We regularly tell many inspiring and compelling stories here on the Dassault Systèmes blog, but there is one story we perhaps don’t share enough: the story of who we are. In this blog post we’re sharing a little more about us, based on the most common questions we get from prospective clients, job candidates, Google searches and, one of our most favorite audiences: our families, who are always asking us, “What do you do all day at work?”
Here are some of the most common questions we get!
“Where are Dassault Systèmes headquarters located? Are you a French company?”
No! Legally, we’re a European company, and we have a global presence and market reach. We have headquarters in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific: in Velizy (outside Paris), Waltham (outside Boston) and Shanghai, respectively. But we have 197 sites worldwide in 136 countries; you can discover all locations on our Contact Us page.
“Does Dassault Systèmes make airplanes??”
We do not – that’s our sister company, Dassault Aviation. Dassault Systèmes was created by Marcel Dassault and Charles Edelstenne in 1981 as a spin-off from Dassault Aviation, a leading French aerospace company. Its purpose was to market software that was initially designed by and for Dassault Aviation, with the aim of becoming the industry benchmark in computer-aided design. Today, Dassault Systèmes and Dassault Aviation are separate companies that are both part of The Group Industriel Marcel Dassault — often called Dassault Group. But we do help the entire aerospace and defense industry innovate, however, and Dassault Aviation continues to be one of our customers to this day!
“How do you pronounce Dassault Systèmes? Da-salt?”
No! We’ve got a strong French heritage, after all! The easiest way to think of it is like this: Dass-so Sis-tem.
“What does Dassault Systèmes do?”
In a nutshell, we’re providing human-centric experiences. We do this through software solutions that allow customers to create innovative new products and services with virtual experiences that challenge and encourage customers to imagine a world that address the major challenges facing the world today. We currently offer 13 different brands along with the revolutionary, industry-transforming 3DEXPERIENCE platform with a proven track-record of helping our customers across 12 industries better serve patients, citizens, consumers, entrepreneurs and learners. By creating virtual twin experiences of the real world with our 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications, our customers push the boundaries of innovation, learning and production
To learn more about our breadth of activities watch the video below and check out our top blog posts from 2023!
“What is Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform?”
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a collaborative environment that empowers businesses to innovate in entirely new ways and push the boundaries of innovation, learning and production. We launched it in 2012 to provide organizations a holistic, real-time view of their business activity and ecosystem, to connect people, ideas, data and solutions together in a single environment.
In the last 12 years since its launch, we’ve rapidly advanced the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. It is unique in its unparalleled accuracy in matching the virtual world with the real one and for its incorporation of multi-physics, multi-scale and multi-discipline technologies that combine modeling, simulation and data science. The platform creates a closed-loop connection between the virtual and real world that allows businesses to represent complex systemes – from cars to cities to human hearts – to experiment as much as they wish and gain insights that result in a constant cycle of improvement from inception to market delivery and usage.
“What is the main product of Dassault Systèmes?”
Our broad portfolio is built around our vision of creating Virtual Worlds for Real Life. We offer a wide range of products and brand applications, powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, that allow businesses to connect the dots within and outside their company, facilitating sustainable business innovation across the full product lifecycle. Our brand applications are grouped into five categories: 3D modeling, simulation, social & collaborative, and information intelligence. Together, they enable users to create virtual twins to visualize, model and simulate the entire environment of sophisticated and sustainable experiences.
Dassault Systèmes products and brands:
- social and collaborative applications: 3DEXCITE, CENTRIC PLM, ENOVIA;
- 3D modeling applications: SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, GEOVIA, BIOVIA;
- simulation applications: SIMULIA, DELMIA, 3DVIA;
- information intelligence applications: NETVIBES, MEDIDATA;
- infrastructure for business experiences: OUTSCALE
Discover more about our products and solutions.
“Is SOLIDWORKS owned by Dassault Systèmes?”
Yes! In 1997, Dassault Systèmes signed a definitive agreement do acquire SOLIDWORKS. SOLIDWORKS provides designers with 3D CAD design, simulation, data management and collaboration applications that cover all aspects of the development process, providing easy- to-use and intuitive software to small and mid-size businesses.
“Is Dassault Systèmes the same as CATIA?”
Nope! But there’s no Dassault Systèmes without CATIA. Today, it’s of our 13 brands, but back in 1981 CATIA was actually our very first. CATIA was released to provide multi-platform software for computer-aided design (CAD), manufacturing, computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and product lifecycle management (PLM), initially for the aerospace and automotive industries. We’re proud of that brand’s 40+ year history and its impacts on transforming how products are designed in 3D.
“Is Dassault Systèmes a great place to work?”
Well, we sure think so. And others agree! In 2023 Forbes ranked us #21 on its World’s Best Employer’s list, and #2 among French companies. We also are very proud of our people and their talents, both in and out of the office.
Watch our people talking about who we are!
“Is Dassault Systèmes hiring?”
We are always looking to bring in top talents – be it in our R&D teams (which are 41% of our company) or other organizations like sales, marketing, HR, operations and more. Our careers page shares all current opportunities across all 197 Dassault Systèmes sites.
“Is Dassault Systèmes a sustainable company?”
Absolutely. In 2021, we announced our Sustainability Compass, which outlines our strategic goals between now and 2025. In short, we believe that, as a technology company serving clients from all sectors across the economy, we have the power to catalyze radically more sustainable transformations in the processes that shape the physical world through our virtual universes. Dassault Systèmes makes it possible for companies to find a balance between an organization’s footprint – what they take from the planet to create products or services – and their handprint – the value they give back. In this way, companies can stop the value leakage that’s in the traditional take-make-use-waste model, in which materials and products are discarded after one use.
We also strive to “walk the talk” and embed sustainability in everything that we do. Some of our most recent recognitions for being a leader in sustainability include ranking 4th in the S&P Global CSA (2023) which allows us to be a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World (DJSI World), 20th for Corporate Knights World’s 100 Most Sustainable Corporations (2023) and getting an AAA score in the MSCI ESG Ratings assessment for being a leader in the software sector. Learn more about our recent sustainability recognitions.
Related resources:
- What’s Dassault Systèmes doing at Piccadilly Circus?
- What is the only progress is human?
- Virtual twins for precision medicine
- Circular economy: Breaking the linear economy’s take-make-waste cycle
Alyssa Ross Alyssa is a Communications Director on the Dassault Systèmes Corporate Publishing team. She’s been part of DS for over 20 years, in roles ranging from public relations to marketing programs. Twitter: @DS_Alyssa