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My guest today is Miles Kirby, CEO of Deeptech Labs, the Cambridge-based accelerator and investor focused, as its name suggests, on deep tech – which is of course an umbrella term encompassing a broad set of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum, advanced materials, other advanced compute, and just about any technology that has not quite been commodified yet and still has substantial engineering or scientific challenges to overcome.
With a background that includes a long stint at Qualcomm Ventures, where he also ran an incubator for a while, Kirby has been in and around the deep tech space for decades. Now, under the auspices of Deeptech Labs, Kirby oversees two incubator cohorts each year, focused on technologies at the very forefront of science.
In our conversation, we talk about how to define deep tech, how the space has to reckon with what are sometimes much longer development cycles than other investments in venture, how mentalities are changing around entrepreneurship in Europe in a way that is helping close the deep tech gap with North America, the impact and implications of artificial intelligence, and how startups can make the most out of an accelerator programme.
I found Miles to be incredibly insightful on a range of issues that are increasingly relevant in today’s world, and I’m sure you’ll come away with a lot of food for thought.