Dr Lee Thornton is a Partner at IP Group, one of the UK’s leading deep tech investment firms, where he leads on artificial intelligence and digital transformation — a portfolio that spans future computing, next-generation networks, and applied AI. With over fifteen years of experience identifying and backing world-class science at the earliest stages, Lee has built a reputation as one of the most technically rigorous investors in the UK deep tech ecosystem, combining a scientist’s instinct for what is real with a seasoned investor’s eye for what is scalable.

He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the boards of several cutting-edge technology companies operating at the frontier of semiconductors and silicon innovation. Accelercomm is on a mission to supercharge 5G, satellite and other wireless networks through high-performance signal processing IP — a company Lee backed has back since its inception. Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies is solving the memory bottleneck for data-hungry AI applications by enabling fast, low-power, non-volatile memory to be integrated on the same chip as the processor — a potential step-change for edge AI. Lumai is enabling AI deployment at scale with a fully optical computing architecture that promises to deliver AI inference at a fraction of the power and cost of conventional GPU-based systems, having recently launched its Iris optical inference server. And Quantum Dice is developing the world’s first compact, high-speed, continuously self-certifying quantum random number generator for use in probabilistic processing units, bringing quantum-grade solutions to data centres and beyond.

Lee’s credentials are rooted in the lab as much as the boardroom. He holds a DPhil and a First Class MChem from the University of Oxford, where his doctoral research in physical and theoretical chemistry provided a solid scientific training which he still draws upon today. Before joining IP Group in 2015, he served as Science and Technology Trade Commissioner for the Canadian Government, and prior to that worked as a Senior Scientist on a £150m high-power laser facility for the UK Ministry of Defence. This rare combination of hands-on scientific leadership, government-level strategic thinking, and decade-long investment execution gives Lee a vantage point that few in the industry can match.

At this conference, Lee brings that full-spectrum perspective to one of the most consequential questions facing the semiconductor sector today: how founders, innovators, and institutions can navigate the increasingly complex landscape of public and private capital to fund the next generation of chip and silicon technologies. From InnovateUK to Series B, from non-dilutive grant funding to institutional venture — and having personally led initiatives that have leveraged over £30m of non-dilutive funding across his portfolio — Lee will offer hard-won, actionable insight into building the funding strategies that turn breakthrough science into industry-defining businesses.