It’s been a surprisingly emotional stretch in Germany these past few weeks. Between drastic shifting U.S. politics, the rising cost of living in our major cities, and recent isolated incidents that have rattled public sentiment, there’s a growing sense of urgency and determination in the air in my (mostly tech and Enterpise) surroundings.<p>What stands out most is how quickly this mood has shifted from anxiety to a “let’s build it ourselves” mentality. I see it in the new products and projects around me: there’s a growing effort to reduce reliance on the U.S. and carve out distinctly European solutions. In employment, too, we’re noticing an uptick in candidates who seem more interested in staying or coming to Europe —- something that was slowly happening since covid, but feels quite different from six months ago.<p>There could be a silver lining here. Despite the political and economic challenges, this could open up blocked opportunities for Europe to regain its competitive edge. Everything before was "there is a better, cheaper, available, from US", now enterprises don't trust their data off EU. If we can move beyond committee-driven decision-malkings fast enough, it might just be the catalyst Europe needed to reclaim and reinvent its place in the global marketplace. Maybe, who knows, maybe, the immidiate recommendation to a tech startup (non B2B) won't be "you need to move to SF!" too.<p>Personally, I decided against having a Tesla and went for a german brand this year, despite german ones being bad in tech UX. Maybe if soon there is a EU OpenAI/Claude level capable too.