A year ago, I stood on the TEDxDresden stage and shared an idea.
Not a business plan. Not a finished product. Just a conviction that we can use data from space to help solve one of the most fundamental challenges on Earth: using water more intelligently.
This year, I returned to TEDxDresden.
The stage was occupied by a new generation of speakers. I spent the day a few meters away in the exhibition area, talking to visitors about Aquareos Space, LEAFS and the work that has happened since my talk.
Standing there, I found myself thinking less about technology and more about time.
When people see a presentation, they usually see a snapshot. A polished version of an idea at a specific moment. What they don’t see are the months before and after: the prototypes that fail, the features that get rebuilt three times, the countless decisions that slowly transform a concept into something tangible.
That is what the last year has been for me.
The TEDx talk remains one of the milestones of that journey, but the real work happened afterwards. Building software. Testing assumptions. Talking to users. Refining ideas. Discarding others.
Returning this year offered a rare opportunity to look back and realise how much can happen in twelve months.
Not everything worked.
Not everything went according to plan.
But the vision that I spoke about on stage has become clearer, more practical and, most importantly, closer to the people it is meant to serve.
Perhaps that is what innovation actually looks like.
Not a single breakthrough moment.
Not a standing ovation.
Just the decision to keep going after the spotlight is gone.
I’m grateful to have experienced TEDxDresden from both perspectives: first as a speaker and now as an exhibitor.
And I’m looking forward to seeing where the next twelve months will lead.