The Things Podcast

Most data is created on the edge, so why ship it to a distant data centre? The case for running AI locally, and why edge AI is underhyped.

Guest: Pete Bernard (EDGE AI FOUNDATION)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 22 September 2026

Pete Bernard, CEO of the EDGE AI FOUNDATION, makes the case for an edge-first world in which most AI workloads run where the data is created and the cloud becomes a backup for management and orchestration. He explains why keeping data local is also a security choice, why neuromorphic computing excites him (he cites about 100 times better power efficiency), and why he thinks edge AI is underhyped and belongs in the mainstream AI discussion.

Satellites as an extension of mobile networks, not a replacement: devices roam to a LEO constellation over NB-IoT NTN when terrestrial coverage ends.

Guest: Nicolas Jordan (OQ Technology)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 23 September 2026

Nicolas Jordan, SVP of Growth at OQ Technology, explains how the company extends cellular networks by satellite, starting with NB-IoT NTN for IoT and moving to texting, voice and video on mobiles. With 12 satellites launched and roaming agreements with 20 mobile operators, OQ targets pipelines, rail, mining and utilities, where one or two messages a day are enough. He covers direct-to-device versus ground stations, backhauling LoRaWAN over satellite, why launch speed is the real constraint, and data sovereignty.

The EU Cyber Resilience Act makes gateway security mandatory; the fix is to make it so easy to deploy that nobody falls back to keys in Excel sheets.

Guest: Alex Raimondi (Miromico)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 23 September 2026

Alex Raimondi, CTO of Miromico, explains how a hardware design house prepares gateways for the EU Cyber Resilience Act: zero-touch provisioning that pulls LNS settings, certificates and customer configuration on first boot, and open tools instead of a mandatory backend to avoid vendor lock-in. He describes a customer whose gateways all went down after half a year because certificates expired, why gateway fleets are a bigger target than battery-powered sensors, and why smart farming pays back instantly.

How do you sell IoT in Latin America? Build the relationship, understand the needs, prove the value, and only then talk technology.

Guest: Ruben Cardenas (Zenzora)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 22 September 2026

Ruben Cardenas, CTO and co-founder of Zenzora, a Mexico-based integrator for utilities and water infrastructure, shares the framework his team uses across Latin America. He explains why IoT is still new there and why technology talk comes last, how a 70-meter proof of value at a golf course community in Mexico recovered 20% of non-revenue water with a payback under a year and grew to more than 500 devices, and why local integrators are the way in for European suppliers.

A doorbell that calls kids out to play and a mat that catches kitchen leaks have one thing in common: a single LoRaWAN uplink, and years of work to keep it that simple.

Guests: Marcel Schouwenaar (ScrollScrollScroll), Fredrik Lindell (Elementric AB)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 22 September 2026

Marcel Schouwenaar of ScrollScrollScroll explains Spel Bel, a playground doorbell that tells subscribed parents it is time to play, built after kids said they want to go outside but find nobody there. Fredrik Lindell of Elementric shows a textile leak mat for under the sink, dishwasher and fridge: an insurance company is rolling out 5,000, and one caught a leak the day after installation in an empty ski-resort apartment. Both discuss heartbeats, battery life and why simple products take years.

LoRaWAN has reached 150 million devices at 25% yearly growth; the next step is an ecosystem selling products, not running projects.

Guests: Alper Yegin (LoRa Alliance), Olivier Beaujard (Semtech)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 23 September 2026

Alper Yegin, CEO of the LoRa Alliance, and Olivier Beaujard of Semtech, chair of the LoRa Alliance board, explain where LoRaWAN growth comes from: metering for volume (around 20% of deployments, mostly water meters), buildings for momentum, and agriculture, data centres and panic buttons as fast-rising use cases. Beaujard sets out Semtech's chip strategy after 500 million LoRa chips, and both discuss education as the main hurdle, AI on end devices, and coverage from satellites, drones and high-altitude platforms.

A survey of 600-plus enterprises shows IoT fleets struggle less with coverage than with operations, security and compliance across countries.

Guest: Niall Strachan (Pelion)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 22 September 2026

Niall Strachan, Chief Commercial Officer at Pelion, shares findings from Pelion's survey on the connected fleet in 2026: about 60% of respondents struggle without operational reach in-country, and 25% had an IoT-related security incident in the last 12 months. He explains why the cheapest cost per gigabyte shifts operational overhead onto the customer, why compliance now means proving what happened per device, and why SGP.32 is an evolution and an insurance policy rather than a magic bullet.

Humanoid robots are already mechanically impressive but need about five years to get smart and cheap; meanwhile tiny batteries plus solar could power IoT devices for good.

Guest: Vincent Everts

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam

Dutch trend watcher Vincent Everts brings Ava, a humanoid robot running an AI assistant trained on the conference, and explains what such a robot costs, how fast it runs and why it uses at least 100 times more energy than a human. His picks from the show floor: a Delft chip company using five times less energy, a tiny non-lithium battery with 10 times more charge cycles for solar-powered IoT, and open-source LoRa mesh networking, which he calls the promise of LoRa he saw 11 years ago.

IoT platforms gave industrial customers a Swiss Army knife when they wanted an answer. The fix: let process engineers turn their best operators' know-how into agents.

Guest: Alistair Fulton (Momenta Ventures)

The Things Podcast, recorded live at The Things Conference 2026, Amsterdam, 23 September 2026

Alistair Fulton, Venture Partner at Momenta Ventures and CEO of an industrial AI start-up, explains why IoT platforms built by software engineers for software engineers missed what customers needed, and how a no-code agent platform built on historian data and simulation lets engineers estimate the return up front. He describes the real driver for large industrial firms: capturing the expertise of operators close to retirement. He also recalls how LoRa relied on The Things Network and the LoRa Alliance to build its ecosystem.

At The Things Conference, Alix Paultre chats with Nicolas Lesconnec from Soracom about how their platform makes IoT work—no matter the device, protocol, or connectivity challenge. From low-bandwidth sensors to high-data edge AI, and from LoRaWAN to cellular or satellite, Soracom helps businesses securely move data from the field to the cloud and turn it into action.

Learn more about Soracom: https://soracom.io/

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