In the ever-evolving landscape of startups and innovation, the spotlight often shines on the most luminous of disruptors. Yet, the bedrock of this vibrant ecosystem is the support and tools that empower these emerging ventures to transition from nascent ideas to market-ready solutions. At the forefront of this supportive network stands Dassault Systèmes with its pioneering “3DEXPERIENCE Works for Startups” or “SOLIDWORKS for Startups” program, as revealed in an insightful dialogue with Abhishek Bali, the director of the program.

Abhishek Bali, an engineer and designer turned MBA graduate, joined Dassault Systèmes’ Boston office in 2016. With a rich background in engineering and business, Bali brings a unique perspective to the startup program, emphasizing the importance of bridging top-down innovation with grassroots, bottoms-up creativity. Dassault Systèmes, traditionally known for aiding giants like Boeing and Procter & Gamble in overcoming innovation challenges, has, over the past decade, turned its gaze to the burgeoning field of startups.

The “3DEXPERIENCE Works for Startups” program, initiated in 2017, is a testament to Dassault Systèmes’ belief in the power of early to mid-stage startups. The program offers these companies—particularly those with physical products aimed at the market and less than five years old or under one million in revenue—comprehensive access to Dassault’s suite of design, engineering, simulation, and data intelligence tools. Remarkably, over 19,000 startups have been admitted to the program, with close to 900 applications received monthly from across the globe. This global outreach, stretching from the US and Europe to Asia Pacific regions, underscores Dassault Systèmes’ commitment to democratizing access to cutting-edge tools for innovators everywhere.

Beyond software access, the program uniquely positions startups for success by providing substantial discounts in the initial years, exposure at leading trade shows, and a chance to be featured on Dassault Systèmes’ marketing platforms. This holistic approach not only lowers barriers to entry but also connects startups with a broader ecosystem of investors, manufacturers, and mentors.

A standout aspect of the program is its adaptability and support for startups in various sectors, including medical devices and disaster management, reflecting a deep respect for the diverse challenges innovators face. Partnerships with over 200 incubators worldwide further amplify the program’s reach, offering startups a springboard to refine their ideas and scale new heights.

In conversation, Bali shared touching anecdotes of startups applying to the program during significant holidays, underscoring the profound value and hope the program instills in its applicants. The program’s success is not just measured by the software it provides but by the dreams it enables and the global innovation ecosystem it nurtures.

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The Future of Manufacturing: AI, Industry 4.0, Sustainability, and Global Collaboration

Doug Lawson

By Doug Lawson, CEO, ThinkIQ

As pressure from impending ESG regulations, economic headwinds and geopolitical tensions grow, manufacturers are increasingly looking at cutting-edge technologies to help navigate these challenges. While many manufacturers are still effectively blind to a staggering percentage of events on the factory floor and in their supply chains, Smart Manufacturing solutions will be key in the next year to reduce manufacturing inefficiencies, increase productivity and, ultimately, weather the economic storm.

Here are a few manufacturing technology trends we expect to see in the coming year.

Manufacturers Will Increasingly Embrace Artificial Intelligence to Combat Inflation

With inflation wreaking havoc up and down the entire supply chain, manufacturing companies are looking for ways to stabilize their operations and increase efficiency. The constant increase in prices of raw materials has forced manufacturers to look for ways to improve efficiency and productivity, at reduced costs, with a dependable output of high-quality products. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is opening up greater possibilities for more optimized manufacturing processes to these ends.

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By Bre Pettis, CEO, Bantam Tools

                         Bre Pettis

I predict that 2023 will be a breakout year for Desktop CNC Milling Machines as users explore ways of integrating them into their prototyping and production workspaces. At Bantam Tools, besides the bread and butter use cases of making prototypes and jigs and fixtures with Desktop CNCs, one of the things I predict we will see more and more of is connected fleets of cnc machines. We showed up at IMTS this year making a laserpointer keychain out of aluminum with 3 Bantam Tools CNC Milling Machines. Each machine was set up with a single tool in a single fixture doing a single operation and with the part moving between machines. Because Bantam Tools CNC milling machines are smaller CNCs, each individual spindle might remove less material but collectively they create a network effect that is more resilient for uptime. Beyond Bantam Tools, I would expect this trend to expand into the greater CNC world and I predict we will see software options set up to manage fleets of machines.

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Trends in CAM technology by Dr. Yavuz Murtezaoglu

Dr. Yavuz Murtezaoglu

There are more than 1 million CAM Operators worldwide and they are using around 40 different major CAM software brands. The focus of the CAM vendors in 2023 is going to be delivering more value to their user base by providing annual maintenance updates.

Most CAM vendors are focusing on improving the User Experience to improve the productivity of the CAM operators and to reduce training needs for new operators. This means “easy to use” and “easy to learn” are both equally important topics to address by CAM vendors. Capabilities of tool path technology in CAM systems will evolve to address the needs for higher productivity of the CAM operators. A good example of this trend is quick adoption of tool path strategies like “One click Deburring” or “Fully automated Rotary machining” in many CAM systems. Many CAM Software vendors are deciding to license such tool path technologies from ModuleWorks as their main component provider for tool path calculation and simulation. This frees up their development resources to address the complete workflow from design with PMI (product manufacturing information) to post processing.
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Robert Farrell

Simulation Assets are Leveraged More Fully

Throughout the coming year simulation will continue to take on an even greater role as companies search for ways to become more innovative, leverage resources, and keep pace with accelerated product development cycles.  Consequently, the expanded use of advanced simulation tools beyond expert CAE analysts (i.e., the democratization of simulation) will become an even greater industry-wide priority.

Democratizing Simulation allows product engineering, manufacturing, and support organizations to leverage their CAE investments and resources more fully by allowing expert analysis to focus their time and expertise on high-priority simulations while allowing non-experts to perform basic (and even some advanced) CAE analysis.  The result of simulation-driven design will compress product development cycles and accelerate innovation with a measurable increase in product quality.

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