50% Less Fuel, Fewer Emissions: JetZero’s Game-Changing Aircraft Design
What if the shape of an aircraft could unlock 50% fuel savings and drastically cut carbon emissions? How can innovative startups challenge decades-old aviation designs to create a more sustainable, cost-efficient future?
In this episode of the Siemens Startup Podcast, hosts Paul Musto (Siemens Digital Industries) and Tucker Marion (Northeastern University) sit down with Tim Berry, Head of Manufacturing, Quality & Integration at JetZero. With a background at SpaceX, VAST, and other aerospace pioneers, Tim shares how JetZero is breaking through 60 years of aviation stagnation with its blended wing body (BWB) aircraft—a revolutionary design that promises game-changing efficiency, sustainability, and improved passenger experience.
This episode is perfect for startup founders, aerospace engineers, investors, and sustainability advocates looking to understand how game-changing innovation can disrupt a legacy industry. Whether you’re interested in cutting-edge aircraft design, sustainable aviation, or the role of digital tools in manufacturing, you’ll gain insights into how JetZero is tackling these challenges—from securing major partnerships with NASA and the U.S. Air Force to reimagining the future of air travel.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- JetZero’s goals and achievements and target market (2:00)
- Key technical challenges that JetZero is facing (9:15)
- How JetZero aims to improve the passenger experience (12:05)
- JetZero’s low-risk approach to producing revolutionary aircraft (18:20)
- How Siemens helps to accelerate JetZero’s development and manufacturing processes (24:30)
- JetZero and NASA’s partnership (27:25)
- Words of wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs (29:40)
- The future of aviation and aircraft manufacturing (35:21)
Siemens Xcelerator for Startups Program
At Siemens, we understand the struggles of early-stage startups. Let us remove the barriers on your startup journey by helping you transform your engineering ideas into real, marketable products with industry-leading software solutions. Join the Siemens Xcelerator for Startups Program to grow your startup to its full potential. Want to get in touch? Reach out here.
Host: Paul Musto
Paul Musto is a Portfolio Development Executive for Siemens Digital Industries Software focused on delivering design and simulation software solutions to small and medium sized businesses (SMB), including companies in the early startup stage. Prior to his current role at Siemens, Paul was Director of Marketing for the Electronic Board Systems segment at Mentor Graphics (now part of Siemens), responsible for driving product strategy, go-to-market solutions, and market development. Paul has over 30 years of electronics and software design experience. Prior to joining Mentor, Paul led a software development organization at Cadence Design Systems, responsible for Cadence’s electronic engineering implementation tools. Throughout his career, Paul has extensive experience serving in various technical, product marketing, and business development roles. Paul holds a B.S.E.E. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA.
Host: Tucker Marion
Tucker Marion is an Associate Professor in Northeastern’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business and the College of Engineering, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department. His interdisciplinary research is concentrated on new product development and engineering design. He is currently the faculty director for the Master of Science in Management ‘X’ platform and the Partnership Innovation Director for the business school. He has held product development and manufacturing positions in the auto industry and is a 3x venture founder. He is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University, holds a Masters from the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School in Technology Management, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Penn State. His work has appeared in books and journals including the Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Product Innovation Management, R&D Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Research-Technology Management, Design Studies, Journal of Mechanical Design, and others.
Guest: Tim Berry
Tim leads the Manufacturing and Quality teams at JetZero. His career spans 15 years in Aerospace and Defense and includes senior leadership roles at SpaceX and Vast Space. Tim oversaw the Falcon 9 Stage 2 team, achieving the fastest ever production rate for an orbital class rocket. He also led the Dragon 2 Crew/Cargo Integration team to produce the capsules that currently ferry US astronauts, private individuals, and cargo to and from space. Tim is credited with establishing the largest Additive factory in the world.
JetZero, co-founded by aerospace legend Mark Page, is developing the world’s first commercial Blended Wing airplane. With up to 50% lower fuel burn and carbon emissions compared to existing commercial airliners, JetZero’s Blended Wing offers the aviation industry a clear path to achieving its 2050 net-zero goals. Working alongside the US Air Force, NASA, and the FAA, and backed by decades of investment and research into blended wing technology, JetZero looks to enter commercial service by 2030. Learn more here: JetZero
Pioneers: Startups from Dreams to Reality
Ideas alone can’t change the world. It takes grit, and serious funding. In Pioneers, host Kevin Blevins sits down with startup founders to discuss the startup lifestyle- from concept to execution- and the big ideas that fuel these pioneers. From the future of farming to autonomous flight, there’s no frontier too far.
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