Dr. Harcharan Singh graduated from University of New South Wales, Australia with a doctoral degree majoring in Supercritical Fluid Extraction of natural products. He began his career as a lecturer with the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Malaya for nine years.

Dr. Harcharan then joined the palm oil refining industry. He was the Vice President and Head of the Innovation and Knowledge Management Centre at Mewah Group, a Singaporean conglomerate that specialises in refining crude palm oil and producing palm oil-based downstream products such as margarine, shortening, vegetable ghee, and cooking oil. He also headed a business unit that produced vegetable rumen by-pass fat for the livestock industry.

Dr. Harcharan joined Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation Sdn Bhd as Vice President for Industry Development in 2009, focusing on attracting bio-based investments in the agriculture and industrial biotechnology sectors. He assisted companies with tax incentives, business plan proposals, and other needs. In 2013, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of the newly established Technology Management Office, managing and commercialising four platform technologies to advance local biotechnology.

Thereafter, Dr. Harcharan briefly joined the Business Development Division, where he was tasked to generate income from platform technologies and to assist in establishing a business case for developing and commercialising medicinal plants as health supplements for the local industry.

In 2019, Dr. Harcharan was appointed to lead the consolidated Industry Development Divisions, comprising of AgBiotech, BioIndustrial, and Healthcare Bio sectors. His key role is to establish a robust and all-inclusive biotechnology ecosystem by engaging with key industries and government stakeholders to attract start-ups and expanding companies; formulating strategies to draw investments; sourcing funds for companies from government agencies; and be involved in policy matters to support the bio-based industry.