Pen Portrait: Ewan Kirk on DeepTech, ideas, and dining at Nando’s

This is Pen Portrait, our interview series with the people shaping ideas about the future. This month, we put questions to entrepreneur Ewan Kirk, founder of Cantab Capital Partners and chairman of DeepTech Labs.

What are you working on right now?

A big variety of things from boards to mentoring small companies and philanthropic projects.

Over the last few months, I’ve actually had my head down building a new privacy-first mobile app. There are lots of players in this space, of course, but I’ve seen the same thing time and again: every app promises privacy, then quietly does the opposite, whether it’s reading your personal communications or mapping your friendships. I’ve complained and worried about this over the years and rather than continue to worry, I thought I’d give it a go myself.

Alongside all that, I’ve been mentoring a couple of interesting DeepTech start-ups and continuing my ongoing research into new Defence Tech.

How is the world different now compared to when you were a child?

Uncountable ways, but primarily access to all the facts, information, music, and video in the world available at all times and in all locations.

What has AI changed about your life, if anything?

Google AI summaries have made my life considerably worse.

What makes you concerned about the future?

Intergenerational unfairness and a tiny group of people who have wealth which is significantly larger than the GDPs of mid-sized countries.

What makes you optimistic about the future?

Life science and deeptech innovations. AlphaFold is huge step forward for life sciences, and we’re just at the start of that journey and what it means for drug discovery. It’ll be interesting to watch how quickly biology becomes an engineering discipline.

I’m also very bullish on privacy-tech. I think that’s a term we’ll start hearing much more. The tech world’s increasing focus on privacy and security bodes well after the Wild West of the first 20 years of the internet.

If you could scrap one law or regulation, what would it be?

Planning and zoning regulations.

Where’s the best place for a lunch meeting?

Nando’s. Tasty food delivered quickly, which doesn’t get in the way of the purpose of the meeting.

Which cuisine is underappreciated?

Spanish.

What was the last film you saw in a cinema?

My elder daughter’s London Film School graduation film.

What book are you reading at the moment?

Platform Decay, the new Murderbot novel by Martha Wells.

Do you subscribe to any newspapers or magazines?

Unsurprisingly, the Financial Times and the Economist.

Which songs would you send into space?

The entire catalogue of The Wurzels’ songs should be fired deep into the heart of the Sun.

What was your first job?

Tyre fitting.

What’s the best career advice you’ve received?

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint”.

Which generation has it worst?

Of the current generations, Gen Z is under a lot of pressure. However, if you were born in 1900, you had to go through the First and Second World Wars, Spanish Flu and a global depression. On that metric, probably the generation born in the early fourteenth century had it worst due to the Black Death, the Little Ice Age, and the Hundred Years’ War.

Where do you find new ideas?

I have lots of ideas, but it’s only by talking to other people that I can work out whether or not they’re good ones.

How does innovation happen?

Insight and inspiration are important, but it happens mostly through the hard work of turning an idea into a product or service.

Dr. Ewan Kirk is a technology entrepreneur, early-stage investor, and founder of Cantab Capital Partners. He is the chairman of DeepTech Labs, a Cambridge-based accelerator focused on building deep technology companies, and in recent years, has invested in a number of technology startups in the UK. He was appointed a non-executive director of BAE Systems plc in June 2021.