Can Europe Win the AI Race Using Technology It Doesn’t Control?

Speed vs. Sovereignty: Europe’s AI Startup Dilemma

Debate Club and The Agora are hosting an intimate debate night in Berlin for people interested in AI, startups, technology, public speaking, and sharp conversation.

For our first event, we wanted to create something different from a typical panel. Something more alive. A room where people can think out loud, challenge each other, laugh a little, and leave with a sharper view than they came in with.

So we’re starting with a question that feels very real for anyone building, working, or thinking around AI right now:

Should European startups use the best AI tools available, even if that means depending on US and Chinese technology?

On one side, the answer feels obvious. Startups need speed. The best AI tools help teams build faster, automate more, and compete globally. If a tool gives you an advantage, why wouldn’t you use it?

But there is another side. Many of the tools European companies rely on are built, owned, hosted, or controlled outside Europe. That raises harder questions about data, infrastructure, dependency, security, and whether Europe can shape its own technological future.

So what matters more?

Speed, because founders need to survive and compete now?
Or sovereignty, because long-term dependence comes with a cost?

This is not a lecture.
This is not a traditional panel.
It is a live, moderated debate night where the audience is part of the room, not just watching from the side.

We’ll start with short opening arguments from invited speakers. Then we’ll open the floor into an interactive debate circle, with space for questions, challenges, arguments, responses, and people changing their minds.

You can come to speak, listen, argue, laugh, vote, or just meet people thinking about the same things.

No expert status required. Curiosity is enough. An opinion helps.

Expect strong arguments, humour, disagreement, and a relaxed room of people from Berlin’s AI, startup, tech, research, business, and public-speaking communities.

How the Evening Works

The evening will be guided by a moderator.

We’ll begin with short opening arguments from invited speakers on both sides of the motion. After that, the conversation opens up into a live debate circle, with space for audience questions, challenges, arguments, and responses.

You can participate actively, or you can simply listen and vote.

The goal is not to force agreement.

The goal is to leave the room with a sharper understanding of the trade-off, and maybe a few new people to continue the conversation with afterwards.

Who This Is For

This event is for people interested in:

AI and emerging technology
Startups and European innovation
Digital sovereignty and infrastructure
Public speaking and debating
Berlin’s tech and founder community
Meeting thoughtful people in a relaxed setting

You do not need to be a founder, policymaker, or AI researcher. You just need curiosity, a point of view, or the willingness to hear both sides properly tested.

About Debate Club

Debate Club is a live debate format that makes serious ideas engaging, social, and accessible.

Founded by Orsolya Toth-Pal, Debate Club has been running public and conference debates for five years and has worked with major startup, media, technology, and innovation events, including SXSW Sydney. Its first international debate took place at Panathēnea.

The Berlin event is hosted with The Agora, initiated by Doniyorbek Rahmatullaev, founder of LexHelps. The Agora is a new Berlin-based forum for thoughtful disagreement, sharper conversations, and community around the questions shaping technology, work, institutions, and society.

Together, Debate Club and The Agora are bringing the format to a new room of founders, builders, operators, researchers, students, speakers, and curious minds.

Agenda

18:00 to 18:30 Arrival, drinks and informal networking
18:30 to 18:40 Opening and format introduction
18:40 to 19:00 Opening arguments
19:00 to 19:45 Interactive debate circle
19:45 to 20:00 Audience vote and closing reflections
20:00 onwards Social drinks, snacks and networking

Contact the host of Speed VS Sovereignty - Europe’s AI Startup Dilemma