seed-funding programs and the establishment of a joint visiting professorship to initiate new interdisciplinary research initiatives. Innovative formats for the joint education and supervision of doctoral candidates are to be tested and further developed. Researchers from both universities are also strengthening their collaboration in multilateral networks such as the Carbon Neutrality and Energy System Transformation (CNEST) network. Cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship is likewise being expanded, for example through the established TIE² – Asian Venture Program.

In recent years, TUM and Tsinghua have built key structures that lend stability and visibility to the partnership – even in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment. With locations in Beijing and Shenzhen, as well as a strong Chinese student body of around 4,000 at TUM, the collaboration has become a resilient, institutionally anchored platform. It stands as a model for values-based, open academic cooperation that contributes to addressing global challenges.

A key role is played by TUM’s offices in China: The TUM Beijing Liaison Office is located at Tsinghua University and serves as a central point of contact for academic networking and project development. The TUM office in Shenzhen, based at the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS), particularly supports cooperation in research, innovation, and technology transfer in the Greater Bay Area – one of the world’s largest economic regions on China’s southern coast – and strengthens TUM’s long-term presence in China.