2021: the year
of Deep Tech.
8 January 2021
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EuropeanStartups.co
About European Startups.
Created by Dealroom and Sifted, and supported by the European
Commission and European Parliament, European Startups is a
two-year project aimed at facilitating informed conversation and
collaboration among European tech ecosystem stakeholders, to
take Europe’s startup economy to the next level.
At the centre of the initiative is the European Startups database, a
definitive platform providing macro-level trends and trusted
insights for data-driven policy making, complemented with
investment-grade research and inclusive events.
Previous reports
Download them all on europeanstartups.co/reports
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EuropeanStartups.co
Why this Deep Tech report.
A big thanks to
This report heavily leans on insights from conversations with:
The term Deep Tech invokes great excitement for some, scepticism for
others, and sometimes both simultaneously.
Excitement, because of things like quantum computing, autonomous
vehicles, and protein folding solutions. Artificial Intelligence alone could add
another $13 trillion to the global economy over the next decade, according
to McKinsey. The potential value of nuclear fusion or curing cancer is hard
to overstate.
Meanwhile, there’s also scepticism, not about these innovations, but about
the term “Deep Tech”. Firstly, it’s rather vague. Secondly, it implies a too
narrow focus on cool technologies for their own sake, while losing sight of
commercialisation and competitiveness.
The EU is heavily investing in strengthening Europe’s Deep Tech and
Blockchain ecosystem. But there is a worry that this effort is insufficiently
supported by efforts
to make Europe more competitive and
entrepreneurial.
This report aims to better establish what Deep Tech actually is, how
Europe’s ecosystem works, what it’s lacking, how it can compete and what
desirable policy goals might be.
Dr. Inga Deakin
Principal
Draper Esprit
Nicolas Colin
Co-founder & Director
The Family
Siraj Khaliq
Part