Dr Elena Kniazeva is Senior Programme Manager for Critical Technologies at Technology Scotland, industry representative body for enabling technologies in Scotland and the Cluster Management Organisation (CMO) for Scotland’s Critical Technologies Supercluster.  In this role, she works across sectors such as semiconductors, photonics, quantum, sensing and connectivity. She supports industry engagement, cross-sector collaboration, internationalisation, skills development, innovation, and the growth of the wider ecosystem.

Elena holds a double PhD from the European Marie Skłodowska-Curie network, where her research focused on advanced semiconductor lasers and QEPAS gas sensing technologies across Italy, France and Germany, building on her earlier experience in fibre-optic sensing.

Prior to joining Technology Scotland, Elena worked as an R&D Engineer at the Critical Technologies Accelerator (CTA), contributing to complex, multi-stakeholder projects across semiconductor and quantum technologies.

Elena also has extensive experience in scientific communication, industry engagement and outreach.