Impact-driven investment
Grapperhaus firmly believes that both the Dutch government and the EU should focus much more on deep tech and on the investments required. “Europe excels at deep tech, although we didn’t call it that in the last hundred years. But Philips, ASML, TomTom: of course, it's all deep tech.”
This is why Grapperhaus is an advocate of ‘impact-driven investment’. The National Growth Fund (Groeifonds), as well as Invest-NL, for example, or major investors such as pension funds, should set a strict condition that 20% of any investments must be in technologies that contribute to a better world. “We genuinely need to look at deep tech from a different perspective,”, says Grapperhaus. “It’s a solution to many of the problems we are currently facing as a planet.”
Deep Tech Fund
The Dutch government seems to take the same view. A week after our interview with Grapperhaus and Kesteloo, the Cabinet and Invest-NL announced joint plans to invest half a billion euros in growth companies, partly by means of a Deep Tech Fund targeting knowledge-intensive start-ups and scale-ups.
It is ‘our duty to create prospects for growth companies and support them in their development’, said State Secretary Keijzer (Economic Affairs and Climate Policy), when making the announcement. “Their growth delivers jobs and income for all of us, brings new products and technologies onto the market and keeps our economy strong.”
Ecosystem
In other words, deep tech is ‘the enabler of the future’. It is increasingly driven by start-ups, closely associated with the university, investors, industry, incubators and field labs. A deep tech ecosystem of this kind is essential. It brings together all the parties needed for the development of complex innovations. It is also one of the reasons why PHYSEE is based at TU Delft Campus.
“Climate change, the pandemic, the way we consume. We need technological breakthroughs to initiate a transition around big societal issues”, is how De la Tour summarizes it. “The good news is that the solutions are there. We just need to get them to the market.
Lilium
It has now become clear that Charturvedi's words were prophetic. In 2016, the Hello Tomorrow Challenge was won by Lilium, a German start-up – then just a year old - that developed an autonomous, electric flying taxi capable of vertical take-off and landing. This year saw the company grow to become a unicorn. And it really does look a lot like a flying car.
Deep tech & radical innovation
How does deep tech relate to different forms of innovation? Experts draw a distinction between four types of innovation: incremental, sustaining, disruptive and radical.
- Incremental innovation involves the gradual improvement of existing products and services. Examples might include a new Gillette razor or a new TV.
- Like incremental innovation, sustaining innovation also involves gradual improvements to existing products as a way of maintaining market position. The new iPhone is an example of that.
- Disruptive innovation relates to new business models that disrupt existing markets, such as Netflix.
- Radical innovation involves innovations based on technological breakthroughs that transform whole arms of industry and often create new markets. The PC and the internet are examples of that.
Radical innovation also includes innovations that can solve major societal problems. Although deep tech can also be disruptive, it primarily involves radical innovation.