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issue #4

Hello World,

Welcome to 2020, a new decade and a new edition of Deep Thoughts. Coming to you today from Zoë 👋. I am lucky enough to work with some of our fantastic companies, SLAMcore, Third Eye and vHive. I'm into robots and the augmentation of human capability (yes please do put an implant into my brain😉) but I also want to be involved with companies solving big global needs - which for me, means climate and environmental issues. Get in touch if you're doing something in any of these fields!

We've also been looking deeper at what's happening with the quantum computing world both in the UK and in Europe. Take a look at our market map here:

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We are really excited to see the move beyond classical computing picking up pace and what this means for very complex optimisation and simulation problems. We'll be hosting a meet up this quarter for anyone also interested in quantum - academics; corporates; entrepreneurs and investors.  More to follow!

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In the past few weeks, we have been:

  • Excited by the first chip-to-chip quantum teleportation harnessing silicon photonic chip fabrication. They do this by manipulating single particles of light within programmable nanoscale circuits. The chips are able to encode quantum information in light generated inside the circuits and therefore are able to process ‘quantum information’ with high efficiency and extremely low noise. Pretty rad!
  • Spending time on neuromorphic nanowires - silver (PVP-Ag) nanowires used for creation of synthetic neurons that could increase the processing abilities of Artificial Neural Networks. The team behind the research intends to design a brain-like memory device that operates using fundamentally different principles than those used in current computers.
  • Reminiscing with the 2019 AI Index Report produced by Stanford, Harvard and OpenAI which is a fantastic recap of how AI is booming in a range of metrics covering research, education and technical achievements.
  • Intrigued by antimicrobial resistance, particularly targeting “alarm proteins” to reinstate antibiotic sensitivity, rather than directly killing the microbes. The “alarm proteins” signal the presence of new antibiotics to microbes, preparing it to build resistance against the new antibiotic. 
  • Getting excited about exploring ML algorithms a bit more 'safely' with Open AI’s launch of the Safety Gym.
  • Grateful to be seeing technology being built to enable the hearing impaired. Companies like WaveNet and Tacotron are allowing for higher quality text-to-speech translation resulting in more natural sounding voice technologies. Read here. In the same essence, checkout Labrador systems which is building assistive robots to improve the lives of the disabled and the aged.  
  • Learning about rockets and watching some cool videos (go straight to 14:50 seconds to watch the magic happen) of launches as we continue to explore the space. Also, for those interested in space tech more broadly, here’s a great high level primer on the market.
  • Exploring a new industrial yeast strain using CO2 as feedstock rather than glycerol or sucrose. Biofactories that can utilise waste materials as feedstock should help drive down costs within the field of Synthetic Biology.
  • Enjoying this proposal for a set of guidelines for what a general AI benchmark should look like.
  • Continuing to be amazed by Cerebras.
  • Watching the changes at Big Tech companies like Google unfold, serving as an increasing reminder that values and culture can’t get lost on the journey.
  • Rooting for these researchers to reinvigorate how we look at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
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As always, do take a look at our portfolio jobs page and watch this space as the Deep Tech Pod will be recruiting associates soon.

Do feel free to drop me a note zoe@octopusventures.com to chat about anything Deep Tech and if you’re just visiting, remember to sign up to receive our next edition.

Zoë

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