CHARTING THE FUTURE COURSE OF DESIGN

Celebrating three decades of transforming the world of 3D design from February 23–26, 2025, at George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, the much-anticipated 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 was a powerful reminder of how far the software and its community have evolved and changed the world for the better.

Dassault Systèmes’ SOLIDWORKS set itself the mission three decades ago to deliver 3D design capabilities for universal use and to make it ‘accessible to everyone’. The celebration served as more than the company’s historical remembrance because it focused on charting the future course of design.

“Witnessing the growing number of startups as well as all our customers utilizing SOLIDWORKS proves that our dream is turning into reality. And that’s thanks to you—your feedback, support, and enthusiasm that drive our vision,” noted Gian Paolo Bassi, SVP, Mainstream Innovation and Customer Role Experience, Dassault Systèmes, during his opening address.

Manish Kumar, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, presented a transformative outlook for the software following his recollection of its initial development stage. “I bring exciting news about SOLIDWORKS starting a fresh chapter. SOLIDWORKS is expanding its brand to run the entire manufacturing enterprise,” Kumar declared with enthusiasm. The brand expansion extends from design operations to supply chain management, thus emerging as ‘the ultimate solution for manufacturers seeking to streamline, enhance optimization, and lead in the industry’.

To commemorate this three decades of design revolution, attendees tried SOLIDWORKS 95 at the Playground area dedicated booth titled ‘30 Years of SOLIDWORKS’ where they could model parts. The annual gathering brought together 4,000 in-person visiting participants together with numerous virtual guests, which included engineers, designers, makers, students, and manufacturers.

The AI Edge in Engineering

Pascal Daloz, CEO, Dassault Systèmes, emphasized the company’s commitment to the ‘Generative Economy’—a design approach that takes inspiration from nature to ‘design smarter and waste less’.

This means creating virtual twins of everything for everyone, leading to gains in knowledge and know-how in design, engineering, and manufacturing for attendees and users, which also is the users’ intellectual property (IP), the currency of this new economy. “To achieve this, we are combining the best modeling, simulation, data science, and AI-assisted content, which we call 3D UNIV+RSES,” Daloz explained. “This new generation places artificial intelligence (AI) at the very core of everything we do.”

In line, SOLIDWORKS introduced two groundbreaking AI-powered services:

• Generative Experiences – AI-driven automation for assembly, requirements, and design validation.
• Virtual Companions – AI-powered assistants that enhance users’ skills and accelerate workflows.

Pascal added, “We are committed to protecting all our customers, small and large, and their IP. We are committed to protecting you. We are set to become data-centric and content-centric. We are committed to making AI accessible and expanding the SOLIDWORKS experience, keeping it intuitive, powerful, and connected.”

Similarly, Kumar introduced three AI-driven generative features such as automatic drawing generation along with Generative Stacked Dimensions for sketch constraint automation and AURA features to convert images into 3D test-ready models. “With AURA, one can experience a completely new way to work. AURA stands as the only AI tool that operates within the SOLIDWORKS model framework, offering deeper, regulatory insights, as well as generating 3D solutions automatically,” he shared.

Milestones and Recognition

The SOLIDWORKS community has grown to impressive proportions over three decades. “We are nearing a huge milestone—1 million certified users—with over 900,000 and counting!” Suchit Jain, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, Dassault Systèmes, announced to enthusiastic applause. He also highlighted that the broader SOLIDWORKS community now encompasses over 8 million designers, engineers, students, makers, and entrepreneurs worldwide.

The event celebrated outstanding community contributors with several prestigious awards: Michelle Pillers Community Award (lifetime achievement) – Kirby Downey (London SWUG); User Group Leader of the Year – Stephanie Hayna (NYC SWUG); and SOLIDWORKS Champion of the Year – Sanket Patil.

Stronger Together, Smarter Tomorrow

Major partnership announcements showcased during the event indicate upcoming changes for the platform. One of the most significant announcements was the collaboration between Dassault Systèmes and Apple Inc, an American multinational technology giant, to integrate Apple Vision Pro into the next generation 3DEXPERIENCE platform. “Our engineering collaboration with Apple represents a bold advance that reveals the power of 3D UNIV+RSES, where 3D is a universal language for a new world combining real and virtual,” said Elisa Prisner, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Platform Transformation, Dassault Systèmes.

Also, the partnership announced between Dassault Systèmes and KUKA, a global industrial automation and robotics company, is aimed at providing manufacturing industries a full range of robotic and automated solutions. The agreement brings Dassault Systèmes into ‘mosaixx’ which represents KUKA’s digital ecosystem of industrial software offerings. “As we collaborate with KUKA, we enable customers with streamlined access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform together with our applications, which include CATIA, DELMIA, and SOLIDWORKS,” Bassi confirmed. “This will open up new possibilities for customers to benefit from the virtual world and collaborate and innovate in diverse sectors such as Automotive, Aerospace, Electronics, Metalworking, Logistics, Healthcare, and more.” With over four million industrial robots in factories worldwide and an expected 718,000 new installations in 2026, this collaboration couldn’t have come at a better time.

Another key product announcement was SOLIDWORKS CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), a new solution on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform that will be made available to customers. This tool uses generative AI technology, which accelerates the order and delivery of customized products. “SOLIDWORKS CPQ builds upon the 30 years of innovation that have made 3D design simple and powerful,” said Kumar. “With this new business solution, we’re expanding our scope and reaching new audiences by introducing a complete software ecosystem for manufacturing with next-generation technologies that work together in an integrated, effortless way.”

Customer Spotlights

Brilliant minds and SOLIDWORKS users unveiled remarkable innovations during the three-day duration of the event. Boston Dynamics’ SPOT robot, an agile four-legged robot that can be used for sensing and inspection, capturing limitless data, and exploring without the limitations of traditional robots. It serves around the world in multiple capacities, including offshore facility inspection for inspecting dangerous oil rigs; assessing Puerto Rico’s hurricane damage; helping restore Notre Dame Cathedral; and examining Pompeii’s ancient ruins. Marc Raibert, Executive Director, The AI Institute and Founder, Boston Dynamics, in his keynote addressed Dynamic Intelligent Robots, the current state of humanoid robots—presenting the Atlas autonomous robot—and shared that currently around 2,000 mobile robots are already in use.

ColdSnap, which is revolutionizing the frozen treat industry with AI-driven SOLIDWORKS designs, was showcased by Matt Fonte, who revolutionized frozen treats with a Keurig-like ice cream machine born from his daughter’s imagination. He went on to give a presentation featuring a live demonstration of ColdSnap’s two-minute ice cream-making process. Another notable mention is OneWheel, which is redefining personal mobility with intelligent 3D modeling. Its inventor, Kyle Doerksen, shared how he translated his snowboarding passion into groundbreaking personal mobility technology.

From India, Dr Sriharsha S, one of the founders of Bengaluru-based Bullwork Mobility Pvt Ltd, whose electric tractors are transforming the landscape of agriculture in India, has also benefited from SOLIDWORKS support. Similarly, Shubham Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, CRASTE.CO, a company which made waves with innovative sustainable materials at the event, remarked, “We use SOLIDWORKS for designing our patented blending machine that coats each particle of straw with glue. Plus, designers who work with our materials rely on SOLIDWORKS for creating furniture designs.”

Shaping the Next Generation

Education and workforce development were prominent themes throughout the event. Jain spotlighted initiatives that empower the upcoming generations of engineers, creators, and inventors. He announced ‘SkillsForce’, a new program that extends free SOLIDWORKS licenses to both co-ops and internship students who need unfettered industrial experience. Students will access opportunities through this program that launches on April 15, 2025 with the aim to help companies access skilled talent.

The Future is Taking Shape

The final message of the event established that SOLIDWORKS provides more than basic CAD functionality and is a powerful platform for the future.
The combination of AI-driven automation, cloud-powered collaboration, and immersive spatial computing technologies makes SOLIDWORKS the forefront leader of emerging design and manufacturing innovation. Perfectly capturing the spirit of the milestone celebration, Jain noted, “These stories remind us that the future is not just shaped by the tools, but by the people who use them to bring ideas to life.”

The SOLIDWORKS community now looks to the future as 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 ended with an invitation for everyone to return to Houston for 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026, where the next and evolving chapter of SOLIDWORKS historical legacy will undoubtedly emerge.

MURALI SUNDARAM Correspondent Magic Wand Media Inc murali.sundaram@magicwandmedia.in

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