👋 Johannes Hötter

Kern AI

At Kern AI, we're building the next-gen AI platform helping teams to collaborate and successfully implement LLM use cases.

Co-Founder & CEO

path2.ai

I founded path2.ai during my master's studies together with Henrik Wenck. We wanted to understand what problems companies face when implementing meaningful artificial intelligence. During this time, we helped organizations take their first steps towards AI, e.g. by implementing pilot projects or presenting AI in workshops. We also helped existing AI teams by providing insights into the state of research in computer vision, natural language processing, and document classification.

Founder & CEO

GAMBIT Consulting GmbH

Associate Data Migration Consultant

Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

Tutor Programming and Linear Algebra

My main goal at Kern AI is to help enterprise teams successfully deploy Large Language Model (LLM) applications in their daily business. 

To do so, I post regularly about AI best practices in theory, strategy, and hands-on use cases - and at Kern AI, we build the collaborative next-gen AI platform to put everything into practice.

At Kern AI (previously onetask), we aim to build a dev environment for AI training data with which we aim to provide both higher-quality and higher-quantity training data. If you are interested in how we do this, check out our website www.kern.ai

There's never been a better time to check out this resource. It is my #1 book on AI, all-time. It addresses so well-written how jobs/roles change if certain tasks become extremely efficient to be solved - which is what we're seeing e.g. in software engineering or medical use cases. Perfectly describes the scenario we currently are in regarding AI.

https://lnkd.in/eZGmdHFG

Geschäftsführer Kern AI (acq. by accompio)

English content on LI: "We deployed AI agents and here is what happened"
German content on LI: Another rant about Deutsche Bahn

Come on ...

European Defense Tech Hub

Bringing innovators together at the intersection of deep tech and dual-use in Europe through meetups, hackathons, and online events

Co-Founder

Future of Computing

Every week, I interview startup founders and industry experts working on the future of computing to bring you the latest insights from this exciting field. Every edition reaches a few thousand entrepreneurs, investors, and computing geeks.

Founder

Lunar Ventures

Lunar Ventures invests pre-seed/seed in computer science moonshots e.g. in cryptography, machine learning, databases, developer tools, and much more.

If you’re a technical founder whose struggle is to explain your vision to investors, we set up a fund for you. We invest pre-revenue to help turn your sci-fi idea into reality: www.lunar.vc

Venture Partner

It's been two incredible years at Lunar Ventures, where I've had the chance to learn a ton about VC and deep tech, meet many great entrepreneurs and fellow investors, and lead our investment in SemiQon – a Finnish quantum hardware startup, building silicon-based quantum processors for the million-qubit era.

Associate

Visual Ink Publishing

We are a publishing company based in Germany focusing on open-source publishing and open education

2hearts

Building tomorrow's tech society with cultural diversity: 2hearts is a community of people with immigration backgrounds from the tech scene (founders, investors, top executives) with the mission to empower great talent with immigration backgrounds to enrich Europe`s tech economy.

Community Member

Entrepreneur First

Entrepreneur First brings together extraordinary people to build startups from scratch in London, Singapore, Berlin, Toronto, Paris, and Bangalore. EF funds individuals and helps build co-founding teams, develop ideas, and accelerate through fundraising from the world's best investors.

BE8 Cohort Member at Entrepreneur First Berlin

University of Karlsruhe

Ph.D. at the Institute for Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics (TFP) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: www.tfp.kit.edu

PhD Student in Physics

Technische Universität Dresden

I began my PhD at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of TU Dresden within the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1143 "Correlated Magnetism: From Frustration to Topology", dealing with the phase diagram of chiral antiferromagnets on mean-field level. It involves both analytical calculations from quantum many body theory and numerical simulations based on Python programming. 

In the end, we are doing basic research investigating why some materials are magnetic while others are not and what sorts of magnetism do exist. This turns out to be much richer than one might think considering just ferromagnets such as iron, as some materials called helimagnets are hosting spin spirals or so-called skyrmions constituting topological structures. Investigating the properties of exactly these helimagnets is main focus of our research.

https://tu-dresden.de/mn/physik/itp/tfp

Completed my Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the age of 24, bootstrapping my own publishing house, Visual Ink Publishing, and interviewing startup founders and industry experts for my blog: 

www.future-of-computing.com

As a venture partner, I am helping Lunar Ventures invest in deep-tech startups shaping the future of computing, from novel AI chips to leveraging AI for materials development.

Generally, Lunar invests 0.5 - 1.5M at pre-seed/seed in computer science moonshots, e.g., in cryptography, machine learning, databases, developer tools, and much more.

– feel free to contact me via LinkedIn or email at mail@benjaminwolba.com

www.benjaminwolba.com

Benjamin Wolba

For the first time, we ran two European Defense Tech Hackathons in parallel — with over 500 participants and 49 teams across Paris and Kyiv 🥳

Last week, engineers, founders, and soldiers from across Europe came together to tackle challenges from swarm orchestration and stealth communication to counter-drone systems and GPS-denied navigation

The message is clear: Europe is building defense tech 🚀

Our ambition with the European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH) is to build a truly pan-European defense innovation network — and that means going everywhere, especially going to Ukraine! 

Massive thanks to our partners and co-organizers in both cities:

Nordic Air Defence, Farsight Vision, NUNC Capital BV, Alta Ares, Project Q, TYTAN Technologies, Bifrost Defence, D3 Venture Capital Firm, Synteza AI, Dignitas Ukraine, Pilotix, DroneAid Collective, Comand AI, Parrot, Proteus Group, Neurobus, Stronghold AI, Inflection, Lobby X, Calibrated, Moodro, Snake Island Institute, the National University «Kyiv Aviation Institute»”, and many more supporting us along the way

And to our co-organizers across both cities: 

Guillaume AUBARD, PhD, Antoine Bassoul, Fawzi ELGHAZOUI, Thomas Bernaudon, Vincent L., Alina Kizlevych, Akim Karpach 🇺🇦, Valeriia Kosiak, Uwe Michaelis, Nadiia Savchenko, Dan Kucherenko, Paolo Trecate, Viktoriia Honcharuk, Liliia Kysil, Helen Yushchenko, and many others 

We’ll keep going — from Paris to Kyiv and beyond — to test, deploy, and scale what matters most: 

Real systems that work and will eventually save lives.

eurodefense.tech | Fostering Defense Innovation for European Sovereignty | Blogging at future-of-computing.com

The Future of Computing Conference in Paris is a wrap! 🥳

Last week, we gathered computing enthusiasts, founders, investors, and industry experts for our third conference this year — connecting the brightest minds shaping the next decade of compute innovation.

Huge thanks to iXcampus for hosting us, and CDL-Paris, HEC Paris, and Elaia for co-organizing ⚡️

Highlights included:

 ⚛️ Keynote — Wolfgang Lechner & Magdalena Hauser (ParityQC) on scaling quantum innovation and protecting IP sovereignty.
 ⚡ Lightning Talk — Marie Lepske & Valentino Jadriško (Constructor Capital) on making successful quantum investments.
 💡 Panel — Ziyad Hanna (Cadence Design Systems), Catalin Adrian Tugui (HyperPV), Christophe Alexandre (keplertech), Vincent Bligny (Aniah) on how AI and EDA are redefining chip design.
 ⚡ Lightning Talk — Craig Prunty (SiPearl) on Europe’s path to energy-efficient exascale computing.

🚀 28 startup pitches across Quantum, AI & Compute Frontiers, and Photonic Computing — including:

Haiqu, Isentroniq, VIQTHOR, SPhotonix Inc, Nellow, IAD Semiconductor, Rhonexum, PROUD Technology, HyperPV, semiQa, Rhizome Labs, Aniah, HyperCIM Ltd, Neuronova, Neurobus, Ubitium, Coros Space, UNEEC Systems, FIORA5, Quantum Dice, ICON Photonics, Doors Photonics, LumiAIres Ltd, MoonPhotonics, LightSpring Photonics, Myriad4Sensing, and Flatlight

A huge thank-you to everyone who joined us — see you at the next one in London on March 24, 2026! 💫

Excited to be back in Warsaw for the second time this year — there’s a real sense of urgency around defense here 🇵🇱🦾

While some countries are still debating whether drones will matter beyond the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland recognizes both the strategic importance and the need for speed in developing modern defense technologies 🚀

This weekend, we'll gather engineers, founders, and mentors to tackle urgent security challenges—co-organized with Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR) and held under the patronage of the Minister of National Defence of Poland 

Our key partner, Nordic Air Defence, is leading a dedicated track on air defense, and Swarmer is joining as a hackathon partner with deep expertise in swarming drones. 

EY is hosting us, and we have strong backing from Expeditions, Orbotix, 17Tech Oy, FORT Kraków DIANA Accelerator Poland, DroneAid Collective, Pilotix, and Inflection

A lot of people are making this possible: Weronika Mystek, Paweł Huras, PhD, Zbigniew Liptak, Matteo Bertani, Konrad Sobczak, Aleksandra Pawłowicz, Sylwia Majek, Anna Reiwer, Andrzej Rościszewski, Sebastian Straube, Olya Bezverkha, Serhii Kupriienko, Bartosz Józefowski, Justyna Wilczyńska-Baraniak, Wojciech Niezgodziński, CIA, CFE, Jacek Markowski, Maciej Ziomek, CFA, Bartosz Niedźwiedzki, and many others 🤗 

If you’re building in defense, Warsaw is the place to be this weekend! 

And this isn’t a one-off initiative—it's part of an ongoing collaboration, and we're planning more events in Poland already for 2026.

Let’s build what matters  🚀

The “peace plan” was theater. The attack last night was real.

Last night, dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones targeted residential areas across the capital, Kyiv. 

Two people were killed. Twenty-seven were injured, including a child, following reporting by The Kyiv Independent this morning.

Neighborhoods woke up to shattered homes, burned cars, and families climbing out of shelters into debris. 

Stop debating how many points we can satisfy on the Kremlin’s wishlist — and support Ukraine so it can stop the ruzzian aggression

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

Winterthur war erst der Anfang – wir kommen 2026 wieder für den nächsten European Defense Tech Hackathon in der Schweiz 🤗

Available in any podcast player of your choice — many thanks Christoph Raethke for having me 🤗

Our first hackathon in 2026: the European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon

Excited to co-organize the event with Vidoc Security Lab 🦾

European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon

View company: European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon

European Defense Tech joins the European Critical Infrastructure Hackathon as co-organizers!

They bring advanced defense-tech expertise and a deep understanding of security, perfectly aligned with the hackathon’s focus on building resilient, future-proof solutions. Their involvement in organization will offer participants access to specialized knowledge, guidance and support.

We’re excited to watch their expertise shape the hackathon experience!

Secure your seat 👉 https://lnkd.in/dA_epQQB

There’s more to defense tech than drones

Two weeks ago, 14 of our EDTH alumni pitched at the New Defense Summit what they developed following our European Defense Tech Hackathons

After 20 European Defense Tech Hackathons, a new wave of defense innovators is taking shape across the continent 💥

Dozens of EDTH alumni kept building after the hackathons, turning their weekend prototypes into actual products and ideas into defense tech startups 

Fourteen of them returned to Berlin two weeks ago to pitch at the New Defense Summit—our annual gathering of founders, industry experts, and investors:

Lancelot Systems — battlefield imagery to train machine learning systems 
Bulwark Defense Systems — next generation smart munitions 
Muuv — hybrid remotely piloted aircraft for middle-mile logistics 
SentIRX — synthetic data for thermal imaging of landmines or UAVs 
Alpha Affinity — market intelligence for the industrial sector 
Sapper Intelligence — smart sensor module to inspect covered objects
Kolu Gears — friend-or-foe identification for the battlefield 
GutSee Health — phage therapy for personalized treatment of wounded soldiers 
Synteza AI — synthetic data and computer vision solutions 
SMAESH — communication infrastructure for the battlefield 
Postup Solutions — remote sensing system for AI-based object recognition 
yky.tech — affordable autonomous systems for small UAVs
Asym Dynamics — autonomous UAV interceptor  
Avientus — cargo drone for frontline logistics 

Huge thanks to Nordic Air Defence, Inflection, The Delta Campus, Pilotix, and DroneAid Collective for making this possible

There’s more to defense tech than drones. If you learn the terrain, your ideas can reach the soldiers who need them 🦾

But we have to act now!

The 2025 "war on drugs": the U.S. administration is continuing to kill alleged smugglers without trials — and celebrating it online with childish cartoons

Completely unhinged and downright sickening to watch

English should be an official language in all of Europe👇

Great piece by Magnus Hambleton!

CoS @Verda (fka DataCrunch) | VC @byFounders | Enthusiast

English version is out of my op-ed from last week, link in comments. 

In short: Sweden can expand the pool of talent it draws from by 100x, if we make it clear to the rest of the world that you can live and work here even if you only speak English. 

Right now, only companies like Lovable are able to attract international talent to move to Sweden. By making it known that it's easy to live here, we can make this talent available to more of our fantastic startups.

Oleksandr, an active Ukrainian soldier in the Air Defense Division of the 3rd Assault Brigade mentored at our London hackathon this September

Together with HELP99 and Resilience Media, we're now rallying with an initial goal of €35,000 to accelerate the work of Oleksandr and his unit 🚀

You met him at our European Defense Tech Hackathon in London this September — now it’s our chance to support him and his unit 🦾

Oleksandr, an active Ukrainian soldier in the Air Defense Division of the 3rd Assault Brigade, spent the weekend at our hackathon mentoring hackers, sharing frontline insights, and pushing everyone to aim higher.

A ruzzian missile strike destroyed his unit’s R&D facility, wiping out the place where they prototype, iterate, and build the means to protect the skies 

Now it's our time to support Oleksandr and his unit! 

Together with HELP99 and Resilience Media, we're rallying with an initial goal of €35,000 to rebuild and accelerate their work — and aiming higher if the community steps in 🚀

Contributions of €100 come with a limited Ukrainian-made #NAFO patch created by the unit.

If you want to back someone who showed up for our community and is building tech that directly protects lives, now’s the moment.

Stand with Oleksandr. Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦

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👋 Johannes Hötter

Benjamin Wolba

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The Battle

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Benjamin Wolba

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}👋 Johannes Hötter's LinkedIn Performance

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