Meet John Karp: Helping Maine’s innovators reach new heights

From nuclear submarines to America’s Cup yachts to handcrafted guitars, John Karp’s career has spanned industries, continents, and technologies. Today, as Executive in Residence at the Maine Technology Institute (MTI), and Interim Executive Director of the Maine Space Corporation, Karp brings that same inventive spirit to helping entrepreneurs turn bright ideas into thriving Maine businesses.

Karp first connected with MTI through his work with the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a nonprofit that helps Maine manufacturers improve performance and scale. Through that partnership, he began advising companies that had received MTI funding. “The wonderful variety and creativity of the applicants has kept me involved for many years,” he said.

A Career Built on Innovation and Craftsmanship

Trained as a mechanical engineer, Karp’s early career began at a shipyard refueling nuclear submarines. From there, he pivoted to automation equipment, advanced yacht engineering, and even structural rigging that supports the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. Product development and commercialization have been a decades-long theme, with his first patent in 1989.

His hands-on experience deepened across industries, from medical devices to jet engine sensors to acoustic guitars. At Bourgeois Guitars in Lewiston, Karp and his team pioneered the use of torrefied (thermally-aged) wood from Maine spruce, which enhanced the tonal quality of the high-end, hand-built instruments.

Over the years, he has become what he calls “industry agnostic, opportunity centric,” a mindset that keeps him open to the wide range of ventures he supports today through MTI.

Supporting Maine’s Makers, One Company at a Time

There’s no such thing as a typical day for Karp. “Today began with an hour in the office, a drive to Skowhegan, working with an extrusion manufacturer, then walking right next door to work with a wood-fired pizza oven manufacturer, then a wood products manufacturer after that, with peak foliage along the way. Pinch me.” 

Karp’s favorite moments are when he sees MTI’s impact firsthand, like when Bourgeois Guitars grew its workforce from eight to 50, or when a Skowhegan company, Genplex, developed novel extrusion processes. “The material manufacturer sent an engineering team to learn how [the owner] did it and today he makes the product: heating and cooling tubes for use in space suits.”

Karp also points out the additional programs MTI takes on. During the pandemic, MTI’s team helped distribute emergency relief funding, over ten times MTI’s normal dollar volume, keeping countless Maine businesses afloat. “I couldn’t count how many were saved by those grants,” he said.

Passion for Innovation and Maine’s Future

Karp’s guiding principle for entrepreneurs is simple but hard-earned: do your market research. “The number one cause of new product failure is inadequate market research,” he explained. “And don’t just ask your friends and family. They’re too nice. There’s no proof of a product’s value like a buck out of a stranger’s wallet.”

He’s equally passionate about nurturing Maine’s future workforce. As Vice Chair of the Owls Head Transportation Museum, Karp helps lead programs that introduce K–8 students to science, technology, and engineering through hands-on experiences. 

“Owls Head has built major programs in getting Maine’s K–8 youth into the sciences with hands-on learning and observing, operating the collection of planes and ground vehicles there,” he said. “STEM can lead to great careers not only in the sciences but also the trades.”

Looking forward, Karp sees enormous potential in Maine’s growing space industry. “I have to say the space industry in all its many forms is the great expanding frontier,” he said. “This industry will top one trillion dollars in the next years, so even a small niche will be huge in the Maine scale of things.”

Beyond the Office: Fueled by Curiosity

When he’s not advising startups or championing space exploration, Karp can be found sailing, skiing, road biking, or restoring vintage cars and boats. He also volunteers as a mountain host at Saddleback.

His favorite ways to experience Maine? From the open cockpit of a biplane over Penobscot Bay, offshore on boats all over Maine’s beautiful coast, or enjoying the House Bun at Little Saigon in Brunswick.