Tesla CEO Elon Musk is certainly known for his entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his ability to work across industries to help resolve some of the world’s greatest problems.
On Thursday, Musk spoke volumes of German vaccine manufacturers CureVac CVAC.O, calling them one of the most innovative firms in the world, according to Reuters.
Musk was in Germany to meet with German politicians on Wednesday, ultimately to talk about plans to collaborate with CureVac in the future. During his trip, he also visited Giga Berlin and spoke with a few reporters there.
Tesla Germany designed & built the vaccine RNA printers for CureVac, but, subject to some CureVac IP, they could be made for other companies too
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 30, 2020
A Tesla subsidiary will be building mobile molecule printers, which will potentially create the COVID-19 vaccine which CureVac is currently developing.
Referring to the meeting, a person familiar with the collaboration told Reuters, “Musk and Altmaier agreed that CureVac, which is working on a new vaccine approach and which collaborates with Tesla, counts among the most innovative companies in the world.”
Speculation has also risen recently of Musk’s interest in buying stakes of CureVac, though investor Dietmar Hopp, owner of almost 50% of CureVac’s stock, said Thursday that this idea was “pure fantasy.”
Tesla is currently also erecting a Gigafactory in Berlin, which Musk stopped by on Wednesday.
Even without ownership in the company, Musk’s respect for and collaboration with CureVac further illustrates his ability to dip his toes into any market he needs to, and with relative success.
