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Noncommutative geometry has turned up in several approaches to quantum gravity, including string theory, DSR, and loop quantum gravity. But none of these capture the depth of Conne's original conception, which he and a few mathematicians, mostly in France, continue to develop. The various versions of it that appear in other programs are based on superficial ideas, such as making the coordinates of space and time into noncommuting quantities. Conne's idea is much deeper; it is a unification at the foundations of algebra and geometry. It could only be the invention of someone who does not just exploit mathematics but thinks strategically and creatively about the structure of mathematical knowledge and its future.
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Lee Smolin (The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next)