AAKRUTI Innovation Competition Finale at 3DEXPERIENCE WORLD 2026

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Note: The following was written with my colleague, Shubham Arora. Shubham leads AAKRUTI, Dassault Systèmes’  flagship global design and innovation competition, shaping the future engineering workforce across 37 countries. You can meet Shubham and these talented students in the AAKRUTI Innovation Competition Finale and Playground at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026, February 1 – 4, 2026, Houston, Texas.

AAKRUTI Innovation Competition empowers 10,000+ students across 37 countries to design, simulate, and innovate on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform—building future-ready engineers through real-world learning. Students have always been an integral part of 3DEXPERIENCE World and SOLIDWORKS World. This year, the AAKRUTI objectives will be illustrated as we showcase the GEO Finale winning teams.     

The AAKRUTI Innovation Competition is the only student-led, end-to-end design and innovation contest powered on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. It has transformed from an India-only initiative in 2011 to a global innovation movement with 1,812 student design teams, 504 participating colleges/universities, 399 all-women teams — making the future workforce ready today.

AAKRUTI embodies Dassault Systèmes’ transformation into an Experience-as-a-Service organization, proving that our ecosystem can educate, empower, and evolve future engineers through the power of platform-driven learning. Last November, we concluded Geo Finales of AAKRUTI International Competition 2025, and this year 3DEXCITE played a key role in shaping how student innovation was experienced.

While students have always been an integral part of this annual event, this year we are showcasing the winning teams from the GEO Finale. Not only can you see these teams present their designs on the big stage – but you can also meet one-on-one at the 3DEXPERIENCE EDU Zone in the Playground (Exhibition Hall).

Meet the AAKRUTI Geo Final teams

Software and Certification

Students, mentors, and partners collaborate through cloud-powered roles like SOLIDWORKS xDesign, xShape, and SIMULIA, building a deep professional ecosystem that positions 3DS as the go-to platform for design-led innovation education worldwide. Students also received our latest release of SOLIDWORKS Design, and a collection of SOLIDWORKS applications, such as SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium, SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation, SOLIDWORKS Electrical, SOLIDWORKS Composer, and SOLIDWORKS Visualize.

As part of lifelong learning and career goals, students also receive opportunities to take our SOLIDWORKS, SOLIDWORKS xDesign, 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, and 3DEXCITE certification exams.

How 3DEXCITE Empowered AAKRUTI 2025

This year’s breakthrough was Experience-led Storytelling. 3DEXCITE became the marketing powerhouse for the student teams and enabled them to showcase the real power of their products with immersive & engaging experiences.

3DEXCITE experts worldwide trained and mentored the teams to communicate with story, purpose, and impact of their products through 3DEXCITE Creative Experience. 3DEXCITE empowers students to convert their 3D design data into lightweight, interactive, shareable product experiences. It shifts the focus from “Here is my model,” to “Here is the story, purpose, and impact of my product.”

The results were amazing. Student teams created immersive experiences, realistic product renderings, AR experiences via simple QR scans, product demos & animations.

A Step Further with Apple Vision Pro Experience

To explore the next frontier in immersive experiences, we selected one student project, the UAV Rescue Ambulance, and built an Apple Vision Pro immersive experience using Sense Computing + 3DEXCITE workflows.

Users could step inside the scenario, relive the rescue mission at true scale, and understand the concept with emotion and presence.
A glimpse into Experience-as-a-Service for product storytelling.

Additionally, there will be a 3DEXCITE contest for the AAKRUTI Finale Students, and the SWUGN experts onsite using the Product Communicator. The students and experts will compete to create the best visual content and will also have a unique opportunity to get certified.

3DEXPERIENCE World Student Day and the Finale

As part of our 3DEXPERIENCE World Student Day, Wednesday February 4, 2026, in Houston, TX, AAKRUTI Finalists will make an unforgettable mark on the global stage.

Thank you to our SOLIDWORKS partners

More than 28 Channel partners across 11+ countries co-organize finales, sponsor events, and onboard universities. This model transforms AAKRUTI into a scalable, low-cost, high-impact global program that accelerates adoption, certification revenue, and institutional sales for 3DEXPERIENCE Edu. Refer the 3DStory above to get a glimpse of finales.

Thank you to our executives and  the team behind this competition 

None of this was possible without our Dassault Systèmes’ experts, mentors, volunteers who supported global teams, trained & mentored them, and helped them go beyond design, into experience-driven communication. Thank you Shubham for such a coordinated effort and inspiring events.  The impact is directly shaping the workforce of the future.

We wish all students the best of luck at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026.

 

Register for 3DEXPERIENCE World

Marie Planchard

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 across all levels of learning.
Marie Planchard

@marieplanchard1