Industry &
Regional Collaboration Program
At AI Natives, we don’t just build startups – we build connections between tomorrow’s AI-native founders and the forward-thinking organizations that will shape the region. Our Industry & Regional Collaboration Program aims to facilitate meaningful pilot projects between early-stage founders and regional partners in industry and public institutions.
Through curated “Problem Labs”, founders are invited to propose AI-native solutions to real-world challenges faced by companies and other regional actors. These labs are hands-on workshops where teams test, prototype, and iterate solutions in collaboration with practitioners, creating immediate value while exploring the frontiers of what AI can achieve.
Key features of the program:
- Pilot Projects: Startups identify regional actors to approach and co-develop AI-first solutions that address tangible business or societal problems.
- Problem Labs: Small, focused workshops where founders present AI-native approaches, receive feedback, and co-create prototypes with identified partners.
- Talent & Knowledge Exchange: Regional companies gain early exposure to cutting-edge AI capabilities, while founders understand sector-specific challenges and constraints.
- Regional Impact: Strengthens the innovation ecosystem in Leipzig and Saxony, retains high-tech talent locally, and positions the region as a hub for responsible, future-ready AI ventures.
By bridging early-stage AI innovation with established regional players, we turn foresight into action – creating solutions that are both visionary and grounded in real-world applicability.
Our program:
Hub Membership
At the heart of our program sits human-to-human collaboration.
For €100 per month we offer our members a focused surrounding where they don’t build solo, but with others immersed at the frontier. Once a month, before a hackathon or community dinner, the Hub hosts a shared 2-hour colloquium to exchange bottlenecks, test assumptions, and find solutions through collective ideation.
Foresight Sessions
A free Zukunftswerkstatt to assess your own AI-native potential until 2035. Facilitated for each founder or founder team to expand the possibility space and uncover potential bottlenecks, using tools from foresight, design thinking and future science.
Helps founders clarify their long-term vision, future market potential, and AI-native positioning.
One-on-one Mentoring
On-demand mentorship sessions for technical, organizational, or strategic challenges with either of the Hub founders.
Option to bring in external experts for topic-specific advice.
Coworking
Shared workspace (“AI Basecamp”) equipped with internet, a meeting zone, and a living-room-inspired prototyping environment in the heart of Plagwitz, Leipzig.
On-demand check-ins and light-touch coaching for any challenge.
School Incubator
An after-school (GTA) offer to raise future founders at Leipzig’s Ostwald Gymnasium.
Students are enabled to explore original ideas in small teams and approach real-world challenges by building AI-native solutions close to their lived reality.
AI Fridays
Monthly events and get-togethers where anyone can drop in to explore what’s emerging in AI.
Including discussions, resident speakers, hackathons, community dinners, and thematic workshops that bring together Hub members and AI enthusiasts across disciplines to highlight new ideas and developments.
Become AI Native
Sign in to our online learning tracks to start becoming AI-native today:
Free Online Course