The House of AI in HafenCity has quickly become a hotspot on Hamburg’s AI scene. It provides workspace for a number of sartups and hosts numerous events. One of the co-founders is Gunnar Froh, managing director of the scaleup Wunder Mobility. In the interview, he explains how the House of AI came about and what its aims are.
News
September 28, 2026
House of AI is the new hub for the AI community
The team of House of AI: Karo Junker de Neui, Vincent Klein,Yara Molthan, Bojan Jukic and Gunnar Froh © Etribes
Dear Gunnar, to start with, who is behind House of AI?
House of AI Hamburg is a privately funded initiative, founded in 2026 by Bojan Jukic, Vincent Klein and myself. Vincent runs the organisation as managing director, whilst Bojan and I jointly set up Wunder Mobility, where the idea first originated. The digital consultancy firm Etribes is on board as our first founding partner. We currently have 45 founders from a total of 28 startups working with us. Every week, our space hosts between two and five events on the topic of AI, each attracting up to 200 people. These events are organised by various initiatives and volunteers who wish to exchange ideas on AI-related issues.
How did the idea for the House of AI come about?
At Wunder Mobility, we are currently transforming the company itself using AI. In doing so, we’ve realised two things: the transformation happens much faster if you don’t do it on your own. And in Hamburg, there’s no place where people who are actually doing this can meet up on a daily basis. So, in 2026, we set up a space covering 1,000 square metres on the banks of the Elbe in the Elbarkaden that makes exactly that possible.
Gunnar Froh © Wunder Mobility
What are the aims of the House of AI?
Our vision is to safeguard freedom and prosperity in Europe by accelerating the responsible adoption of AI. In practical terms, this means bringing together founders, engineers, corporate teams, investors and people from the media, culture and politics under one roof, rather than letting them discuss AI in separate silos. We invest directly in founders from within our own organisation, connect them with investors and place talent from the community with companies that are on the cusp of an AI transformation.
What specific activities and events are planned?
We hold between two and five evening events a week, most of which are open to everyone. We organise these along three different lines:
1. Builder: build fridays, our regular series for anyone who builds things themselves, hackathons and much more.
2. Corporates and SMEs: AI Mavericks, in collaboration with our founding partner Etribes, for decision-makers who need to get AI up and running within existing organisations.
3. AI Meets Society: a quarterly evening programme focusing on politics, culture and the media, featuring leading partners from the creative industries. The first episode will be broadcast in a few months’ time.
Specific examples from the coming weeks: on 30 September, the launch event for ‘AI Mavericks’; on 1 October, the Deeptech Afterwork with Impossible Founders, featuring a panel discussion on ‘Shipping AI from Hamburg’; on 29 October, ‘AI in Finance’ in collaboration with PwC; and on 19 November, a meet-up on AI in fleet management.
