In this episode of Bright Founders Talk at Temy, we speak with Gerhard Kürner, Founder and CEO of 506.ai, about his long journey through technology, entrepreneurship, and artificial intelligence. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs and discovering computers as early as 1983, Gerhard built a career around one central question: how can technology help people do their jobs better?

Before launching 506.ai in January 2020, he spent 15 years in Austria’s technology and steel industry, gaining firsthand experience in growth, acquisitions, and digital transformation. Starting an AI company just months before the pandemic was anything but easy, especially at a time when artificial intelligence was still seen by many as a niche topic for specialists. Yet Gerhard saw early that AI would become a critical force for business competitiveness, innovation, and strategic independence.

In the interview, he also discusses Choose European, the nonprofit initiative he co-founded to raise awareness about Europe’s dependence on US technology providers. His message is clear: European technology companies do not only need funding or talent; they need customers, contracts, and stronger support from European businesses. This conversation offers a thoughtful look at AI, digital sovereignty, and the practical steps Europe can take to build a more resilient technology ecosystem.

Europe’s Tech Wake-Up Call: Stop Depending, Start Buying

For Gerhard, technology was never just a career move — it was almost part of the family DNA. His parents were entrepreneurs, his grandparents were entrepreneurs, and by 1983 he was already sitting in front of his first computer, long before many of today’s tech teams were even born. That early curiosity turned into a long career across startups, small companies, and major corporations, including 15 years in Austria’s largest technology and steel company. During that time, he watched the business grow from €3.5 billion to €12 billion, living through acquisitions, expansion, and the kind of corporate transformation that teaches you how technology really works when the stakes are high.

Then came 2020. Gerhard founded 506.ai in January, and just three months later the world shut down. It was hardly the perfect moment to launch an AI company, especially when AI was still widely seen as something “for nerds” rather than a serious business tool. But that is exactly where Gerhard’s story gets interesting: he had already spent decades thinking about one simple question — how can technology help people do their jobs better? For him, AI was not a buzzword or a trend waiting to explode; it was a practical tool that businesses would eventually need to understand, adopt, and trust.

That same practical mindset led him to co-found Choose European with André Redding from Norway. From the Austrian mountains to the Norwegian mountains, they both saw the same problem: Europe had become far too dependent on US technology, especially in cloud and AI. Gerhard is clear that this is not about being “against” American companies — it is about reducing dependency and giving European tech companies a real chance to compete. As he puts it, “They need sales, they need contracts, they need orders.” And that is the heart of his message: Europe does not only need more funding, more speeches, or more innovation programs. It needs European companies to actually buy European technology.

Europe Doesn’t Have a Talent Problem — It Has a Buying Problem

Gerhard doesn’t hesitate when asked why Europe, despite all its engineering brilliance, keeps falling behind the US in tech. In his view, the problem is not talent — Europe has plenty of that. The real trouble starts when good ideas hit a wall of unclear regulation, fragmented markets, and a business culture that still treats startups like risky side projects rather than serious innovation partners. He has seen this up close after more than a thousand AI meetings with enterprises, where the same pattern keeps appearing: everyone is interested, everyone sees the potential, but too many companies freeze when it is time to actually move.

For Gerhard, one of Europe’s biggest myths is the idea that it already operates as one huge market of 450 million people. On paper, maybe. In reality, building and scaling a company across borders can still feel painfully local, slow, and bureaucratic. He compares this with the US, where startups often move fast first and clean up the details later, while in Austria or Germany, getting the details wrong too early can punish a founder before the company has even had a chance to breathe. But the deeper issue is even simpler: European enterprises rarely buy from startups. And without real customers, even the smartest technology companies struggle to grow. As Gerhard puts it, “People should buy from technology companies in Europe.”

Still, he is not interested in painting Europe as hopeless. In fact, the most exciting part of his answer comes when he talks about the second generation of founders — the people who have already built, scaled, sold, and learned the hard lessons. When those founders come back as investors, mentors, and angel backers, the ecosystem finally starts to move. He points to places like Munich and Paris, where the startup mindset has become contagious, and to examples in Austria where successful founders reinvest their experience into the next wave of companies. That, for Gerhard, is where the flywheel begins: founders build, exit, return, and help others go further. Europe does not need to copy Silicon Valley completely — but it does need to make ambition feel normal.

AI Isn’t Just Software — It’s Europe’s Next Power Grid

Gerhard doesn’t treat AI like another shiny tech trend. For him, it is already turning into a strategic infrastructure layer — something closer to electricity, railways, or highways than a simple software tool. The question is no longer just who has the smartest chatbot or the biggest model. It is about who controls the models, the cloud, the data centers, the compute power, and the access. And that is where Europe’s situation gets uncomfortable. When the most powerful AI systems are built, hosted, and restricted elsewhere, Europe is not just buying tools — it is depending on someone else’s rules.

Still, Gerhard is not saying Europe needs to win every race by building the biggest model on the planet. In fact, he points to companies like Mistral as proof that Europe can be smart, focused, and highly competitive in specialized AI. The real challenge is deeper: Europe needs the full chain behind AI, from cloud infrastructure to energy supply. Without enough power, data centers cannot be built. Without data centers, compute becomes scarce. Without compute, even the best ideas stay trapped on paper. That is why one of his sharpest lines lands so well: “Intelligence will be a commodity.” In other words, AI will become something every company needs — but only those with the infrastructure will be able to use it freely.

When asked whether Europe can ever have its own Silicon Valley, Gerhard pushes back on the idea of copying America. Europe does not need a Silicon Munich or Silicon Paris pretending to be California. It needs to play to its own strengths: deep engineering talent, strong industrial know-how, and a serious manufacturing base. But that advantage is fading as China becomes faster, cheaper, and increasingly better in areas where Europe used to lead, from trains to cars. For Gerhard, the answer is not panic — it is action. Stop sending so much money to foreign platforms by default. Spend more time finding European alternatives. Buy from European technology companies. And most importantly, bring AI directly into the industries that built Europe’s success in the first place.

The AI Train Is Leaving — and 506.ai Wants Companies On Board

506.ai was born from a very real gap Gerhard saw in the market: companies were curious about AI, but most tools felt either too consumer-focused, too risky, or too difficult to bring into serious business environments. Mid-sized companies, public institutions, healthcare providers, financial firms, and HR teams all had the same concern — they wanted the benefits of AI, but without throwing sensitive data into platforms they could not fully control. So 506.ai set out to build something different: a secure, independent, easy-to-use AI platform that helps teams work with AI agents and automation without needing deep technical knowledge.

What makes Gerhard’s view refreshing is that he does not romanticize AI adoption. He knows most employees are not sitting around dreaming about models, context windows, or the latest tech buzzwords. They are busy, overloaded, and willing to give a new tool maybe ten minutes before deciding whether it is useful or just another distraction. That is why 506.ai focuses not only on technology, but also on templates, consulting, shared workflows, and practical use cases. The goal is simple: stop asking employees to “learn AI” in the abstract and start helping them solve real daily problems faster.

Gerhard compares AI adoption to a train waiting at the station. Companies can step in now, or they can watch it leave and try to catch up later. His warning is sharp because the speed difference is already becoming obvious: processes that once took 40 days may soon take one hour, and that changes everything from procurement to supplier negotiations. As he puts it, “The train will leave in five minutes.” For founders and business leaders, his advice is just as direct: build AI know-how inside the company, understand the difference between simple chat tools and real agentic workflows, create governance, and stop waiting for the perfect moment. In Gerhard’s words, the best time to start was yesterday.