For the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, 2023 was an exciting year. It was full of new and innovative start-ups with ideas about how to leverage technology to change and improve the world. At the close of the year, we’d like to highlight some of the ground-breaking work that’s happened both in the lab and because of it.
First, let’s take a look at some of the most exciting moments from the 3DEXPERIENCE labs. There are four labs around the world: in Paris, Munich, Pune and Boston.
The Pune location was treated this year to a visit by none other than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On May 11, National Technology Day in the country, the lab hosted an event focused on introducing students to careers in STEM. Modi toured the space, which included a presentation of the various start-ups working at the lab. It was a landmark visit and indicates not only the visibility of the lab and its work in India, but the level of innovation coming out of it as well.
The Boston lab was also in the spotlight this year, as local TV channel WBZ visited as part of an on-air segment focused on a lab start-up. LiftLabs, the company featured in the interview, is working on a solution for a hyper-local issue: lobster fishing. Their work on a ropeless lobster trap is taking place in the lab at the Dassault Systèmes campus.
In Paris, the semi-annual pitch session in April offered excitement to viewers and judges alike. Founders from nearly a dozen start-ups presented their companies and ideas in real time in front of a jury, and five were chosen to join the lab’s accelerator program. It was an exciting opportunity to hear from CEOs themselves about their disruptive ideas and inventive work.
Not far away, in Munich, the lab hosted the latest iteration of F*ckup Nights, a monthly event series that focuses on professional failure. In tech, while success may often seem ubiquitous, it is always preceded by failure — often many. The event, which took place in November, brought together founders, technologists and enthusiasts alike to discuss the importance of mess-ups made on the path to success.
Industry spotlights: Healthcare, transportation and sustainability
The 3DEXPERIENCE labs offer start-ups access to mentoring and technology that they can use to develop solutions and products in any number of industries. The lab has hosted companies that work on anything from geoponic farms to sustainable energy production to self-reliant ship cleaners. In 2023, the lab was home to many start-ups focused on healthcare, sustainability and transportation. Below, we highlight just a few of them.
Innovating healthcare: Start-ups saving lives
In the field of healthcare and medical technology, start-ups offer creative solutions for tackling life-changing diagnoses. One such company is 3DEXPERIENCE Lab accelerator member Lattice Medical, a leader in reconstructive surgery, in which they specialize in creating solutions for breast cancer sufferers. Their bio-resorbable tissue is implanted into a patient’s chest, where it then grows along with their own tissues to generate breast tissue. By using a patient’s own tissue and allowing for a natural reconstruction, the surgeries are designed to create a result that is adapted to the individual anatomy of a patient, instead of the one-size-fits-all approach of traditional implants.
Corneat Vision, another start-up in the lab, is providing a fresh take on helping restore vision to those suffering from corneal blindness. The Israeli company uses biomimicry and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to design and develop artificial tissues that can be implanted into patients’ eyes. SOLIDWORKS, Medidata and a variety of other tools have enabled them to conduct successful surgeries and make their way toward full-scale clinical trials.
Leveraging technology for increased sustainability
In the sustainability space, innovation is always around the corner. While we now think of something like electric vehicles as ubiquitous, they were once earth-shattering ideas that promised to positively change transportation and the environment. In the same vein, the new ideas that characterize sustainability today might soon be considered obvious.
One 3DEXPERIENCE Lab member, Atacama Biomaterials, works at the convergence of sustainability and consumer goods. Using a suite of platform programs like BIOVIA, ENOVIA and SOLIDWORKS, they’re creating a multi-purpose poly-film material that aims to replace plastic. Leveraging these different technologies, they’re able to not only produce goods that are sustainable, but they’re doing so in an eco-friendly manner, too.
NetZero, another start-up in the lab’s accelerator program, focuses not on urban innovation, but on its exact opposite: carbon removal in rural farming. Using a natural byproduct, the company is empowering farmers to create a circular farming infrastructure. NetZero developed a system that replaces the common practice of burning crop residues to dispose of them, a process which is wasteful and emits carbon into the atmosphere. Their solution heats up the residue in the absence of oxygen, therefore sidestepping environmental damage. The end product of this process is then used to carry it out again and again – a circular economy of sorts.
Transportation: Getting around greener
Noting the shift toward urbanization and the increased demand for cleaner, electric vehicles, French start-up and lab accelerator member Midipile saw an opportunity. Since the company was founded in 2020, they’ve used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to design an eco-friendly, sustainable vehicle that could replace cars on the road in cities. With a small size and cargo capacity, it’s perfectly sized to navigate urban streets and parking situations. Given that it doesn’t emit carbon into the atmosphere, it also represents a green take on transportation.
On the other end of the spectrum, another French start-up is taking a different approach to getting around. Unlike most companies in the transportation industry, Hopper doesn’t focus on motorized vehicles, trains or planes. They make prosthetic blades for those with amputated or otherwise missing legs. The blades, revolutionary in their ability to be used for a variety of different activities, offer independence to those with impaired mobility. From running to walking to hiking and beyond, Hopper’s blades, which are prototyped on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, can be life changing for those who need them.
Shoshana is a Senior Communications Manager on the Corporate Publishing team here at Dassault Systèmes. With experience in journalism, marketing, and PR, her work has been published around the world and across the internet.