Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Written by: Bailey Martin, Tech Journalist, AOPG.

As the 25th anniversary of 3DEXPERIENCE World, organised by Dassault Systèmes, came to a close, one thing was abundantly clear. With Dassault Systèmes significantly contributing and offering one of the most advanced software solutions tailored to a multitude of design disciplines, it naturally draws the attention of prominent figures to their products and services.

Partners such as Dell, Lenovo, AMD, and HP, among others, graced this year’s 3DEXPERIENCE World in Dallas, Texas. This could seem slightly intimidating to those with smaller design-inclusive businesses looking to ‘dip their toe’ in Dassault’s offerings. Nevertheless, Gian Paolo Bassi (Senior Vice President, 3DEXPERIENCE Works, Dassault Systèmes) and Manish Kumar (CEO, SolidWorks, Dassault Systèmes) made it abundantly clear at this event that Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE Works and SolidWorks solutions were created for all designers and innovators no matter their background or size. This is demonstrated and expressed wonderfully in the SolidWorks Startup Program.

Jillian Friot is the current Senior Manager of the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab for Dassault and the Entrepreneurial Leader for the SolidWorks Startup Program, where she has guided and helped numerous groups to get started on their products and business models. This program was created for people/teams with disruptive or revolutionary ideas but lack the resources and support to have their inventions realised and ready for commercialisation.

With this program, startup members receive free SolidWorks software licenses with additional access to 3DEXPERIENCE Labs. These are physical lab buildings where members have the resources and environments to construct functional prototypes of their designs and test them in both simulations and real life.

When asked about the members of different startups and how they interact with each other in the program, Jillian expressed how tightly knit of a community it became. Resources and support were offered to each other wherever possible. When starting out, Jillian had stated that while she firmly hoped that a close community would form in the program to maximise support and collaboration, it all happened naturally anyway without her orchestration. It was uplifting as well as fascinating for her to witness. This soon became integrated as part of the approach for this program, which future candidates can hopefully look forward to. So, let’s look at just one of these members of the SolidWorks Startup program.

Re:3D Inc. was one of the startups present at the event with their own exhibit at the 3DEXPERIENCE ‘Playground.’ They are a life-size 3D printer manufacturer that rolls out a cost-effective and open-source 3D printer called the ‘Gigabot.’ The Gigabot is currently the world’s largest FFF 3D printer priced at under USD $9,000 – a tenth the cost of a typical printer with similar size and quality. On top of this, Gigabot and other derivatives under Re:3D are open sourced which allows customers to modify or make changes to their 3D printer for their specifications.

All these design features and benefits were made possible with the resources, support and free software licensing that’s on offer with the SolidWorks Program. Re:3D’s Co-Founder Samantha Snabes shared her experience from the SolidWorks Startup Program alongside Jillian Friot. She gave her everlasting gratitude and appreciation for how far the company has come. Since the release of Gigabot, Re:3D has won numerous design and innovation awards and now sells to customers in over 50 countries. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Samantha also highlighted they are able to manufacture their filaments from recycled waste, gaining them some credit in terms of ESG! This process for converting the waste into numerous filament materials was also made possible with SolidWorks’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab for testing.

The SolidWorks Startup Program proudly shares figures of startup success rates that are higher than the average (roughly 10%). Besides this program, 3DEXPERIENCE and SolidWorks platforms offer packages that vary in price range and cater to businesses of all sizes.

To sum up, Dassault has given many key takeaway messages at 3DEXPERIENCE World, and one of those messages that rings true, especially for this post, is this: Dassault Systemes holds a place for all inventors and makers. Whether you are a massive corporation or a small group looking to get started, Dassault is here to help “turn your ideas and concepts into reality.”

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