Mind the Gap: Bridging the Chasm Between Technology and Value Creation

Breakthrough technologies are often born in laboratories and research centres, but far fewer ever translate into durable commercial success. The gap between technical promise and real-world value creation remains one of the most persistent challenges in technology investing. While innovation is frequently equated with novelty or scientific advancement, commercial innovation requires something more: a clear customer need, a viable route to adoption, and an ecosystem capable of supporting scale.

In this paper, we explore why so many compelling technologies fail to cross this divide — often referred to as the “Valley of Death” — and what investors should look for when assessing deep technology opportunities. Drawing on real-world examples across silicon photonics, advanced nuclear power and NVIDIA’s platform strategy, we examine how ecosystem readiness, customer adoption dynamics and defensible technical moats ultimately determine whether innovation translates into sustainable value creation.

Read the full paper here.