At a glance
Deep Tech Advisor, Board Advisor and Commercialisation Specialist
I am Tim Harper, a Deep Tech Advisor, entrepreneur and former ESA engineer with more than 25 years of experience building companies, commercialising emerging technologies and advising boards, investors, founders, governments and universities. I work internationally across hydrogen and energy transition, advanced materials, graphene and nanotechnology, water technologies, scientific instruments, semiconductors, robotics and industrial sensing.
Organisations engage me for board and strategic advice, technology commercialisation, investor and M&A due diligence, independent technical and commercial analysis, strategic communications, executive briefings and keynote speaking.
Why Tim Harper
I have built the kinds of companies and systems I advise on
I work with boards, investors, founders and operators when a promising technology must become a credible business or deployable industrial system. My perspective comes from building companies around scientific instruments, nanotechnology intelligence, graphene membranes, industrial water treatment and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
I began as an engineer working on failure mechanisms in semiconductors and materials used in space. Since then, I have worked across markets, investment, policy, venture building and operations. I understand why a technology can work in the laboratory and still fail in the market, and what has to change before customers, investors and infrastructure align.
Selected experience
Evidence across the commercialisation system
Founder and operator
I founded Cientifica and Element 2 and helped build companies around nanoparticle measurement, graphene membranes and industrial water treatment.
Infrastructure deployment
At Element 2, I worked on the vehicle, fuel, site, operator, customer and capital questions behind hydrogen refuelling for heavy transport. The company’s public record includes more than 1,500 refuelling operations.
Markets and investment
Through Cientifica, I helped companies, investors and governments understand the commercial and economic implications of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies.
Policy and public evidence
I have chaired national nanotechnology initiatives, designed funding programmes and given written and oral evidence to Parliament on graphene commercialisation.
Engineering and systems thinking
My ESA background in semiconductor and materials failure taught me to examine reliability, interfaces and the whole operating system, not the headline technology alone.
International work
I have advised on technical and M&A projects across Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East and worked with governments, universities, investors and major companies.
What I have built
Companies, products, markets and infrastructure
Element 2
I co-founded and formerly led a hydrogen-infrastructure business focused on heavy transport. Its public operating record includes live fleet trials, multi-year contracts and more than 1,500 refuelling operations.
Cientifica
I founded a nanotechnology market-intelligence and commercialisation business that worked internationally with industry, investors, research programmes and governments.
G2O Water and Evove
I helped connect graphene and advanced membrane technology to industrial water-treatment and separation applications.
NanoSight
I co-founded a scientific-instrument company that turned nanoparticle visualisation and sizing into a usable product.
Industries I have worked in
A repeated commercialisation challenge across frontier technologies
Deep Tech & Advanced Materials
Nanotechnology, graphene, semiconductors and materials-by-design, from market formation to industrial applications.
Hydrogen & Energy Transition
Infrastructure, fuel supply, heavy transport, fleets, industrial demand, policy and deployment economics.
Water Technologies
Graphene membranes, separations and industrial water treatment, where application fit and integration determine value.
Robotics & Industrial Sensing
Physical AI, tactile sensing, dexterity and the operating economics required to move beyond demonstrations.
Scientific Instruments & Measurement
Turning difficult measurement and visualisation problems into reliable products customers can use.
Space & Frontier Technology
Semiconductor and materials reliability, complex systems and the discipline required for high-consequence technologies.
International experience
Technology markets do not develop in isolation
I have worked across Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East on technical, commercial and M&A questions. Through Cientifica and wider advisory work, I have worked with universities, the European Commission, large companies and national governments including Austria and Singapore.
That international perspective matters because emerging technologies are shaped by different funding systems, industrial strengths, supply chains, policies and customer priorities. My historical work examined nanotechnology markets across Japan, Korea, India, China, Singapore, Europe and North America. My current analysis applies the same perspective to hydrogen, clean transport, semiconductors, robotics and industrial strategy.
Publications and research
A public record from nanotechnology to physical AI
Nanotechnology Archive
Reports, interviews, talks and more than a decade of market and policy analysis, beginning with the Nanotechnology Opportunity Report in 2002.
World Economic Forum
Contributions on emerging materials, nanotechnology and energy, graphene and clean water, and materials-by-design.
Technology Commercialisation
My Seven Barriers to Deployment framework for evaluating why promising technologies fail to scale.
Hydrogen and Energy Systems
Current analysis of infrastructure, economics, fleets, industrial demand, policy and real-world deployment.
Deep Tech
Advanced materials, semiconductors, sensing and the industrial systems around frontier technology.
Robotics and Physical AI
Humanoid robotics, tactile sensing, dexterity, reliability and commercial deployment.
Media and speaking
Commercial reality in public conversations
My public record includes TEDx, BBC News, MIT linQ, EmTech Spain, the World Economic Forum, the Forecourt Summit, international technology forums and written and oral evidence to Parliament. I speak about the commercial, economic and policy consequences of emerging technologies from the perspective of somebody who has built companies and dealt with deployment.
Independent judgement
Complex technical and commercial situations
Building and commercialising technology businesses creates difficult questions around ownership, value, evidence, partnerships, governance and communication. I bring an independent perspective when boards, investors, founders, shareholders, corporate teams or legal advisers need the technical and commercial issues separated clearly.
My public record includes managing research projects and licensing intellectual property, advising on large technical and M&A projects, analysing technology ownership and commercialisation for Parliament, and writing about governance, shareholder dynamics and board conflict. Where appropriate, I can provide independent-expert or expert-witness support focused on the commercial and technical evidence. I do not provide legal advice.
Strategic communications
Understanding technology is only part of the job
Many technical experts can understand a technology. Far fewer can explain its significance, limitations and commercial consequences clearly to investors, boards, governments, customers, journalists and shareholders.
Investor and Board Communications
Turning technical progress, uncertainty, risk and strategic choices into information that supports a decision.
Stakeholder and Public Affairs
Explaining how technology, policy, infrastructure and economic impact connect for governments, partners and public bodies.
Media and Strategic Messaging
Making complex or contentious issues understandable without losing technical accuracy or commercial context.
Contentious and High-Pressure Situations
Helping leadership teams establish the facts, communicate consistently and protect decision quality when interests diverge or scrutiny increases.
Areas of focus
Where I apply this experience now
Commercialisation and Venture Building
Finding the valuable application, customer evidence and route to a repeatable business.
Board, NED and Strategic Advisory
Supporting technology boards and advisory boards by connecting technical ambition, customer proof, capital allocation, governance and execution.
Investor, Technical and M&A Due Diligence
Independent deep-tech due diligence that tests readiness, market assumptions, deployment barriers and the investment case as one system.
Infrastructure and Energy Transition
Understanding where hydrogen and other technologies create value and what must align for deployment.
Technology and Policy Foresight
Distinguishing durable changes in markets and industrial systems from short-lived technology narratives.
Independent Expert Support
Providing independent commercial and technical judgement on complex technology, IP, governance, partnership and dispute-related questions.
Strategic Communications
Making complex technologies and contentious commercial issues useful and understandable to decision-makers.
Get in touch
Working on a technology where the science is only the beginning?
Tell me what needs to be decided, what evidence you have and where progress is getting stuck.
Tools for testing assumptions
Fleet Readiness Score
Start with readinessFleet TCO Calculator
Run the TCO calculatorBreak-Even Analysis
Test sensitivityBattery Payload Calculator
Explore payloadWind Curtailment Calculator
Explore curtailmentExplore by topic
Hydrogen
Hydrogen hubBatteries & Fleet Decarbonisation
Batteries hubInfrastructure
Infrastructure hubNanotechnology Archive
ArchiveConversations & Briefings
Some conversations remain informal. Others develop into private briefings, advisory work, due diligence, board roles, introductions, roundtables or longer-term projects. The website is not here to force that process. It is here to make the right conversations easier to start.