Jules Thiery
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Gencores, Inc.
Jules Thiery joins Breakthrough Energy’s Innovator Fellows program from Gencores, Inc. in Somerville, Massachusetts. After developing novel asphalt and glass materials, Jules turned his focus to removing key technical barriers to electric vehicle adoption and decarbonizing transportation. At Gencores, Jules and his team produce high-performance, lightweight metamaterials for light-duty automobiles.
Gencores is leveraging advanced material science and robotics to enable mass manufacturing of ultra-light composite metamaterials for the automotive industry. At scale, Gencores’ components will replace metal parts and make vehicles drastically lighter and more efficient. Through the Fellows program, Gencores will further develop its technology and demonstrate the production of its metamaterials for cost-sensitive markets.
Jules holds a Master of Science in Material Science from Ecole Polytechnique & Ecole des Ponts ParisTech. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Physics at Harvard University and Ecole des Ponts ParisTech. Through his education, Jules learned how composite materials have transformed the aerospace industry and felt inspired to develop material technology to transition composites to the automotive industry.
Q&A
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love surfing. It makes me appreciate the natural world and enables me to constantly push myself beyond my limits.
What beliefs drive you?
I believe that investing in people is the best investment one can make.
What is something you’ve recently discovered?
I recently discovered that carrier pigeons – domesticated birds used to carry messages historically – are still used, in some rare occasions, to rapidly transport up to 2ml of blood samples between hospitals and laboratories in Europe. To my knowledge, it is the cleanest means of transportation, food for thought!