20 years ago, I started an internship in Mercedes-Benz’s USA hydrogen fuel cell program. Today, I work on innovation strategy across emerging battery technologies.
The technologies changed. The fundamentals did not.
Focus on the user. Make innovation boring. Simple principles. Not easy execution.
The foundation determines the outcome
Breakthrough innovation is sexy. The work underneath it is not.
A strong foundation gives you clear proof points early and accelerates what matters. Innovation succeeds when it starts with clarity: what problem matters, why the customer cares, what success looks like, and how progress will be measured.
I learned that while commissioning an HV battery lab with a new team. The work succeeded through boring basics: bulletproof processes, clear objectives, and relentless documentation. The result was zero incidents in three years, templates that became company standards, and strong throughput.
This discipline works everywhere. The same rigor that keeps high-voltage work safe also sharpens innovation work. In both cases, you need to know exactly what you are doing and why before you start.
From lab to product
Evaluating emerging technology means solving for multiple clock speeds at once:
- technical readiness
- product applicability
- manufacturing readiness
- supplier ecosystem maturity
These proof points do not happen in neat sequence. They overlap. They demand different evidence, different partners, and different resources.
The organizations that win track technology readiness against product roadmaps and supplier maturity. Success is jazz, not a metronome.
Building ecosystems
Good timing gets better when industries work together.
I have spent years in standards work, industry workshops, and supplier alignment. None of it is glamorous. Much of it happens in conference rooms with bad coffee and arguments about test procedures. But this is how lab experiments become industry change.
When charging works the same way in more places, customers win. When hydrogen fueling standards align, future compatibility gets easier. When battery safety methods are shared earlier, everyone moves faster.
That is the unsexy work that makes innovation usable.
Twenty years later
Every negotiation, workshop, and late night has reinforced the same lesson: momentum matters, but clarity matters first.
The work is simple. Make emerging technology boring, reliable, and scalable.
The execution is not easy. That is what makes it interesting.