A Visit to Station F: The AI Scene in France

Earlier this year, part of the Nomad team visited Station F in Paris - one of the world's largest startup campuses. The goal was simple: see how the AI and startup scene operates at scale and bring back ideas for our own community in Dublin.

The energy at Station F is hard to overstate. From dedicated AI labs to founders building everything from agentic workflows to vertical AI, France has clearly invested in making itself an AI hub. The mix of government support, talent, and capital is something we'd love to see more of in Ireland.

What stood out was not just the density of startups but the quality of the questions people asked. Founders assumed you would discuss model choice, data rights, and go-to-market in the same conversation. That maturity is something we try to bring into Irish boardrooms where AI is still sometimes treated as either magic or a risk to ignore.

We spent time with teams building document-heavy products, devtools, and internal copilots. The pattern was consistent: the winners had narrowed scope, defined evaluation metrics, and treated human review as a feature, not a bug. That's the same playbook we use with clients at home.

We came away inspired. Dublin and Ireland have our own strengths - tight-knit business networks, a strong professional services base, and a growing appetite for practical AI. We're doubling down on training, events, and partnerships so that businesses don't have to fly to Paris to get a taste of what's possible.