Commercialisation, Pilots, FOAK & Scale

FOAK commercialisation is the path a climate technology takes from a working pilot to a first purchase, a first-of-a-kind commercial plant and repeat deployment. The FOAK pieces in this Library follow that path. They cover what first-of-a-kind means in climate tech, how a first plant differs from a pilot, from a demonstration and from the plants that follow it, and why a successful pilot often fails to become a purchase.

The pieces then go into the project itself, the decisions an industrial project depends on, the offtake agreements that support it, the buying committee behind one purchase, what belongs in the commercial proposal, the From Pilot to Purchase internal approval pack and how to present FOAK risk honestly to lenders and partners. The pieces draw on public projects in carbon removal, green steel, sustainable aviation fuel and recycling, alongside the capital conversations at The Decision Room in Zürich.

Start with what FOAK means, then read why pilots stall and why first plants are hard to finance.