Wild Geese: Ian Hannigan, BerlinIan Hannigan has been based permanently in Berlin for the last 10 years Sun Jul 12 2026 - 06:00 • 4 MIN READSerial entrepreneur Ian Hannigan’s journey to Germany started on an Irish Rail trip around the turn of the millennium. “I was lecturing in industrial design at the Institute of Technology in Carlow and, heading back home one night, I was awoken by a call from a German lady inquiring in very well-rehearsed English about a spare room I had to rent in Dublin.”The woman, Susanne, who worked in Dublin for the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce, took the room and they soon became an item. A quarter of a century later they are still together, living on the outskirts of Berlin. “I often wonder what would have happened had I had stayed asleep,” Hannigan says.Waterford-born Hannigan soon transitioned from lecturing and has since had an interesting and varied career, encompassing physical and software design, game development and business consulting.His passion for gaming saw him developing games for Nokia in the pre-iPhone era, before landing a role in the UK where he worked on celebrated games such as Aliens versus Predator. With the couple keen to move to one location, Hannigan took a leap of faith and moved with Susanne to Berlin in 2010. He recounts the tale of how Susanne, who now works in energy consulting, was once based in the offices of a federal government department. “When we met, Susanne learned English from me, so she ended up with a Waterford accent. Years later, because of her language proficiency, she was asked to give a talk to an American delegation visiting the ministry, which went very well. The visiting delegation leader was intrigued, however, and asked her boss: ‘Why is an Irish person presenting on behalf of the German federal ministry?’”Initially looking to develop his gaming career from Germany, Hannigan instead became a founding partner with Dave Kearney in a software firm called Fluid and commuted back and forth to Dublin to develop the business. “In Ireland, people say things to make you feel happy; Germans don’t feel that obligation”— Ian HanniganBacked by Enterprise Ireland, as well as family and friends, Fluid developed a tool which allowed app designers and developers to go from an initial concept to a prototype in under 15 minutes. The business proved highly successful on the back of an explosion in apps in the early years of the smartphone revolution. After six years, Hannigan decided to pursue new adventures in Germany.Based permanently in Berlin for the last 10 years, he went on to consulting roles with BCG and mentoring other tech start-ups through the Techstars accelerator programme. His current venture is Formation, a software as a service (SaaS) business focusing on workforce and worksite optimisation and digitalisation. The company has around half a dozen core clients, including the Bundeswehr, the unified armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany.While the firm’s larger clients now account for two-thirds of its turnover, it is gradually pivoting towards having a mix of smaller clients as well, where sales cycles are shorter.Hannigan is noticing a change in Germany, which has traditionally been seen as inflexible, risk-averse and having slow decision-making processes. The country is now pivoting towards AI and robotics to remain competitive, he says. [ The Irish woman in New York tapping successful emigrants to fund education back homeOpens in new window ]“Germany is undergoing a period of great challenge. Established industries such as the automotive sector are under pressure from the likes of Tesla and BYD. The country was also a little slow to react to the web revolution. I think they are determined not to be late to the party on the AI and the robotics revolution,” he says.“All the signs are that they are going to pivot there, and they want to position themselves much more strategically. Traditionally there was a fear here about making mistakes, but you need to take risks and move fast now and that’s recognised. “Ireland is a little speedboat whereas Germany is a giant tanker. It’s good to see that that tanker is finally turning now.”Hannigan says the couple enjoy a good lifestyle, having moved from the centre of Berlin to the eastern outskirts four years ago. He makes the 22km commute to his office every day by bike from his home in Friedrichshagen, beside the Grosser Müggelsee, Berlin’s largest lake. [ ‘The US still has a frontier mindset that you can go and make something of yourself’Opens in new window ]“It’s a lovely place with great culture, cafes, small shops, theatre, historic buildings, markets, music and a neighbourhood identity. Most of the action is organised on a single main street, which we do a lot of in Ireland but is not the norm in German urban planning. “Then there’s forests and lakes. My life is fairly lean, mean and green these days. I ride an electric bike, we have a small boat with an electric motor that we take out on the lake. We have a dog and we do lots of forest walks.“We have a nice small community neighbourhood here. Most people are either native German or Austrian. I have to operate fully in German here which is really improving my language skills. In Berlin, that’s not a necessity.” Well versed now in the culture in Germany, Hannigan is used to the direct ways of his adopted country, which are often in sharp contrast to Irish norms.“In Ireland, people say things to make you feel happy; Germans don’t feel that obligation. In Germany, honesty is a sign of respect. A good friend here will say to you: ‘That’s the worst shirt I’ve ever seen you in. Go home and change.’”IN THIS SECTION