Enabling Value from Technology

Confident, capital-intensive technology decisions, backed by experience and the numbers.

Harding Innovation Consulting brings independent, senior judgement, grounded in decades of technology and innovation experience, to the capital-intensive technology decisions where the most is at stake in heavy industry. The physics, chemistry, engineering and economics modelled together, in formats you can open, audit, keep and maintain.

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What we do

Independent judgement on the technology decisions that require the most capital

We help boards and chief engineers in heavy industry decide which technologies to back, and how to develop, de-risk and implement them – especially when the variables are complex, the horizon is long, and the capital at stake is large. We've spent decades inside these decisions and know where projects fail. We prove the case with structured evaluation and custom modelling, so the decision survives scrutiny.

Heavy-haul freight train on a long-distance corridor Track record

Value-Led Decarbonisation

  • Six-plus years leading heavy-haul rail fleet decarbonisation: a costed pathway to net zero at the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), corridor by corridor, with capital planning to 2050
  • Zero-emission and hybrid locomotive platforms we conceived (Battery Electric Locomotive, Battery Electric Tender, Hydrogen Electric Tender, Tender-Ready Hybrid, Loco Regen Battery), with the first now in build for on-track trials
  • Mine-fleet and Heavy Mobile Equipment (HME) decarbonisation: rapid screening studies, initiative roadmaps and portfolio assessments across trolley assist, hybrid, battery-electric, hydrogen and LNG pathways, costed on a consistent basis

See the track record →

Mineral processing plant with mountains behind Track record

Mining & Mineral Processing Decisions

  • Critical-minerals due diligence and supply risk, from mine to battery: project-by-project technical review to underpin investment decisions
  • Due diligence on novel processing projects: unit operations to ramp-up risk
  • Step-change flowsheet evaluation: recovery, throughput, energy and Net Present Value (NPV) per technology
  • Data-led debottlenecking of operating plants, using the plant's own operating history as the evidence

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The same decision problem — complex variables, long horizons, large capital at stake — exists in adjacent sectors, and the same independence gap is waiting to be filled. The method travels; more chapters will follow.

“Experience tells us which technologies will win and where the risks hide. And we build custom models to deeply understand the techno-economic drivers, so the decision stands up to board scrutiny.”

6+ years
leading heavy-haul fleet decarbonisation, advising tier-one miners and a global automotive OEM
Peer-reviewed
research published in the Journal of Energy Storage; International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA), Conference on Railway Excellence (CORE), AusRAIL and Heavy Haul papers
Award-recognised
IHHA Best Paper (Innovation & Sustainability) and Australian Financial Review (AFR) Sustainability Leaders winner
How we work

Consulting-led, model-supported

Judgement leads: strategy is defined with the client, drawing on decades of experience of which technologies succeed in which applications, and why. Custom techno-economic models then underpin it. We screen and evaluate the options, then deep-model the survivors, so decisions survive scrutiny because the economics, the engineering and the operations were modelled together, not assumed.

See our methodology
Why HIC

Judgement a large firm structurally can't match

Independent, senior techno-economic judgement on capital-intensive technology decisions in heavy industry, delivered by people with the lived experience to know where the numbers get gamed, at a price and speed large firms structurally cannot match.

Senior people do the work

The person who scopes your engagement builds the model and sits alongside your engineers.

Independent enough to say no

We're paid for the judgement, not for a particular answer, so “don't build this” is a legitimate outcome.

Models you can open and keep

By default we build in Excel and Python, so the model for your decision is yours: auditable, transferable, no lock-in or licence fee. Prefer a managed or proprietary platform? We can do that too.

Priced on value, not overhead

No leverage pyramid or staff utilisation targets to feed. The price reflects the work and the value.

Speed without shortcuts

Scoped and underway in days, not weeks. The rigour is in the method and the experience, not the process around it.

Judgement as the AI filter

We use AI to go faster, but know where the outputs need interrogating, because we've seen these decisions from the inside.

Where we're not the right fit: if you mainly need a big-name brand, a very large team, or people on the ground worldwide, a larger firm may serve you better, and we'll gladly tell you. Where the decision comes down to judgement, independence and speed, this is exactly where we shine.

In their words

What clients say

“Damien has the rare ability to turn complex transition challenges into practical, executable strategy. I’d recommend him without hesitation.”

James Petty
Independent Executive Advisor and former Head of Asset Management & Strategy, Aurizon

“A rare combination of deep technical expertise and commercial judgement.”

Executive Director, Purchasing & Supply Chain
Global Automotive OEM

“Among the most thorough and credible technical reviews I’ve seen.”

Dr Stephen Grocott
former CEO, Queensland Pacific Metals

Read the full testimonials across our track record →

A lean core, scaled through a senior partner network.

Principal-led, partner-scaled: senior expertise on every engagement, no overheads. The right people doing the right work.

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