For 10 years, Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab has served as a hub for impactful innovation. It was created in 2015 to empower startups to build and deploy products that will transform society, using proprietary Dassault Systèmes technology and expertise to achieve this mission. This year, the lab is celebrating a decade of accelerating startups and providing a nurturing ground for positive disruptions across industries and sectors. Let’s take a look and see what the lab and its accelerated startups have accomplished over the years.
In 2015, the first 3DEXPERIENCE lab opened its doors at Dassault Systèmes’ headquarters in Paris, France. That year, the lab hosted its first semiannual virtual pitch session, hosted on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Since then, 6,000 startups have pitched their ideas to a select panel of executives and leaders and an online audience of thousands. From the beginning, these pitch sessions have been open to internal voting, meaning that the company’s own employees have a say in which startups are accepted into the lab’s accelerator program.
But that’s not where internal involvement ends. Over the past 10 years, more than 2,500 Dassault Systèmes employees have served as mentors for startups that have been accelerated in the lab. They’ve provided technical expertise, business acumen and general guidance using the vast suite of Dassault Systèmes solutions available to the involved founders and their teams. These mentors have dedicated their time and talent to helping emerging companies succeed.
“The 3DEXPERIENCE lab accelerates disruptive innovation brought by startups and innovators, so small ideas that we help to bring to life in order to inspire the metamorphosis of industry,” said Frederic Vacher, Head of Innovation at the lab. “As we are an impact lab, we help to create a better world.”
Some of the companies the lab has accelerated have gone on to achieve noteworthy feats. Last year, Israeli startup Corneat Vision, an innovative medical device company, completed the first corneal replacement surgery using an artificial cornea in France. Magic Wheelchair – a non-profit accelerated in the Boston campus lab – worked with the SOLIDWORKS team to build a Halloween-costumed, motorized chair for a disabled child, marking the 3rd consecutive year they’ve done so. This year, Romanian company .Lumen, which makes revolutionary glasses that bring physical assistance to visually impaired individuals, received an important European certification for their product, marking a pivotal step in their deployment process. Indian medtech startup LUCID Implants last year inaugurated the first in-hospital 3D printing lab in Nepal, enabling on-site creation of custom craniofacial implants and prostheses. France-based Lattice Medical, which develops resorbable breast implants that regenerate a patient’s own tissue, recently announced a collaboration with a lingerie brand to design a post-operative bra for oncology patients.
After 10 years, the lab is still growing and boasts six locations worldwide:
On October 6, the lab’s Pune, India, location hosted the annual Meshmerise event, a celebration of innovation and impact that brings together technologists, founders, tech enthusiasts, startups, and Dassault Systèmes customers and partners. Each Meshmerise event features a live pitch session with founders, as well as presentations and panel discussions with local technology leaders. This year’s installment was held in conjunction with the unveiling of the newly renovated lab space in Pune, similar to last year’s Paris event, which revealed the brand new lab at Dassault Systèmes headquarters.
Want to learn more about the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab and explore a decade of innovations? Now you can, from anywhere, on any device, with the new Virtual Lab experience, available both on the web and in the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab app in the iOS and visionOS catalogs for Apple users.