Dr. Alessandro Golkar joined TUM on September 1st, 2022, as Professor, Chair of Spacecraft Systems, within the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy. Dr. Golkar focuses on space systems engineering, technology management, and space entrepreneurship. He previously covered roles across industry and academia including as Vice President in the Technology Planning and Roadmapping organization of the AIRBUS CTO (Toulouse, France), and Space Center Director at Skoltech (Moscow, Russia). He is the lead author of the New Space Economy online course of MIT Professional Education in the US, where he serves as a Visiting Senior Instructor. Dr. Golkar strongly supports the nucleation of entrepreneurial ideas in space technology by focusing research and education towards innovation goals. Two startup companies (now operating across the US and Europe) were founded by alumni of his laboratory (Golbriak Space OÜ in Estonia, and Near Space Labs in US and Europe). He serves as an Advisor to SpaceSense.AI in France and to a space-focused investment fund in Luxembourg. He is an angel investor to space startups in Europe and in the US. Dr. Golkar holds a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, an Executive MBA from Quantic Institute of Technology, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.