Dr. Jan-Philipp Mai is Co-Founder and CEO of SOLAR MATERIALS GmbH, a pioneering industrial-scale solar panel recycling company headquartered in Magdeburg, Germany.

He holds a Dr.-Ing. (PhD) in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from TU Braunschweig, and has been active in silicon and solar energy since 2001.

With nearly 20 years of experience in solar energy, Dr. Mai combines deep expertise in mechanical engineering, process technology, raw materials, and circular economy thinking to drive the recycling revolution.

Prior to Solar Materials, he founded JPM Silicon in 2010, a high-tech startup built on a foundational patent for efficient silicon production, and also founded Circular Silicon in 2019 and ran a startup fundraising consultancy.

SOLAR MATERIALS has developed a patented recycling process recovering 98% of raw materials including silicon and silver, scaled to a capacity of up to 10,000 tons per year, and has raised over $16M including a Series A and EIC Accelerator funding.