The Techne Connect

In this episode we speak with Hui Du, Co-Founder and CTO of Ampcera, about building next generation battery technology and scaling battery innovation in the US. Hui shares his journey from rural China into engineering, entrepreneurship, and clean tech leadership. He reflects on how early leadership experience, a strong technical foundation, and hard moments in his career shaped his path into founding companies.

The conversation explores solid state battery technology, why battery supply chains matter for national security, and how better batteries support EV adoption, robotics, data centres, and future energy systems. Hui also explains why Ampcera focuses on practical progress, strong partnerships, and technologies that fit into existing manufacturing routes.

He also shares lessons on hiring, integrity, mentorship, and why young engineers should build strong STEM foundations while staying open to wide career paths across technology and industry.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Philip Hover-Smoot, CEO at Atlas Cup, about creating a new category of professional sport in space.

Philip shares his path from aviation, law, and aerospace defence into the commercial space sector, and explains how Atlas Cup plans to bring satellite racing to low Earth orbit using existing spacecraft, propulsion, and mission operations technology.

He breaks down the concept behind head-to-head satellite races, how teams can compete using their own platforms, and why racing creates a simple way to compare performance across propulsion systems and spacecraft design.

The conversation also explores entrepreneurship in the space sector, the realities of building a startup, and why Philip believes space represents the next major frontier for commercial growth and technological experimentation.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Dustin Hicks, Head of Growth at Aurelius Systems, about directed energy, counter UAS, and accelerating defence innovation.

Dustin shares his non traditional path from US Army military intelligence to defence acquisition, and how early exposure to uncrewed systems shaped his career. He reflects on urgent operational needs, rapid fielding, and the difference between risk aversion and responsible risk taking inside government.

The conversation explores why venture backed defence startups are gaining momentum, how fail fast testing shortens development cycles, and why directed energy changes the economics of air defence through low cost per effect and deep magazine capacity.

Dustin also explains what young engineers should focus on today, from software centric systems to system of systems thinking, and why adaptability is now a core skill in defence technology.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Henry Yu, Founding Software Engineer at Sunday Robotics, about building AI powered home robots designed to automate everyday tasks. Henry shares how he moved from coding projects and robotics competitions into startups and large scale software systems before joining Sunday during its earliest stage. He explains why robotics requires engineers from multiple disciplines and how curiosity, side projects, and continuous learning shaped his career.

The conversation explores the biggest challenge in robotics today: real world manipulation data. Henry explains how Sunday approaches this problem with its skill capture gloves, which collect large volumes of real world training data directly from human activity in home environments.

They also discuss generalisation, safety in domestic robotics, AI driven learning systems, and how startups iterate quickly across hardware, software, and data pipelines to deploy robots in real homes.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Fabien Lepoutre, VP of Engineering at NoFence, shares how the company is building the world’s first virtual fencing platform for ruminants, from collar hardware to cloud infrastructure and mobile app.

Fabien explains how NoFence collars enforce virtual boundaries using audio cues and a gentle pulse, why livestock adapts fast, and how the company has scaled to more than 150,000 collars sold since launching in 2016. He also breaks down how NoFence raised a $35M Series B and what it takes to deliver quality across hardware, firmware, software, and manufacturing at speed.

The conversation covers Fabien’s path from embedded systems and wearables in Norway and Silicon Valley to impact-led engineering in medtech, then leadership at NoFence. He shares how the team built a continuous deployment pipeline for embedded devices, using hardware-in-the-loop testing and simulation to release multiple times per week with confidence. Fabien also outlines how robotics is shifting from automation to autonomy, why edge AI matters, and why low-level embedded and hardware skills remain essential for the next decade.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Julie Newman, VP of Engineering at Outpost, about building a next generation space reentry vehicle and shaping the future of in space logistics.

Julie walks through her journey from Caltech to SpaceX, NASA JPL and Boeing, including her work on the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter. She explains why she transitioned from large aerospace primes to startup leadership and how that experience shaped her approach to ownership, speed and culture.

The conversation explores why reentry is becoming critical to the space economy, how Outpost’s deployable heat shield and precision paraglider system enable high mass return, and why in space manufacturing only scales if you can bring product back affordably. Julie also shares her passion for STEM outreach, developing future engineers, and building teams that move fast with accountability.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Alex Wust, CEO and co founder of Wargdrones, about building defence technology that solves real battlefield problems. Alex shares his unconventional path from acting into a family run defence company, before founding Wargdrones with a clear focus on decision making, accountability, and operator led development.

The conversation explores how early concepts pivoted from perimeter security to explosive ordnance disposal, and why constant feedback from operators shaped the company’s disruptor drone from the ground up. Alex explains how recoil management, gimbal design, and precision targeting set their system apart.

They also discuss minefield breaching, unattended ground sensors, counter UAS missiles, and the realities of defence procurement timelines. Alex reflects on trust in the defence ecosystem, working with primes rather than against them, and why authenticity matters in high stakes industries.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Vinaey Kalyan, Director of Powertrain at Rivian, about launching the R2 and building EV systems from clean sheet to production.

Vinaey shares his journey from electrical and mechanical engineering into turbo machinery, founding a solar startup, and spending over a decade at Honeywell before stepping into Rivian during its early growth phase.

He reflects on leading the development of Rivian’s first in house powertrain platform, the discipline required to move from concept to factory, and why vertical integration and cost ownership matter in today’s EV market.

The conversation explores software defined vehicles, autonomy, AI enabled optimisation, and how real world data helps right size hardware for future platforms. Vinaey also shares lessons on resilience from motorsport, why fundamentals still matter in the AI era, and how engineers can build long term careers in automotive.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak with Kevin Stadnyk, co-founder and CEO of Obruta Space, about building autonomous spacecraft software to enable the in space economy.

Kevin shares his journey from aerospace engineering and graduate research into entrepreneurship, including early lessons from starting during the pandemic and pivoting from space debris removal to autonomy software.

The discussion explores rendezvous, proximity operations and docking, why synthetic training environments are critical for space AI, and how falling launch costs are unlocking refuelling, servicing and large scale orbital infrastructure. Kevin also reflects on startup trade offs, time management and building for the industry that will exist five years from now, not the one we see today.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Behind the Power, we sit down with Puneeth Kalavase to explore how grid scale batteries, software, and data science are enabling higher penetration of renewables. They discuss grid stability, AI driven power demand, VPPs, EV integration, and the changing role of storage in modern power systems.

Puneeth also shares his personal journey from physics and climate research into operating large scale battery assets across the US and Australia, plus the technical skills and hands on experience engineers need as energy systems continue to scale.

The Techne Connect Podcast 🎧

Thank you for listening to Techne Connect! This podcast takes you inside the companies and conversations shaping the future of engineering.

From space and defence to robotics, AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and next-generation mobility, each episode features the founders, engineers and technology leaders building tomorrow's world.

Through candid discussions on innovation, leadership, product development and career journeys, the podcast uncovers the ideas, challenges and breakthroughs driving the world's fastest-moving industries. Whether you're an engineer, founder, investor or simply fascinated by emerging technology.

Techne Connect offers a front-row seat to the people creating what's next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.