As some of you may know, we at SolidWorks have been active in Rwanda for a number of years. SolidWorks’ founder Jon Hirschtick first heard of Rwandan president Kagame’s vision for improving Rwandan design and manufacturing education from a friend (and SolidWorks customer) in 2005.

Jon and former CEO Jeff Ray initially helped with creating an engineering software program for local technical colleges, including ETO Gitarama, ETO Muhima and the Kigali Institute of Technology (KIST). SolidWorks provided courseware for design and manufacturing, materials that teachers could use in the classroom, models by which students could learn to digitally create products and embark on careers in 3D design and product development.

SolidWorks later joined with the Rwandan government and Innnovate3D (a division of TenLinks) to create Gasabo 3D, a provider of 3D CAD modeling services to global industries. Today Gasabo 3D is also reverse-engineering the parts used in internationally-made farm equipment, allowing Rwandan engineers to quickly fabricate replacement components or entirely new machines in a short period of time.

One of the teams here at Dassault Systemes recently created a short video about our involvement for a film contest hosted by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. We encourage you to watch it, and if you’re so inclined, vote for the video to proceed to the next stage of the contest (our video is listed as Dassault Systemes).

Best,

Matt