3DEXPERIENCE World is a celebration of design, creativity and passion for innovation, disguised in three dynamic days of general sessions, technical training, networking and, yes, fun.

“Welcome to 3DEXPERIENCE World – a new and expanded SOLIDWORKS experience,” trumpeted Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO of SOLIDWORKS – 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS to start-off the event in a grand entrance.

“Welcome to our SOLIDWORKS Community, DELMIAWORKS, ENOVIA, and SIMULIA community!

“You are all part of the WORKS Community! Because we are adding the power of the Dassault Systèmes brands to the DNA of SOLIDWORKS.”

For 20 years, SOLIDWORKS WORLD was a key event in the design community. This year, it became 3DEXPERIENCE World, marking the evolution of a brand loved for its unique user experience that removes the friction between the creative process of design and the realization of a product.

With 3DEXPERIENCE World, Dassault Systèmes and its brands open up the power of a human-centric approach to technology and innovation. With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, designers can develop experiences that are highly personal and supported with connections through value networks that are continually emerging.

“This is about the future,” Bernard Charles, Vice Chairman and CEO of Dassault Systèmes, told the audience, “and this is about SOLIDWORKS WORLD becoming 3DEXPERIENCE World. In one way, you have moved from flat drawings to 3D. We want to give you the possibilities to move from 3D to life experiences, to virtual twin experiences, to really transform the way you do your business . . . Everyone is talking about the future. This is a place where we are talking about the future together.”

The magic started with Magic Wheelchair, an international organization that aims to provide every kid in a wheelchair with an epic costume that echoes her or his dreams and passions, at no cost to the parents. Magic Wheelchair delivers on this wonderful mission by connecting volunteer makers with kids, designing with help from Dassault Systèmes’ software solutions. The project is being accelerated through Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab and supported by La Fondation.

The magic continued with Mike Schultz – Paralympic gold and silver medalist, 10-time X-Games gold medalist, inventor and company founder of BioDapt – which designs, manufactures and distributes high performance and highly versatile lower limb prosthetic components that enable amputees to participate in sports and activities.

In 2008, Schultz lost his leg in a snowmobiling accident. Ten years later, he won a gold medal at the Paralympic Games using a prosthetic leg he designed in his garage using SOLIDWORKS. Today Mike’s company makes prosthetics for people around the world and works with fellow athletic competitors. He has also collaborated with the Center for Advanced Designs, a creative agency in Elk River, Minnesota, USA that specializes in the creation of complex surface geometries to continue his prosthetic evolution.

Also joining in onstage was Matt Carney, who holds a PhD from MIT. He is working on taking the future of prosthetics farther by connecting cybernetic interfaces to the human body to enable direct control of robotic limbs. Matt is focused on eventually creating full biological capabilities in artificial limbs.

That was just Day 1. You can see the full recap of the first day’s session here.

The over 6,000 attendees barely had a chance to catch their breath, greeting old friends, networking and joining in at their choice of 350 technical sessions that included lecture-style breakouts, hands-on workshops and expert-led panel discussions. Each session delivered rich experiences about the latest innovations for 3D design, data management, simulation and manufacturing.

Gian Paolo Bassi opened the Day 2 general session with a serious discussion.

“In my opinion, this is probably the most important session of this 3DEXPERIENCE World convention,” he said. “You know, it is not easy to present in front of a crowd like this – competent, smart and very passionate people. The reason that I said that this is probably the most important session is because this is about research and development . . . This very special team is going to show you what is happening now and what will happen in the future. It’s a glimpse into the future of SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE World.”

With that, he introduced Florence Hu-Aubigny, Dassault Systèmes Executive Vice President, Research and Development, who opened and managed the session with her R&D team. It was especially critical for showing and getting familiar with the capabilities of Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform and understanding how entire organizations can leverage 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS right now to take advantage of the platform and across multiple Dassault Systèmes brands.

Day 2 also featured a panel with four customers from different countries who shared their journeys as SOLIDWORKS users who have successfully adopted 3DEXPERIENCE solutions; and in parallel on Tuesday morning, nearly 300 DELMIAWORKS customers joined forces for the first time with SOLIDWORKS users. Steve Bieszczat, Chief Marketing Officer of DELMIAWORKS, welcomed everyone and highlighted the mission to address the MES (manufacturing execution system) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) needs of small to mid-sized manufacturing companies around the world.

You can see the full recap of the Day 2 session here.

The final day of 3DEXPERIENCE World started by showcasing user communities around the world and the passion of our users, which often starts at a young age when they are in school. The first guest speaker was Sam Rogers from Gravity, a UK startup where even the sky is not the limit – they make Jet suits that push the next frontier in human flight. Sam shared the company’s process for designing and fabricating their current jet suit.

Next came a key moment of the event – the legendary Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA and FIRST Robotics, inventor of the insulin pump and a STEM champion, spoke to the packed audience. He briefly covered his career path, the many innovations and future endeavors, but focused on imagination and inspiration.

“While I’ve never had a plan in life and I really have never had a business plan, I just seize opportunities that connect the dots between a real need, good people and then you never know what happens,” he said. “I try to do good and it turns sometimes into something where you can do well . . . and so I’m going to show you a smattering of projects to show you how bizarre it is that if you connect good people with good technology, you can make a difference.”

You can see the full recap of the Day 3 session and Dean Kamen’s talk here.

And there was more!

• One of our highest priorities is helping students build the career of their dreams. With that goal in mind, students were invited to attend 3DEXPERIENCE World for free. More than 200 came, and in addition to the event, we organized a job fair and panel discussions relevant to their journey to be great engineers.
• Over 300 people took Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS certification exams on Sunday before the conference and 160 passed and walked away with a certification, including of CSWP’s, CSWA’s, and Platform Explorer Associates.
• New this year, we featured the 3DEXPERIENCE for Good Hackathon and other interactive experiences that pull together the most passionate minds to do GOOD.
• The 3DEXPERIENCE Playground was a huge techno fair of hardware and software solutions with 77 exhibitors across a spectrum of innovative technologies.
• The 3DEXPERIENCE Pitch Battle. Four startups presented to the audience and best two chosen by the audience evaluated by judges. The winner was Winter Innovations, makers of EasyWhip, a patent-pending suturing needle designed to make whip stitching easier in orthopedic surgery.

These are just some of the highlights. The excitement and innovation goes on all year with local user groups. And 3DEXPERIENCE World is already set for next year. Mark your calendars now to join your friends and colleagues again in Nashville, February 7-10, 2021 for meeting, training, networking and fun.

Special thanks to Simge Akarsu, Senior Strategy & Program Manager, Dassault Systèmes, for contributing to this post.