Europe's Journey to Tech Autonomy

Europe's Journey to Tech Autonomy

From EU-Startups Podcast by Thomas Ohr

March 26, 2026 · 28 min · Episode 164

About this episode

Jan Oberhauser discusses the creation of n8n and the importance of tech autonomy in Europe.

In this interview, Jan Oberhauser, Founder and CEO of n8n, talks about how a personal frustration with repetitive coding led him to build one of Europe’s best-known workflow automation platforms. From the early pain point of constantly rewriting the same code to creating a fair-code automation tool used by developers and enterprises worldwide, Jan shares the thinking behind n8n and the principles that shaped it from day one. Jan explains the meaning behind the company’s unusual name, why openness and community-driven technology matter, and how flexibility, self-hosting, and control over data have become major priorities for businesses, especially in Europe. He also discusses why companies want to avoid being locked into a single model, provider, or ecosystem as AI adoption accelerates. The interview also looks at the broader AI landscape, including Europe’s position compared to the US and China, the areas where the region still needs to improve, and what may separate long-term winners from the flood of startups building “just another AI tool”. Beyond company building, Jan also reflects on surprising use cases of n8n, how users have stretched the platform in unexpected directions…

People in this episode

Host: Thomas Ohr

Guest: Jan Oberhauser

Topics covered

  • workflow automation
  • AI landscape
  • data ownership
  • community-driven technology
  • entrepreneurship
  • tech autonomy

Keywords

  • n8n
  • workflow automation
  • AI adoption
  • data control
  • self-hosting
  • entrepreneurship
  • fair-code

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: n8n

Places: Europe, US, China

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