PowerTechs is building the nuclear workforce through extended reality
Recently relocated to Knoxville, Ksenia Solomatina is eager to connect skilled workers with clean energy positions.
Russia in the 1990s was on the brink of collapse. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a dramatic decline in the economy. The centralized control over industries vanished, and many state-owned enterprises either shut down or drastically downsized.
Ksenia Solomatina was born in Kazan, USSR, during this tumultuous period. Her grandfather, a research chemist, lost his job and spent the next several years struggling to transfer his skills to a new reality. She recalls that he found it difficult to discover hope, purpose, or a suitable application for his expertise in a different field.
Seeing the world – and identifying a shortfall
Solomatina’s career began far from the nuclear industry. She started in financing for the real estate and hotel industry, where she worked her way up from intern to executive. Through close to a decade in the business, she worked with some of the largest audit and consulting corporations in the world.
“In that role, I learned how the economy works from a bird’s-eye view and how big projects come to realization,” she said. “I also saw the amount of labor that goes into making systems operate.”
Her global experience opened doors – allowing her to live in nine different countries and visit 20 more. But, ultimately, Solomatina decided to pivot towards something more personally fulfilling. She returned to school in Paris to obtain a master’s degree in sustainable development and then launched her own consultancy. In this role, she contributed to infrastructure projects by conducting economic analyses and developing workforce strategies to support the implementation of large-scale industrial and construction initiatives.
Throughout her career, Solomatina prioritized practical experience over academics and strategically chose where to live based on the availability of business resources, networks, and opportunities. This dynamic lifestyle led to frequent questions from others, such as, “How to land an exciting job at a global company?” or “How to get funding from the French government to study at the Sorbonne?” As these inquiries grew in number, she created a dedicated social media page to share her insights and experiences.
Initially, this social media page was created purely for fun, with no business intentions in mind. However, as the community rapidly grew, it evolved into something more significant — ultimately transforming into a standalone product. It became an automated career coach platform designed specifically for white-collar professionals with more than half a million users.
“It started all on social media, so I hardly invested anything into marketing; but instead into product and partnerships,” she said. “Eventually that idea concluded with a successful exit.”
Bringing a new idea into focus
After the exit, Solomatina began exploring avenues to leverage her experience in workforce solutions. Looking at the lists of most in-demand jobs globally, the trend was clear: roles like electricians, technicians and construction workers were in critical shortage.
“This insight led to an idea: what if I applied my proven methodology from white-collar to blue-collar workers? That’s how PowerTechs was born,” she shared.
Blue-collar workers are the backbone of the economy, the real people who are holding up the economy. As for the choice of verticals, with a strong background in sustainable development, Solomatina naturally focused on reliable energy, manufacturing, and transportation as the core pillars of her new start-up.
As it happens, many companies in these industries are constantly looking for qualified workers. The main issue is – it’s new technology, and few people possess the skills necessary to thrive immediately upon hire. Reskilling workers from declining industries offers a faster, more cost-effective solution than training new talent from scratch, while also providing displaced workers with meaningful career opportunities.
Think about her grandfather, who faced the same challenges. With him in mind, Solomatina created a platform tailored specifically targeting this workforce, and is building an extended reality (XR) cockpit to train in simulations using AR/VR headsets. Additionally, she is using special gloves that mirrors the person’s hands in real time.
“Using the headsets and smart gloves, applicants can solve practical challenges. The software will be able to note and track their hard, soft, and specialized skillsets,” Solomatina explained. “For example, the system will track their ability to make quick decisions by examining their click journey through the simulation. It will note if they change their mind, ask for help, or if they make inefficient or unsafe actions – like touching a livewire or certain part without the required special equipment.”
Using this method, PowerTechs is able to identify existing skills from other industries, and how they can be applied to emerging sectors.
Why Knoxville?
Out of all the places Solomatina could have chosen to plant the base for her start-up, she chose Knoxville due to its “reputation as a fast-growing nuclear hub nationwide.”
She has previously been a part of the Techstars 2022 cohort in Birmingham, Alabama, then moved to Austin, Texas, and recently relocated to Knoxville a little more than two months ago.
“With Techstars, I started the program with just a concept, and within three months, I had a minimum viable product (MVP) and proof of concept,” she said. “Today, we have more than a thousand active pilot users, 11 leading energy companies in the pipeline, three research sites, and an agreement with the Department of Defense (DoD).”
The end goal of the partnership with the DoD is to help transition Military Forces to civilian jobs, with an ambition to then create certification regulations and become an industry standard.
Her hope moving forward in Knoxville is to meet the community, engage with corporations, and get involved in staffing and training the growing nuclear workforce.
“I want people to know that our technology can really help solve this workforce development issue,” she said. “Many skills can get lost as generations continue to retire, but we can help show those workers that their skills are valuable in today’s workforce.”
For Solomatina, workforce development is more than just training — it’s about creating opportunities for people who, like her grandfather, may not see the value of their skills.
She is now focused on building strategic partnerships in the region to expand PowerTechs’ impact.
“Workforce isn’t always the first thing on the priority chain, but it should be,” she said.
Welcome Ksenia Solomatina to Knoxville.
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