Jan-Philipp Mai | Co-Founder & CEO
SOLAR MATERIALS GmbH

Driven by the desire to turn the solar industry into a circular economy, Dr. Jan-Philipp Mai founded SOLAR MATERIALS together with Jan Bargel and Fridolin Franke. The three met at TU Braunschweig and combined their skills in business operations, engineering, and market expertise to develop innovative solutions for solar panel recycling.  With nearly 20 years of experience in the solar energy sector, Jan-Philipp Mai brings expertise in mechanical engineering, process technology, raw materials, and energy. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from TU Braunschweig and an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management.  SOLAR MATERIALS has specialized in the recycling of solar panels by developing its own patented recycling process in which 98% of the raw materials, including silicon and silver, are recovered. Today, SOLAR MATERIALS has grown into an industrial-scale recycling company for solar panels with a capacity of up to 10,000 tons per year.