Why? Well, let’s break it down – first by looking at what unites all those deep tech labels. All have the starting point that disruptive technology creates long-term advantage. All start with a mindset that insists ‘things don’t have to be the way they are.’ For us, that’s the essence of deep tech. By understanding the fundamental science and engineering behind a business or process, we can see where things could be very different. Rather than conforming to custom and evolved practice we can do better – much better in fact.

A deep tech definition

But that’s just the starting point, not a strategy. For us deep tech is all about creating that valuable and lasting competitive edge: a deep tech strategy can only succeed if it has a clear business goal. Our strength is a mindset that is open to exploring the art of the possible, but we don’t just push tech for tech’s sake. We have to find what is both possible and valuable. Then we follow through to deliver insights, products or services that are successful in the real world. We unite scientific and engineering exploration, business thinking and a ‘get it done’ attitude to achieve the overall business goal.

Our superpower, if you like, is our ability to see how to make such progress, and to assemble teams that are comfortable with doing things that no-one has ever been able to do before. Living this culture enables us to anticipate and master the technologies most likely to have significant real-world impact, so that we can jump-start innovation for clients. Not surprisingly, we excel at untangling hype from reality.

The crucial point is that because this strategy, and our execution of it, creates something novel, it can be hard or even impossible for others to copy. For me, a deep tech strategy is all about creating a unique, or at least a rare, advantage – an advantage that can only come from investing to overcome substantial science or engineering barriers.

This is why we advocate for the power of a deep tech strategy for many of our clients. They have varied options for growing their businesses, and of course often they will pursue many options in parallel.

They could, for example, adopt and customise recent off-the-shelf technology as a ‘fast follower’. (As the market usually does.) This can deliver immediate business results– for example by using off-the-shelf AI services to automate existing business operations.

This will probably bring a quick return from limited investment. But there is not much of a ‘competitive moat’ to stop others doing the same. In time they likely will, and so the improved profits will not endure. So, there’ll be a need for more ideas, more innovation and more investment. (While playing catch-up in the market all over again.)

A second option to get ahead of rivals could be by buying-in ‘ready-made’ innovation, for example by acquiring a maturing start-up that has itself invested in deep tech. This can provide long-term competitive advantage, but only if the post-merger integration is successful in capturing the value of the technology. Overall, the investment can be large (multi $100M) and the likelihood of success at best moderate.

Winning deep tech strategy

A third and winning option, you won’t be surprised to hear, is the deep tech strategy. We work with our clients to guide them through venture-like investments on a journey to protectable, long-term value. But unlike acquiring a start-up, this approach starts within, and expects to extend, their core business. Business thinking is baked in from the start – which reduces time-to-market and lessens the risk of commercial failure.

So that’s it in a nutshell. A deep tech strategy means creating technologies, services, products or processes that have never been seen before in a particular industry or market. By doing so, you gain a hard-to-beat advantage from defendable solutions that you own, and that are hard to copy. That’s the thinking – but what about the doing?

Succeeding at such a strategy needs a very different mindset from incremental improvement. Teams need a breadth of experience and the ability to make rapid progress despite uncertainty. After all, if it’s not been done before there’s unlikely to be a template to follow. Many companies that seek an ambitious breakthrough fall short.

Sometimes the ambition gets toned down to meet what is considered realistic (but no longer valuable) by a team unused to breakthroughs. Other times, teams get paralysed by the uncertainty of how to make progress when it’s not possible to fully define a project at the outset. Lots of effort may get spent, but little progress is evident.

Beyond the state-of-the-art

As the deep tech powerhouse of Capgemini, our teams thrive when challenged to go beyond the state-of-the-art. Why? Because we combine start-up speed and innovation with blue-chip scale and rigour. Of course, we have deep technical expertise and excellent facilities. But that’s not enough to deliver value from deep tech. We are relentlessly curious about technology, and about the value it can create.

Most years we’ll deliver hundreds of projects, while adding to the 5,000 or so patents we’ve delivered for our clients that underpin and protect billions of dollars of business – capturing more of the value created. In my view, it’s the fusion of business and technology expertise that makes CC tick. We have business strategists scanning the world for opportunities – while at the same time we invest strategically ahead of the innovation curve (in AI, quantum, biotech and so on).

In short, CC’s approach as deep tech consultants, designers and technologists embraces both the thinking and the doing. And one other key point before I sign off: a deep tech strategy is not for everyone. Most of our clients share both a discontent with the status quo and a desire to make a transformative leap for the good of their business – and very often society and the planet.

A deep tech strategy should, by definition, be hard and can be uncertain, but the size of the rewards compensates for that. While there are always risks in doing the ‘never been done before’, choosing the right partner will make success significantly likelier for anyone venturing down the deep tech path.

If you think a deep tech strategy might chime with your mindset and ambitions, please explore some examples of the most recent deep tech innovations. They include projects for Conservation X Labs, where a deep tech strategy meets sustainability; for CATALOG, where we contributed to the development of the first DNA-based platform for data storage; and for the Ocado Smart Platform, where we helped orchestrate swarms of Ocado robots across highly automated warehouses.