This past week, I began my internship here in Berlin. We had Monday off for a German holiday, which meant last Tuesday was day 1 for me at Vireo. On my way to work that day, I decided to stop at Starbucks and pick up a coffee – as any self-respecting American would do. It turns out, in Germany, Starbucks is not a coffee franchise of convenience for those on their way to work. In fact, they don’t even open until 7:30am here, as opposed to 5:00am or 6:00am in the USA. As a daily coffee drinker, this was certainly a bit of a culture shock for me. I waited outside for 15 minutes, and met a fellow American (I could tell, because he was also confused at Starbucks still being closed this late). Beyond the timing differences, it turns out it’s also quite uncommon for those in Germany to take a coffee to-go! The barista looked at me like I had 3 heads, but hey – at least I got my coffee fix. 

This week at work, I spent my time split across a few different tasks and projects. First, I conducted some research on the markets for physical AI, robotics, and industrial automation. This research has been important to gaining an understanding of the significant growth and developments in these markets, why these areas require high energy usage, and what might be able to reduce the energy used across these sectors. That brings me to my other task – identifying startups that first fit the fund’s investment criteria, and second that reduce the energy usage in applications of physical AI and robotics. As these markets grow rapidly with the developments of AI, it is crucial to invest in technology (whether software or hardware) that reduces the energy needs of various robotics and physical AI applications. I haven’t had so many projects that I need to prioritize one over another, but I have been managing my time across research, sourcing startups, and reaching out to founders to open lines of conversation. Thus far, I’ve focused the majority of my time on sourcing startups, as this is very much a “finding a needle in a haystack” process. When I’ve felt stuck on finding viable startups that fit the fund’s criteria and also make those market sectors greener / less energy consuming, I switch back to market research and try to identify additional angles for investment. For example, reading about developments in AI such as the introduction of neuromorphic computing – approximating real-life neural networks to increase energy efficiency compared to conventional computers. This is particularly applicable to AI applications requiring a low reaction time – good examples include many physical AI applications where hardware must make inferences and interact with the world in real-time.

While I haven’t had issues managing my time around work tasks, I have been careful to carve out specific blocks of time for the statistics class I’m taking asynchronously on the side of work. By spending a few hours each weekend on statistics homework and content studies, I’ve been able to manage that responsibility without sacrificing any professional work time or quality. It also helps that regarding the work I’m doing for my internship, I find it extremely interesting, enabling me to work longer on my tasks/projects and be somewhat less tired afterwards. For the work I’ve done at my internship so far, I’ve really enjoyed it and while finding some of it challenging, I’ve even enjoyed that as well.

There are many beautiful parks in Berlin, and I’ve been enjoying taking my work to the park on the weekend and getting it done there. My current favorite spot is Viktoriapark, which even has a waterfall inside if you go far enough onto its paths. The integration of nature in the city is something I like about Berlin – there are trees all over, and a vast amount of parks both small and large within the city. I even went to a lake beach yesterday, which was only 40 minutes from where I’m staying in Berlin via public transport. The access to beautiful third spaces in the area is quite wonderful, and something that certainly feels different to me compared with the USA.