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Welcome to The Wave Engineering Newsletter, your weekly guide to the cutting edge of engineering. Whether you're a seasoned professional, an eager student, or simply curious about innovation, we’re here to inform, inspire, and connect.

More than just a newsletter, we tell the human stories behind the tech—spotlighting the innovators, dreamers, and changemakers shaping our world. Backed by insights from Pipeline Design & Engineering and the Being an Engineer Podcast, we deliver the latest advancements, impactful collaborations, and stories that redefine what’s possible.

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When did you last question whether you were solving the right problem, or just making the wrong solution better?

This week's newsletter explores three stories that exemplify why the biggest engineering breakthroughs happen when we stop tweaking individual pieces and start reimagining entire systems. Microvast is fundamentally re-thinking electrical architecture by stacking voltage internally instead of externally, potentially eliminating 75% of the interconnections in high-voltage applications. MIT's new manufacturing initiative is focused on rebuilding the entire pipeline from breakthrough discovery to factory floor implementation, addressing the systemic disconnect that has left American manufacturing trailing behind China's $1.4 trillion investment strategy.

Meanwhile, veteran VC Axel Bichara reveals that successful startup funding is about understanding the complete ecosystem that transforms technical founders into scalable businesses. His insight that "good VCs don't want control" reflects a systems understanding: the people closest to the technical problems make the best technical decisions.

Each story demonstrates that revolutionary progress comes not from incremental improvements to existing solutions, but from questioning whether we're solving the right problems in the first place. When engineers start thinking in systems rather than components, that's when we stop making better horse carriages and start inventing automobiles.

Microvast just cracked one of battery engineering's biggest limitations. While traditional lithium-ion cells max out at 3.7V due to liquid electrolyte breakdown, their new solid-state battery achieves 12-21V in a single cell through bipolar stacking architecture.

The breakthrough eliminates liquid electrolytes entirely, using a proprietary polyaramid separator (think Kevlar-class materials) that enables internal series connections within one cell housing. Instead of stringing together 20 cells to reach 72V for industrial robots, engineers could use just 4-6 of Microvast's cells.

This architectural shift means fewer interconnections, simplified battery management systems, lighter wiring, and dramatically reduced failure points. Applications span from AI-driven robotics to data center backup systems and electric vehicles.

The reality check? Manufacturing scalability remains the ultimate test. Microvast is entering pilot production, leveraging their 17-year battery manufacturing experience, but scaling solid-state production has defeated many promising technologies before.

For engineers, this represents genuine innovation beyond incremental chemistry improvements. Track the technology closely, but don't bet current roadmaps on it yet. If Microvast solves the manufacturing puzzle, we might finally have batteries that work with engineering requirements rather than against them.

Bottom line: Game-changing voltage capabilities, but commercial viability still unproven.

Read my full article on The Wave at the link below.

MIT just announced their Initiative for New Manufacturing - an Institute-wide effort to fix the disconnect between breakthrough research and real factory floors. While China has invested $1.4 trillion in "Made in China 2025," American manufacturing has been stuck making incremental improvements to decades-old processes.

MIT's response is characteristically ambitious: bring together all five schools plus major industry partners like Siemens, GE Vernova, and Flex to tackle manufacturing as a complete system. Their four-pillar approach covers everything from breakthrough technologies and human-centered design to scaling challenges and workforce transformation.

What makes this different? Students will learn manufacturing by working in actual production facilities. Companies are embedding their experts in MIT labs. The initiative targets real problems every engineer knows - like factories with nanometer-precision robots still using Excel for maintenance scheduling.

MIT invented CNC machining and 3D printing, and they're now betting their full institutional weight on solving the next wave of manufacturing challenges. With concrete programs launching this year and real money from industry partners, this could be the coordinated push American manufacturing needs to compete globally.

The next industrial revolution starts now. The question is whether American engineers will lead it or follow it. Read the full story below.

MIT-trained engineer turned VC Axel Bichara shares hard-won wisdom about startup funding that challenges everything technical founders think they know about venture capital.

The biggest revelation from Bichara's experience backing over 100 companies is that good VCs don't actually want control. "We provide options, ask questions, provide information, but then get out of the way," he explains. Instead of micromanagers, the best investors function as coaches who help founders make better decisions while leaving the final calls to the team that lives with the consequences daily.

What truly matters to VCs is team quality above all else. Bichara strongly prefers founding partnerships over solo founders because "being a founder is a very lonely job" where every problem ultimately lands on one person's shoulders. The most successful companies emerge when founders complement each other and challenge each other's thinking rather than trying to be the all-knowing "Uber founder."

Capital efficiency also matters more than most founders realize. Bichara's fund specifically targets companies that can reach product-market fit "within 12 to 18 months and a couple of million dollars" rather than those requiring years of development and massive funding rounds. His engineering background proved crucial for recognizing these opportunities, from his early SolidWorks investment through today's portfolio companies.

Read the full breakdown and listen to the full interview of Bichara's insights and practical advice for engineering founders ready to navigate the VC landscape.

Engineering is about solving, innovating, and connecting ideas to make a difference. Progress is a collective effort and your curiosity is what drives it forward. Thank you for exploring the dynamic world of engineering with all of us at Pipeline Design & Engineering and The Wave.

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“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” - Steve Jobs

In collaboration and creativity,
Brad Hirayama
Blueprinting tomorrow, today