In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, host Johannes P. Lehmann speaks with Dr. Anna-Sophie Jürgens from the Australian National University about how science, technology and innovation are shaped not only in laboratories, startups, boardrooms and policy circles — but also through film, comics, humour, popular culture and the stories societies tell about the future.

Anna-Sophie is the founder of POPSICULE, the Science in Popular Culture and Entertainment Hub at ANU, based within the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. Her work explores how popular culture influences the way society imagines science, risk, responsibility and possibility.

Together, we discuss why stories like Jurassic Park, The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, Terminator and Ex Machina have become powerful cultural reference points for biotechnology, pandemics, AI and innovation risk — and why these narratives matter far beyond entertainment.

The conversation also explores how Australia could develop a more distinct science and technology storytelling voice: one that moves beyond Silicon Valley disruption, Hollywood techno-apocalypse and lone genius founders, and instead draws on Australia’s landscapes, environmental pressures, First Nations knowledge systems, public science institutions, humour, care, adaptation and coexistence.

We also dive into the role of humour as a diagnostic tool for understanding society’s relationship with science — from mad scientists and clowns to comic parasites, bureaucracy, Canberra, Mad Max and the strange cultural worlds where science becomes funny, unsettling and deeply revealing.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Intro
00:14 — Innovation, Storytelling & Science Communication
01:39 — Popsicle: Bridging Science and Pop Culture
05:40 — How Pop Culture Shapes Scientific Narratives
10:48 — Narrative Design: Tools for Screenwriters
17:28 — Policy, Regulation & Australian Content Creation
21:04 — Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Storytelling
23:17 — The Role of Humour in Science Communication
26:14 — Cultural Perspectives: Europe vs Australia
31:12 — The Future of Popsicle
38:31 — Outro

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Johannes and Betty speak with founder-turned-scale-up coach Bonny Morlak about the hidden emotional risks of startup life.

Bonny shares lessons from building and selling companies, living between Germany, Australia and the US, and coaching founders through the messy middle after product-market fit.

The conversation explores toxic hustle culture, founder identity, delegation, emotional sales, global startup ecosystems, and why scaling a company should not come at the cost of health, relationships or happiness.

Podcast time stamps

00:00 - Intro

00:28 - Introduction to Bonnie’s Journey

02:30 - The importance of Founder Well-being

06:16 - Navigating the Startup Mindset

08:49 - Identifying Red Flags in Founders

12:24 - The Role of Luck and Personality in Success

16:23 - Balancing Hustle and Health

17:31 - Emotional Selling Strategies

22:34 - Industry Agnosticism in Coaching

24:51 - Cultural Differences in Startup Approaches

29:16 - Scaling Without Anxiety

34:05 - Outro

What does it really take for startups to scale beyond their home market?

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, hosts Johannes P. Lehmann and Bettina Scheibe speak with Martin Gothe (CEO @ DC Hub) about the critical role of entrepreneurial ecosystems and international landing pads in enabling startup success.

We explore:

• Why cross-border collaboration is becoming a key success factor
• Common misconceptions about going global
• The real challenges of market entry—including lessons from both successes and failures
• How landing pads support startups in expanding internationally
• What makes startup ecosystems effective, from government support to corporate involvement

Key insights on entering and navigating the Chinese market

This conversation goes beyond theory, offering practical insights and real-world perspectives for founders, ecosystem builders, and anyone interested in global innovation.

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, host Johannes speaks with Dominic Spooner, Brisbane-based founder of Vaulta, about what’s broken in battery design—and what the next era of energy storage should look like.

Dominic shares why he started Vaulta after seeing battery waste and “single-point-of-failure” pack design become an emerging problem as batteries scale across EVs, home storage, and consumer products. You’ll hear how Vaulta approaches modularity and repairability, and why Dominic believes the future will be driven by traceability, battery health data, and software—including Vaulta’s system Plainview, built to connect with existing battery systems and unlock deeper BMS insights for smarter lifecycle management.

The conversation also dives into Australia’s fast-changing policy landscape and the impact of the Cheaper Home Batteries program—what it gets right, what it may be missing for local manufacturing, and how procurement and “Future Made in Australia” thinking could shape the next wave of industrial capability. We close with Dominic’s honest founder lessons on co-founders, sales, resilience, and giving yourself credit for progress.

Topics: battery circularity • right to repair • battery passports • BMS data • AI/ML for battery health • Australian manufacturing • clean energy policy • founder lessons

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Volta and Battery Waste

Concerns

04:01 Innovative Approaches to Battery Design

and software solutions for battery management

07:53 Future Trends in Battery Technology

10:51 Impact of Government Policies on Battery

Adoption

17:06 Australia's Position in the Global Battery

Market

21:39 Learning from European Practices

24:50 Opportunities for Australian Startups

28:33 Volta's Vision for the Future

30:59 Advice for Aspiring Founders

34:58 Outro

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Johannes sits down with Jack Al-Kahwati—an entrepreneur working inside the U.S. government’s space innovation ecosystem—to unpack how the “space layer” is emerging much like cloud computing did a decade ago. Jack explains why the real bottleneck is data aggregation, how command-and-control and space situational awareness become foundations for a new application layer in orbit, and why “mission decision cycle” thinking is replacing older frameworks. We also explore what middle powers like Germany and Australia can prioritize—self-sufficiency, interoperable standards, and smart alliances—as space becomes an increasingly contested domain. Along the way, Jack shares lessons from SDA TAP Lab, a U.S. defense innovation accelerator, and sketches a near future where space-based compute, networking, and autonomy reshape both security and commercial markets.

Highlights:

• Cloud-to-orbit analogy: why the space layer mirrors the rise of AWS

• Mission decision cycles, not “kill chains”

• Data as the strategic bottleneck—and how to unlock it

• Practical policy paths for Germany and Australia

• What space-based compute + autonomy could enable next

The views expressed are those of the speakers and do not represent official policy or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. Space Force.

Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction to Space Ventures

01:28 The Evolution of Space Economics

04:16 Future of Space Infrastructure

05:55 Political Dynamics in Space

Exploration

09:39 Advancements in Space Defense

Technology

10:49 The Role of Data in Space Operations

13:55 The Vision of a Multi-Planetary

Humanity

15:26 Recommnedations for Middle Powers

in Space

17:28 The Importance of Space Superiority

19:31 Outro

In our latest German Innovators Podcast episode, Bettina B. Scheibe and Johannes P. Lehmann sit down with Robert Abbanat, CEO & Founder of GloCoach. Rob went from helping explain Mars Pathfinder to the world to building a global platform that’s redefining how enterprises assess and develop talent.

Highlights:

• Engineering + storytelling: How translating complex NASA missions into clear visuals shaped Rob’s product mindset (MVP → iterate) and design obsession.

• New space race reality: Why SpaceX’s pace matters—and what public–private models could teach Europe about dual-use innovation and procurement.

• Beyond coaching: GloCoach’s evolution into an integrated talent OS—AI for coach matching, SMART-goal creation, competency mapping, and Lance, an AI “talent consultant” that runs multilingual 360s at a fraction of traditional costs.

• Global by design: Building across APAC, Europe, and the U.S. with truly multilingual experiences—useful lessons for any company scaling across markets.

• Future of work: Personalized, lower-cost learning at scale; humans-in-the-loop still matter. Rob’s line: “People who use AI will replace people who don’t.”

What European & international tech leaders can learn:

• Build multilingual, multi-market products from day one—distribution advantages compound.

• Use LLMs to compress time-to-value; don’t over-engineer proprietary ML where off-the-shelf models excel.

• Design isn’t decoration—UX clarity drives adoption and outcomes.

• In platform categories, scale beats niche; partner early with global customers to validate.

• Make AI fluency a core capability across roles, not just in the data team.

From Goa to Silicon Valley to China’s innovation frontier — Kapil Kane’s journey is anything but ordinary.

In the latest episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Bettina and Johannes speak with Kapil Kane, former Apple Product Designer and Intel China Innovation Leader, about:

• How Zen principles secretly shaped Apple’s product culture
• Why compartmentalization — not open innovation — was the secret weapon behind the iPad
• The Intel GrowthX accelerator: empowering intrapreneurs to act like startup founders
• Why ASICs might overtake GPUs — and how China’s AI chip strategies are flipping the script
• What Silicon Valley, China, India, and Africa each uniquely contribute to global innovation
• A powerful reminder that culture eats structure for breakfast — especially when scaling innovation
• His take on quantum computing’s real-world limitations (spoiler: diamond NV centers may win)

Last but not least, Kapil shares actionable advice for innovators:

"Be excellent in one thing — but understand many. The best ideas often come from adjacent knowledge collisions.”

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction 00:14 – Getting to know Kapil: his background and journey 01:31 – How did your educational path shape your trailblazing roles at Apple and Intel? 05:07 – What were some of the key challenges and lessons from those projects—and how can today’s innovators apply them? 13:00 – Can startups benefit from adopting a secretive, stealth-style culture? 16:28 – What made the Intel accelerator you worked in stand out from other major programs—like those from Fortune 500 companies or in China? 21:08 – In today's geopolitical climate, how critical are secure and resilient supply chains? 27:35 – What possibilities do you see emerging from quantum computing technologies? 32:31 – Do you think China's current innovation trends will influence the rest of the world—possibly turning the tables, with others emulating China this time? 37:05 – How have different cultural contexts shaped your approach to innovation and leadership, particularly during your time at Apple and Intel? 42:43 – What advice would you share with professionals who want to lead innovation in fast-changing industries and turbulent times? 46:21 – Closing thoughts

Discover more about Kapil on his Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/kapil_kane

From Fleet to Grid: The Smart Charging Playbook

The future of electric mobility isn’t just about cleaner cars—it’s about smarter energy systems.

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Bettina B. Scheibe and Johannes P. Lehmann sit down with Claudio Geyken, CEO of RiDERgy, to explore the transformative power of fleet electrification, smart charging, and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology.

From outdated grid infrastructure to AI-powered forecasting, this conversation dives deep into how EVs are shifting from energy consumers to energy assets.

Expect insights on:

✅ How cloud-first, hardware-agnostic platforms revolutionise charging networks

✅ The real challenges of scaling V2G—tech, regulation, and business models

✅ AI’s pivotal role in predicting weather, charging demand, and energy pricing

✅ Why Europe is leading the way—and how China & the US are catching up

✅ What’s stopping OEMs from embracing bidirectional charging

✅ The policy shifts and field pilots needed to drive innovation

✅ A surprising link between autonomous vehicles and energy optimisation.

If you're passionate about mobility, energy, and AI, this episode is a must-listen!

🎧 Tune in now.

In the latest episode of the German Innovators in China (GINN) podcast, my Bettina and Johannes have the pleasure of speaking with Daisy Tang, founder of Hola Daisy. Daisy is a Hong Kong native with over 15 years of experience in branding, design, and marketing, having led national campaigns in China for brands like Starbucks, Nespresso, Oatly, and AB InBev .  

In their conversation, Daisy shares invaluable insights on how foreign brands can successfully enter and thrive in the Mainland Chinese market. Here are some key takeaways:

1. Product Placement Matters: Ensure your product is strategically placed in stores to attract maximum attention.

2. Localize Your Brand Name: Choose a Chinese name that’s easy to pronounce and resonates with local consumers.

3. On-the-Ground Experience: Don’t rely solely on remote research; visit Mainland China to understand the market dynamics firsthand.

4. Engage with Chinese Social Media: Stay updated on trending topics and consumer preferences through platforms like WeChat and Douyin. 

5. Leverage Live Commerce: Understand the power of live-streaming in driving massive revenue and brand engagement.

6. Adopt Online-to-Offline Strategies: Learn from China’s seamless integration of online and offline channels to boost foot traffic and sales.

Daisy’s expertise has been instrumental in helping foreign brands navigate the complexities of the Chinese market. If you’re looking to make a mark in China, reaching out to her could be a game-changer.

Reach out to Daisy on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/holadaisy/

In the new podcast episode of German Innovators in China (GINN), Johannes and Bettina sit down with AI and automotive expert Ke Zhu.

Key Highlights:

1. Accelerating Autonomous Driving: Discover how cutting-edge generative AI models are revolutionizing the development of self-driving cars by creating realistic driving scenarios for enhanced safety and efficiency.
2. Journey Towards AGI & singularity: Listen to a thought-provoking discussion on the advancements steering us closer to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and the implications for industries and governments worldwide.
3. Process Automation Revolution: Learn how AI-driven automation is reshaping business processes, boosting human efficiency, and redefining operational standards across various sectors and regions.

About our guest:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ke-zhu/