Hessen on My Mind

When I checked on my site analytics recently, something strange jumped out at me: a cluster of readers from Hessen, Germany.

At first, I thought it was random. I don’t know anyone there. No LinkedIn connections. No professional ties. Just traffic, steady and real, from a place I hadn’t considered before.

So I did some research. And what I found made the mystery even more interesting.

Hessen has quickly become a hub for AI, technology, and governance. What do you know? That’s exactly what I’ve been writing about!

Frankfurt, already Europe’s financial capital, is now home to AI quality hubs, global tech firms, and regulators wrestling with the EU AI Act. Darmstadt hosts hessian.AI and one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers. Startups are rising fast — 237 of them by 2025, a 43% jump in just one year.

In other words: Hessen is where finance, AI, and governance collide. A perfect storm of money, research, and regulation.

And suddenly, it makes sense why someone there might be reading my work.

Still, it’s pretty wild to think about. That a blog I started in August is already reaching into this unexpected corner of the world. That someone in Hessen — researcher, policymaker, founder, or insomniac — is clicking through my notebook and experiments.

It’s enough to make me curious, enough to make me wonder who’s on the other side. And, honestly? Enough to make me want to book a flight.

Because if Hessen is the crossroads of AI and governance in Europe, then it feels like the right kind of place for these conversations to continue.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Danke, dass du meine Texte liest – und das aus Hessen! Mein Pass liegt schon bereit, und Duolingo läuft im Hintergrund. Vielleicht kreuzen sich unsere Wege ja wirklich irgendwann.