INNOVATIONSGESELLSCHAFT TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT BRAUNSCHWEIG MBH

Their core work

iTUBS is the innovation and technology transfer company of TU Braunschweig, one of Germany's leading technical universities. They specialize in satellite systems, spaceborne sensor networks, and autonomous aerial monitoring for environmental and maritime applications. Their work bridges university research and commercial space technology — developing satellite swarm architectures, high-speed satellite data processing chains, and unmanned aerial systems for coastal surveillance. As an SME spin-off of a major research university, they translate academic space engineering expertise into fundable, application-ready projects.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

iTUBS started with participation in a training network on autonomous UAVs for marine monitoring (MarineUAS, 2015), then moved into a leadership role coordinating satellite swarm networks (S3NET, 2016) and scalable satellite data processing (S4Pro, 2018). The trajectory shows a clear shift from airborne systems toward spaceborne platforms, and from participation to coordination. Over time, they have also moved from pure research training toward more application-oriented satellite infrastructure projects with environmental monitoring dimensions.

iTUBS is moving toward operational satellite data infrastructure, suggesting future work will focus on processing chains and downstream Earth observation services rather than fundamental sensor research.

How they like to work

iTUBS predominantly leads projects — they coordinated 2 out of 3 H2020 projects, indicating confidence in managing EU consortia despite being a small company. With 21 unique partners across 10 countries from just 3 projects, they build broad, diverse consortia rather than relying on a fixed set of repeat partners. This makes them an accessible and well-connected coordinator for new partners looking to enter European space research collaborations.

Despite only three projects, iTUBS has assembled a remarkably wide network of 21 partners across 10 countries, averaging 7 partners per project. This suggests strong connections across the European space and remote sensing community.

What sets them apart

iTUBS occupies a distinctive niche as a university-linked innovation SME that can coordinate EU space projects — combining the academic depth of TU Braunschweig with the agility of a private company. Their specific combination of satellite swarm design, high-speed data processing, and environmental monitoring applications is uncommon among German space SMEs. For consortium builders, they offer a coordinator who understands both the research and the commercialization side of space technology.

Highlights from their portfolio

• S4Pro
  Their largest funded project (EUR 670,520) as coordinator, focused on scalable satellite processing — represents their most mature and application-oriented work.
• S3NET
  Coordinated a satellite swarm sensor network project, demonstrating ambition in multi-satellite architectures and their ability to lead space-focused consortia.
• MarineUAS
  An MSCA training network linking autonomous aerial systems to marine monitoring — shows their connection to the academic training pipeline at TU Braunschweig.