# An Interview with Stefan Dzisiewski-Smith

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2016-07-29
- Length: 1h 48m
- Episode: 309
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/309-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith/

## Summary

Stefan Dzisiewski-Smith of Bear Conductive discusses his journey from high-voltage power supply engineering to industrial design at the Royal College of Art, and his work on large-scale art installations and solar charging projects in Uganda and India. He details the technical challenges of capacitive sensing, the development of the Touch Board and BearPi, and the supply chain realities of components like the MPR121 and Raspberry Pi Zero. The conversation covers the pivot from a bicycle generator concept to a solar-powered mobile charging business model, highlighting issues with financing, payment integration, and field testing.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith#t=0) Introduction and Background
- [15:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith#t=909) High Voltage Power Supply Engineering
- [5:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith#t=350) Royal College of Art and Art Installations
- [46:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith#t=2783) Solar Charging Business in Uganda and India
- [1:13:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith#t=4403) Bear Conductive and Capacitive Sensing
- [1:22:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith#t=4935) Touch Board, BearPi, and Component Supply

## Topics

- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Analog & power electronics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/analog-and-power-electronics)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Sensors & measurement in products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sensors)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Bear Conductive (company)
- Touch Board (product)
- BearPi (product)
- MPR121 (chip)
- Raspberry Pi Zero (chip)
- Freescale (company)
- NXP (company)
- Rochester Electronics (company)
- Resurgent Semiconductor (company)
- Linear Technology (company)
- Analog Devices (company)
- Arduino (other)
- Kickstarter (other)
- Mike Harrison (other)
- Jason Brew Studio (company)

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- [36: Drive the Boat with a Wii Mote](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-01-22-36-drive-the-boat-with-a-wii-mote) (Embedded.fm)
- [510: The Secret Chip](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2025-09-19-510-the-secret-chip) (Embedded.fm)
- [18: No Cool Cheap Screwdrivers](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/thoroughly-considered/2016-09-17-18-no-cool-cheap-screwdrivers) (Thoroughly Considered)
- [44: Light Up Strikes Back](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2014-03-26-44-light-up-strikes-back) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-29-an-interview-with-stefan-dzisiewski-smith. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.