Week 16: AI NATION Welcome Week, Quantum Hotspot Berlin

As a joint venture between two AI incubators, AI NATION brings together the Munich and Berlin startup ecosystems, providing AI startups across Germany with comprehensive support for their ventures. In this context, the current stage of the startup is irrelevant: AI NATION accompanies companies from their very first steps through to complex scale-up processes. Last week, AI NATION hosted the Welcome Days, where startups at various stages of development—including AI NATION GRANT and AI NATION ACCELERATOR teams—gathered from all over Germany.

Over the coming months, the teams will undergo an intensive program: The GRANT teams will focus on validating ideas, developing prototypes, achieving product-market fit, and recruiting their first test consumers. Meanwhile, the ACCELERATOR Teams will engage in a period defined by growth initiatives, optimizing efficiency and quality, increasing revenue, and strategic development.

AI NATION’s Welcome Week marked the official start of the upcoming development period. The event featured team gatherings, insightful Fireside Chats, and the ACCELERATOR Demo Night, where the Autumn 2025 batch presented the results of their hard work from the past few months.

This year, the regular networking event BarBQ, hosted by leap.berlin and OpTecBB e.V., coincided exactly with World Quantum Day. Every few weeks, this event brings together students, founders, scientists, and enthusiasts to exchange ideas on topics within the field of quantum science and industry.

As the innovation hub of BERLIN QUANTUM, leap.berlin—together with the Berlin University Alliance, Humboldt-Innovation GmbH, OpTecBB, and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology—is dedicated to promoting Berlin as a globally recognized, collaborative research community that drives innovation in quantum science and technology.

To achieve this, it is crucial that researchers and quantum entrepreneurs experience Berlin as a hub for an interactive and diverse scientific community with excellent talent development so that events like BarBQ are a vital cornerstone of this mission.