Independent advisory for those who must decide on a technology they don't know well enough.
I don't hand over an opinion or a blunt verdict. I take technology claims and break them down into their fundamental components, then return a map of the residual uncertainty — before you invest, acquire, sign, or build something that has to hold up for real.
Decision-makers need to see the real risk, not just the potential.
Technical Due Diligence
For those looking at a deeptech startup or a frontier technology who sense that the story is compelling, but the numbers deserve to be questioned. An independent report that falls in love not with the idea, but with the rigour behind it.
For those who invest in deeptech and in the futureIndependent Technology Review
For those who must bring an industrial technology into a real plant. To understand whether what works on paper and in brochures is compatible with their own reality.
For those adopting or changing industrial technologySustainability Strategy
For those who must build a credible ESG pathway and don't know where to start. Not a downloaded template: a strategy built on the company's real materiality, with ordered priorities and measurable objectives.
For those who must structure their own ESG pathwayESG Framework
For those who must adopt a specific ESG framework — for a regulatory obligation, a client, the market — and don't know which one to choose or how to prepare to meet it. Not a list of every existing framework: the right one, with a concrete path to get there.
For those who must choose and reach an ESG frameworkTechnology Transfer
For those with a proprietary technology who need to understand how to turn it into a product or an industrial agreement. Thirty-five years of direct R&D experience at the service of the passage from lab to market.
For those with technology to industrialise or licenseThe reasoning behind the report
Every technology claim lives on conditions that must all be true simultaneously: the chemistry, the physics, the scale, the intellectual property, the economics, the ESG narrative. I take technology claims, dismantle them down to the last screw and reassemble them until the breaking point appears. I don't look for confirmations: I look for the first place where it stops working.
Five independent questions, one honest picture.
The state of each axis is determined by its critical node, never by an average. An average is anaesthetic: it hides exactly the information the method is looking for — where the system breaks first. The client does not receive a synthetic score: they receive a decision map that shows which axes hold, which are under tension, and which fracture.
A concrete example is worth more than any description of the method.
Extract from a sample report on an anonymised case: an e-methanol-from-CO₂ technology assessed at Pre-Series A stage.
"65% yield on an industrial module, competitive cost at €X/kg, modular scalable process, negative carbon footprint."
Four conditions that must hold together, not one at a time.
The investment is not justifiable today. It becomes so only after the defensibility of the catalyst is clarified and a targeted pilot campaign resolves the thermal and scale bottleneck. The method does not say "no": it says "not now, and here is exactly what must happen for me to say yes with technical conscience."
Read the full report (in Italian) →Five perimeters, one discipline.
Technical Due Diligence
Complete technical assessment of the claims of a deeptech startup or technology, commissioned by those who must decide whether to invest. The report returns the state of five independent axes, with precise localisation of the critical node for each non-robust axis. Not an invest/don't-invest judgement: a navigable decision map.
Independent Technology Review
Comparative and practical assessment of mature technologies available on the market, before purchase, licensing or adoption. The focus is not on the laboratory but on real compatibility with the client's operating context: scale, feedstock, plant integration, adoption risks. The report doesn't say what to do. It says what to verify before signing.
Sustainability Strategy
Building the company's ESG pathway starting from real materiality, not a downloaded template. The starting point is what actually matters for that specific company — sector, value chain, stakeholders — not a standard checklist. Not a generic ESG plan: a strategy with ordered priorities and measurable objectives, built on the topics the company can actually govern.
ESG Framework: Selection and Preparation
Among dozens of ESG frameworks (CSRD, GRI, ISO 14064, SBTi, B Corp, EcoVadis...), identifying the one genuinely suited to the case — for a regulatory obligation, a client request or market positioning — followed by concretely preparing the company to reach it. Not a list of every existing framework: the right one for the specific context, with the path to get there.
Technology Transfer
Thirty-five years of direct industrial R&D experience at the service of the passage from lab technology to a product or industrial agreement. The service doesn't stop at assessment: when needed, it also includes actively searching for a buyer, licensee or industrial partner. Technology transfer is by nature a long process with an uncertain outcome, with timelines and paths that vary widely case by case — which is why we only work on technologies with a potential deal value above €1,000,000.
When to choose what
| Technical Due Diligence | Independent Technology Review | Sustainability Strategy | ESG Framework | Technology Transfer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You are assessing | A deeptech startup or technology for an investment | A mature technology to purchase or license | Your own ESG pathway, from scratch or restructured | Which ESG framework to adopt and how to prepare to meet it | How to bring proprietary technology to market |
| The decision is | Invest / don't invest | Buy / integrate / sign a contract | Which ESG priorities to set and in what order | Which standard to adopt and how to get there | License, launch a joint venture, or spin off |
| The starting point is | The founder's or scientific team's technology claim | The supplier's or vendor's commercial claim | The company's materiality and value chain | A regulatory obligation, a client request, or a market goal | A proprietary technology with IP to unlock value from |
| The focus is on | Scientific fundamentals and scalability | Operational compatibility with your context | ESG priorities and measurable objectives | Gaps against the chosen framework's requirements | Technology maturity and industrial counterparts |
| Who commissions | Funds, accelerators, family offices | SMEs, R&D managers, entrepreneurs | SMEs, companies without a structured ESG function | Companies subject to a regulatory obligation or client request | Research centers, universities, companies with proprietary technology |
| Typical timeline | 1–4 weeks | 1–4 weeks | 2–6 weeks | 2–4 weeks | Months, sometimes over a year |
Petricca Advisors does not produce legal opinions, financial valuations or investment recommendations.
In domains where there is an overlap with proprietary activities — dehydration/drying, protein recovery from agricultural waste, catalyst cleaning — the conflict is declared before the engagement, not after. In case of conflict, the engagement is not accepted.
Fees vary according to the complexity of the perimeter. The structure is always communicated before the engagement, never after. A fixed fee for the defined perimeter, with no success fee or incentives tied to the outcome — except for Technology Transfer, where a success fee applies on the final deal (details in the service card).
Flavio Petricca
A chemist by training. I assess deeptech technologies for investment funds and industrial companies with the same rigour with which I help build, scale and run them. When I look at a plant or a claim, I don't see just a promise: I see the physics, the materials and the people who will have to make it work every day.
Education and research
A dual specialisation in Chemical Sciences and in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability at the University of Milan, with training in Life Cycle Assessment, environmental economics, ESG, sustainability accounting and advanced data analysis. I have worked on nanostructured materials and their applications, combining chemistry with a path in Design Thinking (HEC Paris) and international R&D management: where the technical dimension meets the strategic and operational one.
Operational experience
Before founding Petricca Advisors I assessed pioneering technologies at Aliteco AG in Switzerland: a privileged vantage point on what distinguishes a solid claim from a well-presented promise. As founder of Pherkard Tech, I lead an internal R&D team and coordinate collaborations with international experts on the development of proprietary technologies (TVI and REFIR) in industrial drying and protein recovery.
I don't assess technologies from a desk: I watch them being born, take them to scale and measure their impact when they stop being slides and become steel, valves and production shifts.
Structural separation
Petricca Advisors and Pherkard Tech are structurally separate entities. Overlapping domains are declared before every engagement. If a technology falls into a conflict area, the client knows immediately: no ambiguity, no double hat.
A first technical conversation
A free, no-commitment technical briefing. It serves to understand whether the project falls within the perimeter of Petricca Advisors and which service fits it best.
Typically 45 minutesProcess chemistry · Advanced materials · Cleantech · Pharma · Agrifood · Wastewater · Any deeptech where the critical question is scientific or industrial
I do not accept engagements inIndustrial dehydration/drying, protein recovery from agricultural waste, catalyst cleaning — for conflict with the activities of Pherkard Tech.
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