Wise words and waggishness… January 2025

A selection of notable quotes and comments we’ve come across this month

Marc Ambasna-Jones
A headshot of Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone

“I think AI is now a core component in everything we look at, even if it’s in advanced materials or therapeutics they are using it to help accelerate. If you haven’t got AI as part of the business model, you’re missing a trick.” 

Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, talking about AI becoming a prerequisite for spinouts in our article Deep tech investment 2024-2025: will AI continue to dominate?


A headshot of Krysta Svore, technical fellow, Advanced Quantum Development, Quantum at Microsoft

“Not all types of qubits allow for the quantum error correction needed to enable more reliable quantum computing. And without reliable quantum computing, valuable solutions to classically intractable problems are unlikely to be achieved. It’s essential to graduate from computing with noisy physical qubits to operating with reliable, logical ones.”

Krysta Svore, technical fellow, Advanced Quantum Development, Quantum at Microsoft, in our article Quantum computing in 2025: risk and reward


A headshot of Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at QuEra

“Many funding opportunities are collaborative, encouraging partnerships between academia, industry, and government agencies to drive innovation.”

Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at QuEra, talking to BI Foresight about how investors are increasingly recognising the long-term potential of quantum computing, leading to more sustained funding commitments


A headshot of Sophie Winwood, operating partner at Foxe Capital

“Everything in venture is connected and as soon as the IPO windows open then that signals to those further down the track that there is a path to liquidity. Anecdotally I’m seeing people say that things are starting to pick up.”

Sophie Winwood, operating partner at Foxe Capital, talking about the year ahead in our article Deep tech investment 2024-2025: will AI continue to dominate?


A headshot of Krisztian Benyo, technical business developer with Pasqal

“Quantum is great for edge tasks that are hard to solve with CPUs alone. Its qualities make it useful, for example, in factory floor automatisation where there are a lot of resources that you need to track and allocate and constraints that you need to deal with.”

Krisztian Benyo, technical business developer with quantum technology player Pasqal, talking to BI Foresight about the future of edge computing 


A headshot of Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, partner at the NATO Innovation Fund

“Some of them have done one or two investments in the space, and I wouldn’t be surprised if people start actually trying to raise fully fresh funds focused on deep tech. We’re going to see a lot more.”

Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, partner at the NATO Innovation Fund, talking to Sifted about the growing interest in deep tech from generalist VCs in 2025

Marc Ambasna-Jones
Marc Ambasna-Jones / Editor-in-chief

Working as a technology journalist and writer since 1989, Marc has written for a wide range of titles on technology, business, education, politics and sustainability, with work appearing in The Guardian, The Register, New Statesman, Computer Weekly and many more.

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