Enabling Value from Technology

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

Harding Innovation Consulting brings independent, senior techno-economic judgement to the capital-intensive technology decisions where the most capital is at stake in heavy industry. The physics, 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 technology to back when the variables are complex, the horizon is long, and the capital at stake is large. Structured evaluation first, then custom modelling built around your data and operations, so the decision survives scrutiny. We're paid for the analysis, not for a particular answer, so “don't build this” is always an available answer.

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

Value-Led Decarbonisation

  • Heavy-haul rail fleet transition and zero-emission platforms: Battery Electric Locomotive (BEL), Battery Electric Tender (BET), Hydrogen Electric Tender (HET), Tender-Ready Hybrid (TRH), Loco Regen Battery (LRB)
  • Corridor-by-corridor Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), charging infrastructure and capital planning to 2050
  • Heavy Mine and Mobile Equipment (HME) fleet decarbonisation: trolley assist, hybrid, battery-electric and hydrogen pathways, costed on a consistent basis

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Mineral processing plant with mountains behind Track record

Mining & Mineral Processing Decisions

  • Step-change flowsheet evaluation: recovery, throughput, energy and Net Present Value (NPV) per technology
  • Due diligence on novel processing projects: unit operations to ramp-up risk
  • Critical-minerals portfolio risk and supply strategy, from mine to battery

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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.

“We build custom models, in Python and Excel, to deeply understand the techno-economic drivers of each operation and identify the lowest-TCO, highest-performance solution.”

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

Strategy is defined with the client and underpinned by custom techno-economic models. 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.

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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.

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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