Olga Malinkiewicz | |
|---|---|
 Malinkiewicz 2017 | |
| Born | 26 November 1982 |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Alma mater | University of Warsaw |
| Occupation(s) | Physicist, entrepreneur |
| Known for | co-founder of Saule Technologies |
Olga Malinkiewicz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɔlɡa malinˈkjɛvit͡ʂ]; born 26 November 1982) is a Polish physicist, inventor of a method of producing solar cells based on perovskites using inkjet printing. She is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer at Saule Technologies.[1]
She started her studies at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, where she obtained a Bachelor in 2005. She graduated from the Barcelona University of Technology in Barcelona in 2010. While still a student, in 2009 she started working at the ICFO Institute. In 2017, she obtained her PhD from ICMol – Institute for Molecular Science of the University of Valencia at the group of Dr. Henk Bolink, with a thesis on low cost, efficient hybrid solar cells.[2] In 2014 she founded Saule Technologies, with private backing and turned down an offer of €1 million (US$1.3 million) for 10% of the start-up.[3] The name of the company derives from Saulė, the goddess of the Sun in Baltic mythology.
During her studies, Olga developed a novel perovskite solar cell architecture allowing the fabrication of such devices at low temperatures, while retaining high efficiency. She has been granted with the Photonics21 Student Innovation award in a competition organised by the European Commission in 2014 for this achievement.[4][5][6] She published an article on the subject in Nature Scientific Reports.[7] In 2015 Olga was honored with an award in the Innovators Under 35 ranking, organized by MIT Technology Review for "developing a new technology that could spark a “social revolution” in renewable energies".[8] In 2016, she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland Andrzej Duda for her "outstanding contributions to the development of Polish science".[9][10] For her future science and business activities, she was distinguished by the American Chemical Society as one of the top women entrepreneurs in new technologies.[11]
In 2015, she co-founded Saule Technologies (named after the Baltic sun goddess), along with two Polish businessmen.[12] A partnership was signed in January 2018 with the Swedish construction company Skanska. The company is also looking for partnership with other companies operating in the Middle East.[13] It is also working with Egis Group, a rigid plastics film producer, on the encapsulation of the cells.[14]
