As Dassault Systèmes gets ready to launch its Science in the Age of Experience conference in Boston next week, we caught up with CEOs of the two Dassault Systèmes software brands that will be the focus of this new gathering of the scientific community. Max Carnecchia, CEO of Dassault Systèmes BIOVIA and Scott Berkey, CEO of Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA spoke to us about how their solutions, powered by Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform, impact science, research and business.
This is the first time that our SIMULIA and BIOVIA brands are collaborating to deliver a joint customer conference. What industry challenges can Dassault Systèmes address with the two brands?
Max Carnecchia: Along with all the Dassault Systèmes software brands, BIOVIA and SIMULIA create an ‘experience environment’ that drives innovation. Organizations that are innovating through science need a partner that can help them navigate the full multi-scale spectrum of physics relative to innovation – from the atomic, nano-scale and micro-scale levels all the way up to systems modeling, and across biology, chemistry and materials science. Dassault Systèmes is the only company that offers customers across multiple industries the “atoms-to-product,” multiscale and multiphysics modeling and simulation capabilities necessary to unlock the true value of precision medicine, additive manufacturing, advanced materials and more.
Scott Berkey: An easy way to think of it is this: With SIMULIA, you can model and simulate what you can see – bridges, tires, toothbrushes, seat belts. With BIOVIA, you can model and simulate what you can’t see – molecules, chemical reactions, materials at the quantum level. Between the two of us, we offer a unique combination of technology to go from 10-9 (atoms) to 10+4 (cities) and everything in between – all based on science, physics, mechanics, chemistry, and quantum behavior. Academics today are using these techniques in research to both design real-world macroscopic objects the way we think of today, but to also design the very materials these objects are made of. This will become commonplace and offers us an opportunity to substantially expand the range of what is possible. These joint solutions are needed to solve the most difficult problems in energy sustainability, resource utilization, and urban planning.
Why is the BIOVIA brand important to science?
Max Carnecchia: BIOVIA is a brand filled with highly dedicated, trained and skilled employees who have chosen careers in science. We model the virtual world in such a way as to make the physical world more efficient and manageable. Integration with Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables BIOVIA to support and develop systemic collaboration, project management, data and content reuse, traceability and other processes, applications and integrations that are absolutely critical to science-driven customers and industries. The bottom line is: We create an unmatched scientific innovation environment that helps science-driven companies develop better products faster and more cost effectively across research, development, QA/QC and manufacturing.
And what about SIMULIA? Why is SIMULIA important to science?
Scott Berkey: Society needs rapid deployment of the key innovations that pure science is providing us today. The link between the science within BIOVIA and the product world within SIMULIA is crucial to providing a framework to accelerate turning research into practical advancements that can affect all of us. Within the common environment provided by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, scientists and engineers can share data and methods, collaborate, learn, model and experience the entire range of behaviors in science and engineering. SIMULIA allows both engineers and scientists to understand the macroscopic behaviors of their innovations and design. By providing technology that simulates our world, SIMULIA provides a virtual mirror that mimics the real world and provides real insight in a way that trial-and-error physical testing alone cannot provide.
What will attendees walk away excited about? What are some of the most exciting things they will see or learn?
Max Carnecchia: I’m most excited for the networking opportunities with scientific innovators from many science-based organizations, as technology bred from science is catalyzing valuable business and technology initiatives today. Attendees will also gain important insights into the current and future directions of the scientific domains we support from the noted scientific and industry luminaries who will be presenting. Finally, our customers will walk away with a better understanding of our product roadmaps and the best practices that inform our solutions and applications.
Scott Berkey: There is a revolution going on in simulation today. SIMULIA has been talking about it for several years now. Historically, simulation was often done in the back rooms of the engineering department to validate existing designs as a supplement to expensive and time-consuming physical testing. Models were built by an expert, one-by-one from beginning to end, on that expert’s local computer. The revolution sweeping our industry today takes simulation from a post-design validation exercise and moves it upfront into the center of design. Models and simulations that are being performed during design are enabling us to discover design points that could not be found in any other way. In this new world, simulation leads and powers innovation. This theme will be explored in depth at Science in the Age of Experience along with the technology, the platform, and the innovator that makes it possible.
