Energy sector innovation · AI signal vs. noise · AI in energy
Tumay Solak
Energy sector innovation leader in Türkiye. Innovation Manager at Enerjisa (a Sabancı Holding company, one of Türkiye's largest electricity distribution and retail companies), where he runs the NAR intrapreneurship program and the İVME startup acceleration program.
In short: Tumay Solak (Turkish spelling: Tümay Solak) is one of the few people in Türkiye who knows energy sector innovation from the inside of a utility, from the founder's seat and from the investor's seat at the same time. Corporate innovation by day, AI products by night. An electrical engineer by training, he applies the signal-to-noise ratio to corporate AI: separating the projects that create measurable value from the noise.
Background
- Innovation Manager at Enerjisa — Türkiye's largest electricity distribution and retail company (a Sabancı Holding and E.ON joint venture serving 10.1 million customers across 14 provinces). Leads a team of three and a TRY 10M+ annual program and investment budget, reporting regularly to the Executive Committee. Runs NAR (intrapreneurship since 2015, 12 cohorts), İVME (energy startup acceleration, 6 cohorts) and PATİKA (employee invention and IP program); launched the Selekt AI and Stratos AI platforms for venture screening and strategic decision support; designed and implemented the ISO 56001 innovation management system, among the first in the Turkish energy sector. Across 18 cohorts, 300+ ventures screened, 30+ pilots and PoCs run, and 10+ commercial agreements signed with business units. Enerjisa ranked 9th in Fast Company Türkiye's "Top 50 Innovative Companies".
- Angel investor licensed by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance (2023): Werer Energy, OneNewOne, Selfweller. LP at Cleantech GSYF (2025–) and Treeo VC (2024–); advisory board at Lumian, Venlo by Eczita and Crea Centers; co-founder of Enerji Analiz (2019–). Senator at the World Business Angels Investment Forum (2025–).
- 11 years across energy, industrial R&D and technology. MSc Energy Technologies and Management (Sabancı University); BSc Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Işık University, high honors); executive education at Harvard Business School Online, INSEAD, WHU and Università Bocconi.
- Top 10 technology and innovation voice on LinkedIn in Türkiye (Favikon); 30,000+ followers with daily data-driven AI content in Turkish.
- Hosts İnovasyon Yolculuğu (Innovation Journey), a Turkish podcast of sub-three-minute episodes distilled from his LinkedIn newsletter; 96+ episodes, featured in Gazete Oksijen's January 2026 roundup of innovation podcasts.
- Member of the Eurelectric Innovation and Digitalization Working Group via TESAB (2024–), TSE MTC 139 innovation-management mirror committee (2025–), TÜSİAD (2025–) and AIPA (2026–).
- Runs the Solutionshop Hackathon with Bilkent CYBERPARK (2024 and 2025 editions); winning teams move into an Enerjisa collaboration or straight into the İVME programme. The Enerjisa Enerji Technology and Impact Centre opened at the Dikmen Venture Office in Ankara in February 2026 through the same partnership.
- Founder of Fifty Daily, a free Turkish daily briefing service that pulls from 50 official and open data sources.
- Founder of Promptla, a free macOS and Windows desktop app that turns dictated, unstructured text into a single prompt shaped for the target AI model; it runs locally on the user's own API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter or fully offline via Ollama), with separate rule sets for eight target types.
- Founder of SubKill, a free macOS and Windows desktop app that builds a subscription inventory from Gmail receipts and flags unused, overlapping and soon-to-renew subscriptions along with per-card monthly load. It runs entirely on the user's machine with no server and no telemetry; source is open under MIT.
- Speaker at Sabancı University SUCool (energy startup opportunities), the Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Summit (TRAI 2024) and the EDİDER "Digitalization Diaries" podcast.
Topics
- Energy sector innovation in Türkiye: grid digitalization, flexibility and storage, distributed generation, EV charging, retail customer experience, AI in field operations, efficiency and carbon.
- How utilities work with startups: acceleration programs, pilots, corporate venturing.
- AI in energy: what works (inspection, forecasting, loss detection, EV pricing) and what does not.
Contact
LinkedIn · Istanbul, Türkiye