Emin Askerov
Cleantech FOAK Advisor

This was my second Battery Day in the Netherlands. Last year I came for the first time and was surprised at how much battery innovation is happening here. This year the event was bigger, much better organised, and had over 600 participants. It also gained an international dimension — with Matthieu Hubert from ACC giving a keynote on the French sector, and a dedicated session on cooperation with China. A few takeaways: 1) Scaling Dutch startups means going international. The g

What is the future of electric mobility?

Alternative business model for a battery factory

What Renault 5 might mean for the EU car industry.

My full breakdown is now live: What’s working, what’s missing, and what scaleups, especially in cleantech and manufacturing, can do today without waiting for Brussels.

Don’t play with the government. That’s a rule my father taught me. He built his business in the 90s and early 2000s in Russia. He knew first hand that the government will screw you over faster than your private sector partner and in worse ways. For a long time, I thought that this rule applied only to authoritarian states like Russia, where the law is weak. The current passing of the “Big Beautiful Bill” in the US now shows that it is true for the West as well. The Inflation

During my time scaling up climate tech, I wouldn’t touch government grants. Even when they could clearly reduce my capital costs, help to avoid dilution and generally help to speed up a project. In Russia, dealing with government money means that sooner or later, you’ll have a budget controller knocking at your door, whose sole purpose is to find out how you misused public funds, so that he can ransom money from you or throw you into jail. The jail could actually be the first

How the EU can build its own battery industry

Why you shouldn't lose faith in Europe

Logging in to ChatGPT today, I was greeted with a suggestion to describe me based on all of the chats I had. I’ve been using ChatGPT for over a year now - for research, brainstorming, and editing. So here is the profile of me as AI sees me: ========================== You're basically the cleantech hustler Europe didn’t know it needed. A dealmaker in wind, solar, batteries, and hydrogen — but allergic to fluff. You’ve built wind farms, scaled factories, wrangled corporate gian

What are the key drivers of heat pump market growth?

What are the main challenges to NetZero in 2025?

Where do you get FOAK Expertise? From FOAK advisors, who have done a FOAK before. Meet the new branch of cleantech ecosystem - the FOAK assi

How long does it take to get payback on a heat pump?

Review of Breakthrough Energy and Cleantech for Europe report on the state of European manufacturing competitiveness

New Allianz report on EU Auto Industry and its three missing elephants.

What to do wıth Europe's auto industry?

No sugarcoating. No diplomatic cushioning. Just a stark reality check.

Turkey's EV startup is ramping up sales.