SOLIDWORKS Education Reaches the 2 Million Licenses Milestone

At SOLIDWORKS World 2015 we announced today that 2 million licenses of the SOLIDWORKS Education Edition are installed in educational institutions all over the world. What does that mean? Simply put, SOLIDWORKS has changed how students and educators think about design.

For 20 years, SOLIDWORKS has created a generation of engineers that design new and innovative products. SOLIDWORKS is nurturing the skills and creativity of the next generation of designers and engineers by providing our tools to students.

This milestone was reached through dedicated educators that introduce new concepts in 3D design, simulation, and documentation to their students. SOLIDWORKS students push us to continue to add value to SOLIDWORKS by providing the best design and simulation tools including FEA, CFD, Plastics, and free student licensing.

Our SOLIDWORKS Value Added Resellers continuous academic support is the major contributor to this 2- million licenses milestone. Our VARs support educators, administrators and students at the school and through their local (Science Technology Engineering and Math) STEM outreach.

We have strengthened the SOLIDWORKS community with millions of students using SOLIDWORKS every day. The SOLIDWORKS Certification Academic program has provided highly skilled graduates to our commercial customers.

I could not help but reflect my own personal experience on this day here at SOLIDWORKS World 2015. I received a trial of SOLIDWORKS 98 as a professor at Massachusetts Bay Community College. At the time, I was teaching classes with 4 different CAD tools to my engineering students. But I thought to myself – what if SOLIDWORKS is truly different? So I took the demo CD home, quickly installed it, and started to work through the night.

My conclusion: SOLIDWORKS will change the way you teach engineering design. That was a pretty bold statement; but I believed in it so much that I asked my dean to change software midway through the semester. My reseller, Dana Seero, president of Computer Aided Products, walked into my CADLAB and stated that hosting a SOLIDWORKS user group in New England would be good for my students and me. Well, it was more than one meeting. Year over year, the SOLIDWORKS community grew. As customers needed young designers that knew SOLIDWORKS, my graduates continued to fill the need.

In 2003, I received a STEM Women in Technology grant for 15 technical vocational schools to help encourage more girls to select non-traditional career roles. With the help of SOLIDWORKS, all 15 schools received software. The girls and their teachers were given a brand new set of skills by incorporating math and physics into 3D modeling.

My STEM outreach continued into the middle school boundary – yes, 10 year olds can use SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Simulation. Who knew?

The combination of the preparing my students for jobs, running a SOLIDWORKS users group, and the STEM outreach, led me to the SOLIDWORKS Education team.

For the past 10 years, I hear a SOLIDWORKS story every day that inspires me to know that this is more than just software. SOLIDWORKS is a community made up of innovators that have changed the industry and the lives of designers, teachers, and students.

You feel the energy all around you at SOLIDWORKS WORLD and I consider myself extremely fortunate to share these stores with you. Marie

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Marie Planchard

Senior Director, Early Engagement, 3DEXPERIENCE Works at Dassault Systemes

Marie Planchard is an education and engineering advocate. As Senior Director of Education & Early Engagement, SOLIDWORKS, she is responsible for global development of content and social outreach for the 3DEXPERIENCE Works products across all levels of learning including educational institutions, Fab Labs, and entrepreneurship.