Future power grids will be operating a large number of heterogeneous dynamical actors. Many of these will contribute to the fundamental dynamical stability of the system, and play a central role in establishing the self-organized synchronous state that underlies energy transport through the grid. We derive a normal form for grid forming components in power grids, that allows analyzing the grids systemic properties in a technology neutral manner, without detailed component models. We provide a first experimental validation that this normal form can capture the behavior of complex grid forming inverters without any knowledge of the underlying technology, and show that it can be used to make technology independent statements on the stability of future grids.