Hardware DeepTech in the AI Era: Fixing Green Hydrogen with Physics with Rutvika Acharya Olofsson

Join Rutvika Acharya Olofsson, Co-Founder and CEO of Caplyzer, for a candid exploration of deeptech venture building in an era obsessed with fast software iteration. In a market where artificial intelligence enables founders to build, package, and monetize software products in a matter of hours, hardware deeptech faces a fundamentally different reality: multi-year R&D cycles, physical supply chain constraints, and high capital intensity. Drawing from her international career as an aerospace engineer leading product strategy across Sweden, the US, Liechtenstein, and Singapore—as well as her experience building and closing her first startup, MOAI—Rutvika shares why software speed cannot replace physical infrastructure when it comes to solving humanity's largest industrial challenges.🎯 Insights You’ll Learn:Hardware DeepTech vs. Instant AI Iteration: Navigating the widening divergence between instant software ROI and long-horizon deeptech capital deployments—and why physical atoms remain the ultimate moat.Why the Green Hydrogen Market Is Broken Today: The hidden unit-economic and safety barriers holding back global adoption—specifically how legacy electrolyzers rely on expensive membranes, scarce rare-earth metals (like iridium and platinum), and face severe gas-mixing explosion risks.The Membrane-Free, Decoupled Breakthrough: How Caplyzer’s KTH spin-off technology uses super-capacitive, decoupled water splitting to produce hydrogen and oxygen separately without costly, fragile membranes or precious metal catalysts.Decarbonizing Heavy Industry for Net Zero: Why electrification alone cannot fix steel, fertilizer, or heavy chemicals, and why cost-effective green hydrogen is non-negotiable for industrial net-zero targets.The Resilience of a Second-Time Founder: Key lessons from scaling and closing MOAI (an international talent onboarding platform), pivoting into deeptech leadership, and raising institutional backing from Trio Impact Invest, Almi Invest, and KTH Ventures.Scaling DeepTech While Growing a Family: The personal reality of securing venture funding, navigating top-tier European recognition (KPMG Global Tech Innovator finalist, EU-Startups Top 15), and leading a high-growth startup while pregnant and welcoming her first child.🌍 Why This Matters:While generative AI can optimize digital workflows, it cannot split a water molecule or decarbonize a steel plant. Heavy industry accounts for over 30% of global greenhouse emissions, and over 90% of current industrial hydrogen is still produced using fossil fuels (gray/black hydrogen). Rutvika Acharya Olofsson is tackling this structural roadblock head-on. By commercializing Caplyzer’s novel membrane-free, earth-abundant electrolyzers, she is lowering green hydrogen production costs by up to 30%, making clean energy economically compelling for heavy industrial adoption.👤 Expert Background:Co-Founder & CEO of Caplyzer, the Swedish KTH spin-off developing next-generation, membrane-free electrolyzers for cost-effective green hydrogen.Former Aerospace Engineer & Corporate Strategist, with over a decade of global hardware development and product leadership across Sweden, the US, Liechtenstein, and Singapore.Second-Time Entrepreneur, previously founder of MOAI (Venture Cup Game Changer award winner and Top 10 Young Idea in Sweden).Recognized DeepTech Leader, named among EU-Startups' top companies to watch and top finalists in the KPMG Global Tech Innovator competition.🎙️ Hosted by Gary Fowler, CEO of GSD Venture Studios — global AI entrepreneur, investor, and innovation leader spotlighting founders navigating the realities of building in the AI era.💡 Perfect For:CleanTech and DeepTech investors, climate engineers, energy sector directors, industrial sustainability officers, hardware founders, and venture capitalists assessing the balance between short-term software plays and long-term physical infrastructure investments.